United Airlines is beefing up its offerings for the meetings and events industry. Central to this effort is the launch of a new United Meetings product, which is available on the airline’s business portal, United Jetstream. 

“The needs we have been hearing loud and clear: we have to have some more flexible offerings, more rewarding offerings and offerings that are faster to market and easier to transact,” United SVP of Sales Jake Cefolia tells International Meetings Review of the thinking behind the new product. “We heard that and took that feedback to heart.”

Cefolia says that the airline has spent the better part of the last year completely redesigning its meeting product. Now, the new portal will allow meeting planners to make a request and receive flexible discounts for participants within one business day, and quickly turn travel funds into rewards such as beverage coupons, travel certificates, United Club passes and memberships, and more. 

“Since it’s housed on Jetstream, it takes a matter of minutes to self-serve,” Cefolia says. “There’s no call that needs to be made, and nothing that needs to be sent in for redemption.”

The site also includes a personalized dashboard that allows meeting planners to track the number of tickets booked, flights flown, amenities funds earned and the number of tickets needed for the next amenity award. 

Another key feature: “We’re going to be allowing all meetings volume to count toward corporate contract compliance,” says Cefolia. 

United Meetings is available to organizations worldwide hosting a meeting of 10 or more participants. Discounts are extended to travel on the airline’s Star Alliance and joint venture partners. 

The new product is part of a broader shift in the way in which the airline views sales, Cefolia says. 

“We’re viewing customers more as strategic partners, rather than the antiquated buyer / seller relationship,” Cefolia says. 

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HOUSTON (AP) — A United Airlines crew declared an emergency when an engine on a Boeing 737-900 carrying 180 people shut down as the aircraft descended into Houston, federal authorities said Monday.

Flight 1168 was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members late Sunday when the engine trouble began near George Bush Intercontinental Airport. It was traveling from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

The emergency came the same day an Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed, killing 157 people. Another plane of the same model crashed last October in Indonesia, killing 189. The 737 Max 8 is a newer model that’s part of a fleet meant to replace the 737-900 and other Boeing aircraft.

CHICAGO, March 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — United Airlines is improving the way customers plan travel for meetings, conferences, conventions and more with the launch of its new state-of-the-art United Meetings product, available on the airline’s business portal, United Jetstream. The new product makes managing travel and redeeming rewards for meetings and events quicker and more streamlined with enhancements that include discounts accessible in one business day, instant amenity redemption and personalized reports accessible at the click of a mouse.

“At United, our mission is to connect people and unite the world. This new Meetings portal on Jetstream allows us to do just that by making it easier and more rewarding to bring people together for meetings, events, conferences and more,” said Jake Cefolia, senior vice president of worldwide sales at United. “We’re listening to our customers and making changes that they ask for as we continue to make traveling and working with United better every day.”

United Meetings handles the work of getting attendees to events around the world in comfort and with a discount. The new portal makes it easy for meeting planners to make a request and receive flexible discounts for participants within one business day, and quickly turn travel funds into rewards such as beverage coupons, travel certificates, United Club passes and memberships and more. The site also provides planners with a personalized dashboard to track the number of tickets booked, flights flown, amenities funds earned and the number of tickets needed for the next amenity award, helping users stay up-to-date on rewards and meetings attendance.

United Meetings is available to organizations around the world who are interested in hosting a meeting of 10 or more participants. Discounts are extended to travel on United’s Star Alliance and joint venture partners, making traveling and connecting on partner airlines seamless.

United is continuing to add value to its Meetings product to deliver an experience and tool that meets and exceeds the needs of its customers. To get started with hosting a meeting, or to become a United Meetings customer visit http://www.united.business/meetings.

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. United recently announced the addition of more than 1,600 new premium seats to international, domestic and regional aircraft, creating more comfort for more customers in the skies. Additionally, 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”.

SOURCE United Airlines

Related Links

http://www.united.com

United Continental Holdings’ (UAL – Free Report) subsidiary United Airlines has announced several domestic services just in time for spring. The carrier recently launched services from Los Angeles, Denver and Cleveland to eight cities across California, Florida and Texas. Simultaneously, multiple other services are lined up to be introduced later this month.

Beginning Mar 8, United Airlines initiated flights connecting Los Angeles with Redding, CA and Denver with Santa Rosa, CA. Meanwhile, starting Mar 9, the airline introduced flights between Denver and places like Brownsville, TX; West Palm Beach, FL; Pensacola, FL; Sarasota, FL as well as Destin/Fl. Walton Beach, FL. The same day it also began flight operations between Cleveland and Tampa, FL.

United Airlines plans to further enhance travel experience by unveiling 10 more routes this month-end. From Los Angeles, the carrier will begin flights to Eugene, OR; Madison, WI and Pasco, WA. Additionally, it will connect Denver with Everett, WA and Flagstaff, AZ as well as Newark with Hilton Head Island, SC. Moreover, from Dulles, the airline will commence services to Elmira, NY; Hilton Head Island, SC and Manchester, NH. Additionally, the airline will introduce flights between San Francisco and Everett, WA. The service connecting Los Angeles with Eugene will be launched on Mar 30, 2019 while all other flights will be effective a day later.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. Price

United Continental Holdings, Inc. Price | United Continental Holdings, Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank Other Key Picks

United Continental carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-raked stocks in the same space are Azul (AZUL – Free Report) , Air China Ltd. (AIRYY – Free Report) and SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW – Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Azul and Air China have gained more than 80% and 7%, respectively, in the past six months. Meanwhile, the SkyWest stock boasts an impressive earnings history, having outshined the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four reported quarters, the average being 16.9%.

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Federal authorities say a United Airlines flight declared an emergency when an engine shut down as the plane descended into Houston.

Flight 1168 was carrying 174 passengers and six crew members late Sunday when the engine trouble began near George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Boeing 737-900 was traveling from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

One passenger told Houston media outlets that he heard a loud bang, felt a strong vibration and saw a flash of light.

“People were starting to panic and everyone kept hitting the flight attendant call button, I guess to try to figure out what was going on,” passenger Chris Morrison told KPRC-TV in Houston. “They made an announcement to stop doing that unless it was a medical emergency, but it was such a bad vibration and the optics of flashes coming from the engine that people were freaking out, so they kept doing it.”

Family Steals Puppy Caught on Camera

A Kentucky pet store owner is outraged after a theft that was caught on camera. Jim Wente, who owns Bert’s Pet Center in Russell, says a family came into the store on Tuesday evening and stole a puppy.
 

(Published Thursday, March 7, 2019)

Another passenger says he saw flames coming from the engine, but a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says emergency responders found no evidence of fire or smoke.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says crews are investigating the aircraft Monday.

United spokeswoman Rachael Rivas says some people suffered minor injuries while evacuating the plane.

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