United Bolsters Reliability Guarantee to Its Corporate Travel Customers
Skift Take
These operational guarantee programs are not as generous as airlines would like people to believe, but they're better than nothing. It's a good thing United and Delta are focusing on on-time arrivals and mishandled baggage rates.
As it seeks to retain its most lucrative customers — and win over new ones — United Airlines is adding to the the commitments it makes to provide reliable service to passengers flying on many corporate accounts.
United created its program in December 2015, following Delta, which started a similar one earlier that year. The premise is simple: Both airlines want to assure corporate customers that business travelers will get where they're going, on-time, as often as possible. If the airlines fail to meet their promises, they could owe compensation, ranging from a couple hundred dollars to $250,000. United promises credits companies can use to defray fees and ancillary charges, while Delta would give credit off of airfare.
The programs are valuable for marketing and sales purposes, but they're designed to make the airlines look as generous as possible, even though it's unlikely the carriers would pay for poor perfor
