United Airlines has threatened to block Expedia from selling tickets to United flights.
This is the latest United rebuttal in the long-standing feud between the two organizations, as their contracted agreement ends.
What are the details?
Essentially, whilst both Expedia and United have not publically admitted why they are at odds with each other, it’s rumored that United is not happy with the financial terms of their contracted agreement.
This agreement in question allows Expedia to sell United tickets to customers on their website and expires at the end of September 2019. United has informed Expedia that they will not be renewing the contract and that flights beyond this date should not be for sale on the Expedia website. That any business with the website should be ‘wound down’ and customers directed elsewhere.
Expedia, on the other hand, has said that they have every right to sell tickets up to and beyond 2020. United believes that this is an attempt to lock in enough customers that United will be forced to continue the ‘bad’ contract.
“Recognizing that United now intends to walk away from Expedia upon the Sept. 30, 2019 expiration of their contractual relationship, Expedia has resorted to litigation to maximize the number of Expedia customers holding United tickets for flights after the expiration of the parties’ contract” – United Statement
If United needs to change or cancel flights, this might do harm to customers who have bought through Expedia. According to the current contract, Expedia would not be able to refund the money or make other arrangements for United flights as it would be outside their contract at that time. Customers would then become frustrated and take their anger out on the airline.
“The reason is simple: Expedia hopes that the frustration, disruption, and expense that would otherwise result to these customers will force United to continue working with it after the contract expires”
United has said that they are willing to renegotiate more favorable terms, but that Expedia has since refused to come to the table.
“Expedia refused to negotiate, even as Expedia customers began in greater numbers to book flights set to depart after their contract expired—and even though Expedia, with ample opportunity to protect its customers, now claims it will be irreparably harmed by not being able to service these same customers.” – United Statement
Expedia has said that they have tried to negotiate a new contract with United.
What is United threatening to do?
United has said that they might cease accepting booking from Expedia as soon as the end of this month. Expedia has claimed that such an action would cause irreparable harm to themselves and their customers.
While United may ultimately choose to enter into a new commercial agreement with Expedia when the term of the current agreement ends, it has no right to breach the existing agreement and to unilaterally inflict harm on Expedia and its customers as a negotiating tactic. – Expedia statement
Both United and Expedia have taken the matter to litigation.
In the airline world, nothing is certain until it is filed and done. Recently, we’ve heard some interesting news coming out of Abu Dhabi as Etihad is looking to cut ties with American Airlines in favor of United Airlines. Here’s why this could make sense for Etihad.
Etihad and American Airlines
Etihad and American Airlines partnered up some time ago, but the harmony has been far less than blissful.
As part of American Airlines’ push towards curbing the growth of the big 3 Middle Eastern carriers, they terminated codeshare agreements with Etihad and Qatar. As of now, Etihad is a great airline for AAdvantage redemptions.
American Airlines is Etihad’s largest partner in the United States. However, Etihad has terminated their fights to Miami, Dallas, and have reduced frequencies to New York-JFK. All three are major American Airlines hubs, yet Etihad couldn’t make the partnership with American Airlines work.
Etihad’s Current Service to the United States
This is the current route map for Etihad’s flights to the United States:
Etihad currently flies to New York-JFK, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, and Los Angeles International. In comparison to Qatar and Emirates, this is a sparse network for U.S. connections.
United Airlines and Etihad Airways
However, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, and Los Angeles are hubs for United Airlines. In addition, Etihad previously operated flights to San Francisco and Houston and a switch from JFK to Newark-Liberty (or an additional frequency) wouldn’t be terribly difficult.
While United has been a part of the campaign against the ME-3 carriers, they have most certainly not been as active as American or Delta.
Etihad and Star Alliance
Etihad has had some interesting experiences with Star Alliance. They’ve flirted with joining Star Alliance for some time and this would be an excellent step forward for them.
United Airlines is a major player in the American market and has a significant influence within the Star Alliance network. Etihad could benefit from their partnership with one of the most efficient airlines in the United States. In addition, United is a bit unique in their new quest for premium passengers, releasing a cookbook, and improved regional jets that could make for a great addition to Etihad’s network. As such, Etihad could be well on its way to joining Star Alliance.
Etihad also has other Star Alliance partners in Lufthansa and their associated carriers, Air Canada, ANA, Asiana, and Turkish among other airlines. As Etihad expands their codeshares to include another Star Alliance carrier, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them join Star Alliance.
While Star Alliance could live without Etihad, the addition of Etihad to their route network would be a welcome addition for many frequent fliers for mileage redemptions.
On the other hand, Etihad has been trying hard to cut costs and turn their ship around. Alliances are expensive. Already, we have seen some airlines consider dropping an alliance relationship simply due to the costs. They could, however, become a Star Alliance Connecting Partner.
Overall
Overall, this news would be welcome for MileagePlus members, but not so much for any AAdvantage members. Already, American has lost partners in Airberlin (although they recently failed), Jet Airways, Gulf Air, El Al, WestJet, with even reduced cooperation with Alaska Airlines.
American Airlines really needs to reconsider their partnership strategy. They’re losing ground as competitors United and Delta pick up partners. Delta now has Jet Airways and WestJet and if United picks up Etihad, that would be another major blow. Whatever the strategy is for management at American Airlines, they need to seriously rethink how to make their AAdvantage program useful.
Sometimes rumors can fizzle out, like Lufthansa’s A380 order, while others do materialize. This one could be credible since it would continue to the trends we’ve seen with Etihad and American Airlines. If you have a stash of AAdvantage miles you’d be looking to redeem on Etihad, look for some Etihad availability and use them sooner rather than later. Although, if you’re looking for other airlines, Fiji Airways is another great airline to redeem AAdvantage miles for in addition to transatlantic partner Iberia.
For now, we can only wait and see. Unless American Airlines picks up any worthwhile partners, this would just be another negative aspect to their less than advantageous AAdvantage program.
Do you have AAdvantage miles you’ll use for Etihad? What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below!
United Airlines has added a third daily round trip flight between Minot International Airport and Denver International Airport, boosting the number of daily seats available by 50 percent.
The new flight will begin June 6, but is already available for reservations. When the additional flight begins, United Airlines’ daily schedule will have three departures and arrivals:
“We’ve been working with United and other airlines to showcase Minot and encourage additional service,” said Rick Feltner, Minot International Airport Director. “I think this shows United has a high level of confidence in our community’s ability to support the additional service. Hopefully, advance bookings will be strong so United makes this a permanent addition to Minot’s daily schedule.”
The current 50-seat ERJ-145 aircraft will continue to be used, boosting the daily available seats from 100 to 150.
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Now there is one more place where cameras could start watching you — from 30,000 feet.
Newer seat-back entertainment systems on some airplanes operated by American Airlines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines have cameras, and it’s likely they are also on planes used by other carriers.
American, United and Singapore all said Friday that they have never activated the cameras and have no plans to use them.
However, companies that make the entertainment systems are installing cameras to offer future options such as seat-to-seat video conferencing, according to an American Airlines spokesman.
A passenger on a Singapore flight posted a photo of the seat-back display last week, and the tweet was shared several hundred times and drew media notice. Buzzfeed first reported that the cameras are also on some American planes.
A United spokeswoman repeatedly told a reporter Friday that none of its entertainment systems had cameras before apologizing and saying that some did. Delta did not respond to repeated questions about some of its entertainment systems, which appear to be identical to those on American and United.
The airlines stressed that they didn’t add the cameras — manufacturers embedded them in the entertainment systems. American’s systems are made by Panasonic, while Singapore uses Panasonic and Thales, according to airline representatives. Neither Panasonic nor Thales responded immediately for comment.
As they shrink, cameras are being built into more devices, including laptops and smartphones. The presence of cameras in aircraft entertainment systems was known in aviation circles at least two years ago, although not among the traveling public.
Seth Miller, a journalist who wrote about the issue in 2017, thinks that equipment makers didn’t consider the privacy implications. There were already cameras on planes — although not so intrusive — and the companies assumed that passengers would trade their images for convenience, as they do with facial-recognition technology at immigration checkpoints, he said.
“Now they’re facing blowback from a small but vocal group questioning the value of the system that isn’t even active,” Miller said.
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said cameras are in “premium economy” seats on 82 Boeing 777 and Airbus A330-200 jets. American has nearly 1,000 planes.
“Cameras are a standard feature on many in-flight entertainment systems used by multiple airlines,” he said.
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Singapore spokesman James Boyd said cameras are on 84 Airbus A350s, Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s and 787s. The carrier has 117 planes.
While the airlines say they have no plans to use the cameras, a Twitter user named Vitaly Kamluk, who snapped the photo of the camera on his Singapore flight, suggested that just to be sure the carriers should slap stickers over the lenses.
“The cameras are probably not used now,” he tweeted. “But if they are wired, operational, bundled with mic, it’s a matter of one smart hack to use them on 84+ aircrafts and spy on passengers.”
Science students in the US are getting a daily dose of inspiration from a retired United Airlines Douglas DC-8 aircraft which has been lovingly restored with coatings supplied by AkzoNobel.
After flying more than 18 million miles in 14 years, the plane – named The City of Los Angeles – was donated by United Airlines to the California Science Center in 1984. It’s now on static display by the entrance to the Dr Theodore T. Alexander Jr. Science Center School.
“We are proud to be part of this project and had no hesitation in donating our Eclipse coatings for such an incredible aircraft,” explains Robert Mather, Strategic Account Manager of AkzoNobel’s Aerospace Coatings business. “The DC-8 has a remarkable history, which can’t fail to inspire the young people who see this one every day.”
The newly restored plane was retired in 1980 after carrying more than a million passengers. Four years later, its wings were removed and it was towed through city streets before being reassembled at the museum, eventually being mounted on a pedestal in 2002.
Due to the easy application and with the aircraft being located outdoors, the coating was rolled on, rather than sprayed. The low emission Eclipse system was applied by International Aerospace Coatings (IAC) to ensure that the DC-8 looks as good as the day it first rolled out of the hangar.
“United is thrilled that the DC-8 is being preserved to educate future generations on the history of air travel,” says Janet Lamkin, United’s California President. “We have been part of Los Angeles and California for more than 90 years, and I’m proud to see this important part of our heritage restored so beautifully.“
Adds Dr. Perry Roth-Johnson, Assistant Curator for Aerospace Science at the California Science Center: “We’re thrilled to see our DC-8 airliner restored. With its new paint job, the plane is starting to shine again for the enjoyment of our guests, as well as the students and staff at the Science Center school. We are grateful for the support of AkzoNobel, IAC, and United Airlines in this important project.“
Continues Dave Patterson, IAC’s Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing: “IAC has painted hundreds of aircraft for United Airlines over the past 20 years. When approached to lead the restoration and repaint efforts for their DC-8 static display, we jumped at the opportunity. To revisit this historic aircraft and have the chance to paint the retro United livery was an honour. We’re grateful to be part of this effort and to support both our premier customer and our Southern California community.“
Only a handful of DC-8 aeroplanes are still in use today as cargo carriers. The DC-8 also has a little-known claim to fame. It is one of only two aircraft – along with the Soviet Tu-144 – to have flown supersonic before Concorde.
United Airlines is struggling to fill transatlantic economy class seats at reasonable fares, but is making up the difference by capitalizing on a robust market for premium seats, an executive said Wednesday at an investor event in Miami Beach, Florida.
In spring and summer, airlines fill economy class seats at decent fares with U.S and European vacationers. In winter, that’s tougher. Even with fare sales, airlines have trouble persuading Americans to visit Paris or Barcelona in January.
“The economy class transatlantic has been challenging,” Dave Bartels, United’s vice president for revenue management, said at the Barclays Industrial Select Conference 2019. “You saw it in the first fourth quarter and this quarter as well. That is a weaker spot relative to others in our network.”
Premium travel is stronger for several reasons. Norwegian does not have flat-bed business class seats, so legacy carriers can set high prices without fearing an upstart will undercut them. And with the economy strong, businesses and premium leisure travelers are willing to pay high prices for a better experience. They’re not nearly as price-sensitive as coach flyers.
“The business class side still looks good,” Bartels said. “That has helped consistently through this time.”
Instead of the usual 30 seats in business class and 184 in economy, United is reconfiguring planes to have 46 seats in business class, 22 in premium economy and 99 in economy class.
United has said it expects the special configuration to fly to business-centric destinations, including London.
Basic Economy Update
United is the only full-service U.S. airline that does not allow passengers buying its cheapest fares to bring a large carry-on bag for free.
American had a similar no-bags policy for its no-frills fares, called basic economy, but pulled it in September, saying it was uncompetitive. Some wondered if United might follow to align its policies with Delta Air Lines and American.
But on Wednesday, Bartels said United’s offering is competitive.
“We rolled it out pretty aggressively and maybe went a little too far, too quickly and scaled that back,” he said. “Now we are in a place where there is parity in terms of the scope of the rollout at least with our primary competitors.”
Pilot Discussions
Since Scott Kirby joined United as its president in August 2016, the airline has moved quickly to fix what he viewed as past mistakes, altering orders for jets, strengthening hubs, and adding capacity so it could regain the “natural share” it lost to American and Delta under previous management.
But one major item remains. Kirby seeks to renegotiate a contract with United’s pilot union that would allow United to add more 76-seat regional jets. United hires contractors to operate these airplanes, and their pilots are paid less than United pilots.
United’s current contract with its pilots puts limits on how many of these large regional jets the airline can use. United can only add more if it also adds roughly 100-seat airplanes flown by United pilots. Kirby has said he is not interested in buying 100-seat jets.
Jonathan Ireland, vice president for finance, told investors Wednesday the airline having “healthy and productive conversations,” with the Air Line Pilots Association.
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines today named transportation industry veteran Robert S. Rivkin senior vice president and general counsel. For the last three decades, Rivkin has drawn on his exceptional legal skills while serving in leadership positions in the airline industry, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and local government. Rivkin brings this unique background and extraordinary skill set to a top role at one of the world’s leading airlines. At United, he will be responsible for all legal matters, as well as ethics, compliance, government contracting and security. Rivkin will report to Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Brett Hart.
“Bob’s distinguished career in public service, the legal community and the airline industry make him an ideal fit for this critical role on our United team. He’s a proven leader who will make an immediate impact as we work to fulfill United’s incredible potential,” said United Airlines Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz.
Rivkin is no stranger to the commercial aviation industry, having served as deputy general counsel for Delta Air Lines from 2013 to 2016. Prior to joining Delta, he served as general counsel for the DOT from 2009 to 2013, where he was sworn in following a unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Currently, Rivkin serves as the deputy mayor of the City of Chicago. He has also worked in private law practice and as a federal prosecutor.
Rivkin graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, and received a juris doctorate degree from Stanford Law School, where he was an associate editor of the Stanford Law Review. Rivkin and his wife of more than 30 years have three children. Rivkin’s last day as Chicago’s deputy mayor will be February 28, and he will start his new role at United the week of March 18.
Every customer. Every flight. Every day.
In 2019, United is focusing more than ever on its commitment to its customers, looking at every aspect of its business to ensure that the carrier keeps customers’ best interests at the heart of its service. In addition to today’s announcement, United recently released a re-imagined version of the most downloaded app in the airline industry and made DIRECTV free for every passenger on 211 aircraft, offering more than 100 channels on seat back monitors on more than 30,000 seats. The multimillion-dollar investment in improving inflight entertainment options will benefit the more than 29 million people expected to fly United’s DIRECTV-enabled planes this year.
About United
United’s shared purpose is “Connecting People. Uniting the World.” We are more focused than ever on our commitment to customers through a series of innovations and improvements designed to help build a great experience: Every customer. Every flight. Every day. Together, United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,800 flights a day to 353 airports across five continents. In 2018, United and United Express operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 158 million customers. United is proud to have the world’s most comprehensive route network, including U.S. mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. United operates 770 mainline aircraft and the airline’s United Express carriers operate 559 regional aircraft. United is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides service to 193 countries via 28 member airlines. For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Continental Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”.
In a complaint filed Feb. 4 in federal court in New York, Expedia acknowledged its contract with United ends Sept. 30, but said it may sell whatever tickets it wants until then, even for flights that depart late this year or early in 2020. United said is contractually permitted to stop Expedia from selling post-September flights if it wants, so it can have an “orderly wind-down” of the business relationship.
“Limiting ticketing authority to flights that depart during the duration of the parties’ contract is a common-sense solution to an obvious and impeding problem, and a solution that is entirely permissible and appropriate under the parties’ contract,” United said in its reply.
An Expedia spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment despite multiple attempts. In its complaint, Expedia said, “While United may ultimately choose to enter into a new commercial agreement with Expedia when the term of the current agreement ends, it has no right to breach the existing agreement and to unilaterally inflict harm on Expedia and its customers as a negotiating tactic.”
Neither United nor Expedia has said much in public court documents about what’s behind the contract dispute, though Expedia said in its complaint United expressed dissatisfaction with the “economic terms” of the agreement in 2017.
It is possible this will be a temporarily blip as the sides work out their differences. Or it could be a long-term problem, with United’s fares disappearing from Expedia for the foreseeable future.
Regardless, United said, it is not practical for Expedia to sell tickets for post-contract travel. Some flights will need to be changed or canceled, United said, but Expedia will not be able to do so beginning in October. Customers will be confused, and could take out their anger on the airline and Expedia.
In its reply, United argued this is part of Expedia’s strategy. The company, United alleged, may want to sell as many tickets as possible before the contract ends, so it can have more leverage on a new agreement.
“Recognizing that United now intends to walk away from Expedia upon the Sept. 30, 2019 expiration of their contractual relationship, Expedia has resorted to litigation to maximize the number of Expedia customers holding United tickets for flights after the expiration of the parties’ contract,” United said in its reply. “The reason is simple: Expedia hopes that the frustration, disruption, and expense that would otherwise result to these customers will force United to continue working with it after the contract expires.”
United said it had been open to a new deal, but accused Expedia of being an unwilling participant.
“Expedia refused to negotiate,” the filing said, “even as Expedia customers began in greater numbers to book flights set to depart after their contract expired—and even though Expedia, with ample opportunity to protect its customers, now claims it will be irreparably harmed by not being able to service these same customers.”
In the complaint, Expedia said otherwise, telling the court it had pursued a comprehensive negotiation on a new agreement.
The following is United’s answer to the Expedia complaint:
It took a while, but the recovery is taking shape at United Airlines.
After the deluge of negative publicity surrounding the forced removal of David Dao from a flight from Chicago to Louisville in 2017 and the unfortunate death of a passenger’s pet dog – Kokito – a year later, the US carrier has managed to stem the tide of negative headlines.
All staff have been undergoing what the company calls core4 training in order to better understand the needs of guests, while there has also been a sharp uptick in on-time performance.
Speaking to Breaking Travel News in London, Bob Schumacher, managing director for the UK Ireland at United Airlines, is keen to present 2019 as a fresh start.
“We have a message to share, in terms of a healthy airline, one that is making healthy profits and one that has a story to tell,” he explains.
The new Polaris business class offering has been well-received
With United reporting pre-tax earnings of $2.7 billion last year, the carrier does indeed seem to have turned the page.
A large part of this has been down to a renewed focus on premium passengers – those who make up a big percentage of revenue at any full-service airline.
Later this year United will roll-out its new Premium Plus product, premier economy seating for passengers with budgets just below business class.
This is in addition to the revamped top-end product, Polaris, that has been well received among passengers following its launch a couple of years ago.
As Schumacher continues: “United Airlines has a strong message in 2019, focusing on the increase in premium seats that we are bringing to market, including here in the UK and across Europe.
“The includes the Polaris business class, which has been out now for a while, but is rolling-out across the fleet at a pace of one aircraft every ten days, and, of course, the new Premium Plus, our premium economy seat.
“This is a new product for us in the UK, three rows of seats within the cabin that will have a differentiated service, and it is part of us responding to the marketplace.
“We have seen the premium market being very strong, and we have spilt a lot of passengers here and there, and we don’t like doing that, particularly if they are of the premium sort.
“People have been coming to us, choosing United, and we have not had enough seats in the premium cabin for that – this is our response.”
New Premium Plus seats are the latest addition to the United fleet
In total 21 Boeing 767s are being reconfigured to carry the new Polaris and Premium Plus offering, with these planes set to offer a total of 46 premium seats.
“This is an ideal time for us reconfigure this sub-fleet, those 21 aircraft, as they roll out by the end of September, headed to dedicated destinations, including here in London, as well as New York,” adds Schumacher.
In the tail of the plane, United has also been recalibrating its offering to cater to an emerging, price-savvy generation of travellers.
The new Basic Economy fare seeks to match the price offered by low-cost, long-haul carriers, but to include a superior service.
“This is something you are seeing across all walks of life – you have the young, new traveller, who is price sensitive and has been brought up on Southwest Airlines and Ryanair,” continues Schumacher.
“They have an expectation on a price point, and they are willing to travel without their kitchen sink.
“We have seen the low-cost carries evolve into medium- and long-haul and offer those price points.
“What we did initially, as an industry, was ignore it, but we have now realised it is a significant market in size.
“With Basic Economy we keep the quality of service, in terms of meals and drinks, seat assignment, but also to strip out everything else.
“There has been a real segmentation onboard that aeroplane – at some point we will end up with individual seats with your name embroidered on it,” he jokes.
United has renewed its focus on premium passengers
With a number of low-cost, long-haul carriers – including flag-bearer Norwegian – facing financial trouble, Schumacher is keen to point to the strengths of diversification.
“This unquestionably makes these routes sustainable for us,” he explains.
“Of course, there are many variables, but offering services to 160 million customers a year through several key hubs, which ebb and flow through like a beating heart, is a key to our success.
“Having the right sized fleet, not a uniformed fleet, for the right route and the differentiation of the number of business seats we offer in a market, are real strengths.
“Corporate customers will want their passengers turning up at the other end capable of doing their business – and that is never really going to be offered by a low-cost carrier.”
He adds: “Low-cost carriers, I am sure, had their business case built on metrics that they thought were sufficient to serve their purpose on long-haul routes, we would argue that the ingredients we have are what make us successful.
“Connectivity is key to that – point-to-point works in primary markets, but once you go into secondary, tertiary markets, you will find you need to go through hubs that feed frequency.”
United has recovered from a deluge of negative headlines
Of course, no conversation about aviation in the UK in 2019 would be complete without mention of Brexit and the potential for the UK’s departure from the EU to disrupt the sector.
But here Schumacher is sanguine.
“As a United States-based carrier, with Open Skies with the UK signed, there will be normal operations whatever happens at the end of March,” he explains.
“This is perhaps more of a leisure market issue for travellers in Europe, but we will continue to operate the following day, whichever day that might be.
“It is no different to an election cycle.
“If the pound were to rally, that would also be useful, as we would see more travellers looking to visit the United States.”
Looking ahead there are no new United routes set to debut in the UK in 2019, but several summer services will return.
“We are returning to Denver, with our summer only slot out of London Heathrow, while Manchester will go wide-body for the first time in many years, with a Boeing 767 flying to New York,” explains Schumacher.
“Edinburgh-Washington will also return this summer, after a successful launch last year, as well as Chicago and New York from Scotland.
“We are also celebrating 21-years out of Glasgow to New York.”
The image Schumacher is keen to present is of an airline comfortable with where it is and enthusiastic about where it is going, having put recent troubles behind it.
He concludes: “United tends to reflect what is happening in the wider economy, as we connect business, and the US economy, where we sell 70 per cent of our corporate tickets, is very strong at present.
“We are in a very strong revenue environment, with low unemployment and economic growth, while the strong relationship between the United Kingdom and United States endures – we are set fair.”
More Information
United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 4,700 flights a day to 356 airports across five continents.
The carrier claims the most comprehensive route network in the world, including US mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark/New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.