For now, United is dispensing with the idea of a drinks cart rolling down the aisle and replacing it with pre-made drinks on a little pan, carried by the Flight Attendant, so that passengers can help themselves.
A new plant in Gary plans to turn hundreds of thousands of tons of trash into fuel, some of which could end up powering United Airlines’ planes.
California-based Fulcrum BioEnergy on Thursday announced plans for the $600 million alternative fuel plant in Gary. Construction is not expected to start until 2020. But once operations begin, likely 18 months to two years later, Fulcrum said the plant could create about 33 million gallons of fuel from 700,000 tons of waste each year.
Chicago-based United, which invested $30 million in Fulcrum in 2015, will have the chance to purchase 15 million of those gallons and is “fully planning to exercise those rights,” said Aaron Robinson, the airline’s senior manager of environmental strategy and sustainability.
It’s not yet clear which airports could end up getting the biofuel, since that will depend in part on where it makes the most financial sense for Fulcrum to ship the fuel, Robinson said. Some states offer incentives to companies delivering biofuels, and Illinois isn’t currently among them, he said.
The Gary plant, which is expected to employ 160 full-time workers at an average wage of $29 per hour, would be Fulcrum’s second facility. A plant near Reno, Nev., is under construction and expected to begin operations in 2020.
United’s agreement with Fulcrum will ultimately give the airline the right to purchase as much as 90 million gallons per year from six plants, not all of which have been built. The cost is competitive with traditional jet fuel, Robinson said.
The 15 million gallons United could end up buying from Fulcrum’s Gary plant would be a drop in the bucket for the airline, which consumed more than 2.5 billion gallons in the first nine months of this year.
But replacing some traditional jet fuel with biofuel is part of the airline’s strategy for hitting a goal announced in September: slashing its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.
lzumbach@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @laurenzumbach
During the holiday season, United Airlines gives its flight attendants some leeway on how to accessorise their uniforms.
But the US airline based in Chicago apparently doesn’t want its flight crews to go overboard with extras that detract from the flight attendants’ professional image.
That was the key takeaway from a United Airlines memo sent to flight attendants released last week under the headline ‘Holiday Adornment’.
“Accessories must be in good taste,” the memo read.
“In the spirit of the holiday, and not detract from your professional image.”
The memo outlines what “adornments” flight attendants are permitted to add to their uniforms, such as a “conservative holiday scarf” and “conservative earrings” for women and “conservative holiday tie” and “one-holiday pin” for men.
But the memo also makes clear what is prohibited: “Head adornments (i.e., antlers, Santa hats, haloes, etc.; Holiday vests or sweaters; Holiday aprons: Holiday hosiery.”
A United Airlines spokeswoman said the memo is issued every year at this time to remind employees of the carrier’s standards but she said she didn’t know how many years it has been sent out and what prompted the original memo.
United Continental (NASDAQ: UAL) tried to capture some media buzz last week by teasing “an historic package of new and expanded international routes” to be unveiled on Wednesday.
The reality was a little more ordinary. United plans to significantly expand its international service from its San Francisco hub during 2019. However, many of the additional flights had been announced previously, and only one of the truly “new” routes was especially noteworthy.
During 2018, United Airlines has accelerated its capacity growth. Its main goal has been to add more capacity in the domestic market (including more flights to smaller cities) in order to regain market share and strengthen its hubs. However, United is also on track to expand its fleet of international widebodies by 14 aircraft.
A lot of United’s international growth has come in San Francisco. Not only is San Francisco United Airlines’ gateway to the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, it’s also a booming regional economy in its own right. In late October, United Airlines began a second daily flight between San Francisco and Singapore. Shortly thereafter, it started flying three times a week between San Francisco and Tahiti.
United is expanding its international route network from San Francisco. Image source: United Airlines.
United has also previously announced several service additions in San Francisco that will go into effect in 2019. In March, it will begin daily service between San Francisco and Amsterdam. United’s seasonal route to Auckland will return to year-round service around the same time. Most recently, on the day that it launched the new Tahiti flights, the carrier announced that they would operate year-round rather than seasonally (as originally planned).
On Wednesday, United Airlines revealed that it will launch several other new international flights from San Francisco next year.
United Airlines will begin twice-daily service to Toronto on March 31. It plans to begin offering a second flight between San Francisco and Seoul four days a week as of April 1, complementing its existing daily service on that route. United’s international expansion will resume in the fall. It will begin flying between San Francisco and Melbourne three days a week on Oct. 29, while daily seasonal service to New Delhi will begin on Dec. 5.
In total, United’s new and expanded international service from San Francisco will touch seven destinations and add up to 41 additional flights per week.
United Airlines’ teaser about an historic announcement had some pundits speculating that the carrier was planning to return to Africa in a big way. By contrast, while the changes announced this week will further solidify San Francisco’s position as the best West Coast airline hub, they don’t really qualify as historic.
For one thing, the new route to Amsterdam and the decisions to switch to year-round service on the Auckland and Tahiti routes had all been announced earlier this year.
Meanwhile, extra flights to Seoul are just par for the course, considering that the Bay Area and Seoul are both massive metropolitan areas with huge technology industries. The only surprising thing about the new twice-daily route to Toronto is that it didn’t already exist, given that Toronto is one of the 10 largest metro areas in North America. And the flights to Melbourne are just a case of (almost) keeping up with the Joneses. Qantas began serving that route four days a week back in September.
US carrier United Airlines plans to introduce a new daily non-stop seasonal flight between Delhi and San Francisco from December 7 next year.
Currently, Air India’s non-stop service between Delhi and San Francisco runs through the year.
Like the Air India flight, the United Airlines flight will also circumnavigate the globe. A senior airline United Airlines official said its flight will fly from Delhi towards Tokyo and then onwards to the US, while on the return, the aircraft will fly over Europe before reaching India.
While Air India uses a Boeing 777-200 ER, United Airlines plans to use a Boeing 787-9 aircraft on this non-stop service.
A Denver doctor said she was repeatedly questioned about her credentials when she jumped in to help a passenger who was having a medical emergency on her flight.
Dr. Comilla Sasson said she was asked for proof that she was a doctor, even as she started treating the patient. Sasson, who is a practicing emergency medicine physician, also serves as the medical expert here at 9NEWS.
United Airlines said in an emailed statement that crew members “are trained to ask for identification if there is a volunteer.”
On Thursday, Sasson was a passenger on an early morning United Airlines flight to Houston. The plane had already left the gate but was not yet in the air when she heard something strange.
“All of a sudden I heard a thump and a groan,” she said.
Just up the aisle, she found a person in the middle of a medical emergency.
“I said right away, hey, ‘I’m an ER doctor, how can I help?,’” Sasson said. “And the flight attendant asked me three different times, ‘Are you a doctor? What kind of a doctor are you? Are you a doctor?’ And kept asking me, and I kept saying, ‘I’m a doctor and I need to help this patient because this person is critically ill. Something is obviously wrong with this person.”
Sasson said she was also repeatedly asked for her credentials, which she doesn’t carry with her all the time, especially when she’s not at work.
“I said, ‘Look, they’re online. I don’t carry credentials. No doctor carries credentials around, I don’t have time for this right now. I need to take care of this person who’s ill,’” she said. “In my mind, spending five minutes, literally, would have been the difference between life and death for this person, potentially.”
Sasson said she began to treat the patient anyway, despite the ongoing questions. She said there have been other doctors in similar situations before.
“I remember a month or two ago, a kind of a similar case, an African American woman physician who was on a Delta flight. She actually produced her credentials and said, ‘Hey, I’m a doctor.’ And yet nobody would believe her,” she said.
Sasson said this isn’t the first time someone questioned her credentials, either.
“Women, often times, are thought of as nurses. They’re not referred to as doctors. That’s not even implicit biased, that’s something that happens every single day. It happens to me every single day in the ER when I walk into a patient room. somebody says, ‘Hey, when is the doctor coming to see me?’” she said. “So I think there’s a gender bias to it, and I do wonder if there’s something to the fact that I’m an Asian American, woman doctor who came up and said, ‘Hey, look, I want to help. I want to do something.’ And it was this sort of instant, well prove to me that you’re really a doctor.”
Sasson said she was also frustrated by delays when asking for medical supplies on the plane. About twenty minutes later, she said the plane returned to the gate and she handed off the patient to paramedics. She said once the patient was treated, she did provide her credentials to airline staff.
United Airlines issued the following statement about the incident by email:
“Prior to takeoff, United Flight 1192 from Denver to Houston returned to the gate due to a medical emergency. One customer was treated by paramedics at the gate and rebooked on the next flight to Houston after the customer was deemed safe to fly by paramedics.
We are thankful to Sasson who assisted in treating the customer. The safety of our customers is our top priority. In medical emergencies, time permitting, our crew are trained to ask for identification if there is a volunteer. We are reaching out to Sasson and the crew to understand what occurred.”
Sasson said, after the event, the flight attendants thanked her, too. She hopes other people with medical training won’t hesitate to help in an emergency, just because someone might question them or their credentials.
“Maybe I don’t look like a doctor, maybe I do. It shouldn’t really matter. If I want to go help somebody and somebody’s having a life-threatening event, then I should be allowed to do that,” she said.
Members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA protest United Airlines at O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 13, 2018 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The weather outside is frightful, and working conditions for United Airlines employees are apparently less than delightful, as evidenced by recent protests.
Impending staffing cuts, effective in early 2019, recently drove over 24,000 flight attendants to an international “Day of Action,” TravelPulse reports.
Impending staffing cuts, effective in early 2019, recently drove over 24,000 flight attendants to protest the airline during an international “Day of Action.”
(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On Dec. 13, United flight attendants and cabin crew members united to picket at air hubs around the world – including Washington, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Frankfurt, Germany – regarding the forthcoming cuts, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The weather outside is frightful, and working conditions are apparently less than delightful for United Airlines employees.
(iStock)
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According to the outlet, the campaign was organized by Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), which represents over 50,000 flight attendants employed at 20 airlines. As of February 2019, United will operate international flights with 10 flight attendants — one staffer down from the current 11. Staffers removed from those trips do not face termination, but instead will be assigned to other trips, as per the Times.
While reps for the carrier did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment, a spokesperson did confirm to the Times that United’s decision is meant to align the airline’s staffing levels with those of its competitors, namely Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.
Meanwhile, some insiders don’t quite agree.
“We need them there. They’re our eyes. It’s about safety,” a 20-year United flight attendant who picketed outside Newark Liberty International Airport told CNBC.
An AFA exec, too, voiced similar sentiments, arguing that not only was United was prioritizing its financial interests above passenger safety, but that the staffing cut announcement served as a tipping point of frustration for many United employees on top of other long-running issues.
“Instead of leading U.S. carriers and distinguishing United Airlines with superior safety and enhanced customer service, the airline is lowering its standards to follow American and Delta,” Ken Diaz, President of AFA’s United Master Executive Council, said in a press release ahead of the Day of Action. “This is not the way to say we love our passengers.”
“When United is making record profits, it should not be cutting back on the people who are on the front lines of safeguarding and serving passengers. A profitable major airline should not be rushing to reduce customer service,” he continued. “The staffing cut announcement was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We are calling on this management to fix computer glitches, eliminate inhumane schedules, and increase staffing so we have the necessary tools to focus on the best experience for the traveling public.”
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“We are an airline. Not a hedge fund,” one protest sign read, as per the AFA’s Twitter account.
“Staffing cuts affect safety and service.”
The carrier is also said to be cracking down on uniform rules regarding holiday accessories for its staffers through the next few weeks as well.
The Chicago-based carrier reportedly wants staffers to keep it professional as they get into the holiday spirit, according to a newly released memo on “Holiday Adornment” described in the LA Times.
Though “head adornments (i.e., antlers, santa hats, halos, etc.); holiday vests or sweaters; holiday aprons: holiday hosiery,” are banned, “conservative” holiday scarves, earrings, ties and pins are allowed.
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A rep for United told the Times that such a memo is released this time every year.
CLOSE
A United Airlines “Fantasy Flight” took kids from Newark Airport to the North Pole for a visit with Santa on Wednesday, December 12, 2018.
Amy Newman, NorthJersey
Halfway through the flight from Newark to the North Pole, there was a long-awaited sighting.
“A sleigh with six reindeer has been spotted to the right of the aircraft,” the plane captain announced.
Chants of “Santa! Santa! Santa!” rippled through the cabin.
Almost there.
At noon, after an hour-long trip to Rochester, New York, and back, the jet touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terminal C, or, as it became known on Wednesday, the North Pole.
The 45 children aboard United Airlines’ annual Fantasy Flight to the North Pole screamed in delight.
“SANTA! SANTA! SANTA!”
Santa Claus was waiting for the travelers, all patients from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, University Hospital and Trinitas Regional Medical Center, with open arms.
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“Once we started to take off, my stomach started to feel queasy and same thing when we started to land,” Reese said. “But … I made it!”
August Erde, 4, was also a little nervous on takeoff, said his mother, Tyne Delwiche. The fear melted away as the in-flight elves, also known as flight attendants, belted out Christmas songs, led tours of the plane and handed out snacks.
“I’m glad he gets to experience his first flight in this way,” Delwiche said. “He’s had a rough year, so seeing him really happy is really nice. I hope this experience sticks with him for a long time. I hope it’s a positive memory for him.”
James Ona, a volunteer from University Hospital, said he had no idea what he had signed up for when a supervisor recommended him for the Fantasy Flight months ago. He described himself as a “dry piece of toast,” saying he’s not known for being particularly joyous or happy.
The pint-sized travelers to the North Pole changed that. He was soon leading them in song.
“It’s beyond humbling,” Ona said. “I normally don’t see my family because I work so much. So when I get to see this kind of joy, I get to kind of share and watch and miss my kids.”
Christina Munn, a United flight attendant, said she knew exactly what she was getting into when she volunteered for the Fantasy Flight.
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Her family has been plagued by medical problems, and she understands the toll they can take on people, especially the young.
“To be able to bring a little bit of hope and joy back and be that light in someone’s day — I had to be a part of it,” Munn said.
Munn lives a block from Beth Israel and visits the patients there often. She said she saw some familiar faces on the flight to the North Pole and was thankful she could make them smile again.
“Being here with the kids has been phenomenal,” she said. “It’s nice to give back to the community.”
United started the Fantasy Flight program in 1992 at Washington’s Dulles International Airport and has since expanded it to dozens of locations.
“It’s just a really fun, exciting day that kind of puts you in the holiday spirit,” said Colette Pesce, a training coordinator for United customer service.
Tamara Amaro and her daughter Ximena Moreira, 9, soaked up the merriment on Wednesday. They were especially excited to meet Santa.
“This has just been a beautiful experience,” Amaro said.
Email: shkolnikova@northjersey.com
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HONOLULU (KHON2) – Flight attendants for United Airlines are planning to protest at airports around the world Thursday.
They are upset over staffing cuts.
There are 16 planned demonstrations including at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and other airports in Los Angeles, Washington, London and Tokyo.
United Airlines said it does not expect any flight delays because of the protests.
Passengers are encouraged to check their flight status before heading to the airport.