Nicholas Kralev

Finnair tries creative customer feedback

nkralev — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:59:28 +0000

U.S. carriers have made major progress in listening to direct customer feedback in recent years, while foreign airlines have been less aggressive in pursuing new creative approaches. Finnair, however, is trying to change that. It's looking for "quality hunters" -- fliers who will spend two months on flights around the world and report their findings.

Product-testing and sampling is certainly not a new concept, but the scale on which Finland's largest carrier plans to implement the program is rare -- as is the public way it has chosen to recruit the four travelers it needs.

Finnair, which is a member of the Oneworld alliance, calls them "independent advisers, whose task is to travel to various destinations in Europe, Asia and the U.S. to investigate the elements that determine quality in travel." They "are expected to communicate their impartial views and recommendations to the company on a regular basis throughout the two-month period" in October and November, the airline said in a press release this week.

In an attempt to improve its products and services in a very competitive environment, Finnair has launched a new project and created a website called Rethink Quality. This is where you can apply for one of the four slots by Sept. 26, if you can make yourself available for the duration of the exercise. That same site will feature blogs by the "quality hunters" once they begin their travels.

"The recruitment of the quality hunters is one means for Finnair to focus more closely on issues that are important to today's travelers," Antti Nieminen, global marketing communications manager at Finnair, was quoted as saying in the press release.

As often happens, the release didn't answer some of the obvious questions about this experiment: How and by whom will the winners be selected? Will they be compensated? Will they earn frequent-flier miles for the flights they take? Will they fly in economy or business class?

So I asked Nieminen and quickly received the answers. A 10-member panel of judges from Finnair and its PR agency will choose the "hunters" based on "creativity, excellent writing skills, ability to use modern technology, no-fear attitude and open mind to explore quality and provoke conversation."

"The hunters will be paid compensation," he said. "The exact amount is confidential contract information but can be compared with an average salary. No miles are granted to the hunters as they are flying on duty. They will be flying in both business class and economy class, since we want them to blog in a versatile manner from all angles related to flying."

Nieminen also said that "Finnair staff will not be warned about them in advance," so they shouldn't receive special treatment.

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Why new United should have domestic business — not first — class

nkralev — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:14:47 +0000

One of the big questions of the United-Continental merger is whether the domestic premium cabin will be sold as first class, as is currently the case with United, or business class, which is what Continental does. For customers' sake, that cabin should be sold as business class.

This is not just about a name -- it affects booking classes and flight inventory, and the present discrepancies between domestic and international flights can be very confusing for passengers, and sometimes even for agents.

The domestic first-class designation is a tradition started decades ago, when all commercial planes had two cabins of service. But then along came business class, and the major network carriers ended up with three cabins on international flights. Currently, only United and American Airlines offer three-cabin service.

However, even carriers with two-cabin international flights call the premium cabin business class, while continuing to label the same cabin as first class on domestic flights. That's the case with Delta Airlines and US Airways. Continental's policy is confusing in a different way -- it calls the front cabin first class, but if you look at its inventory, you'll see that it uses business-class booking codes for it.

On United's two-cabin narrow-body aircraft, the same cabin that is sold as first class on domestic flights is sold as business class on flights to Central America. For example, here is the inventory for Flight 209 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles on Sept. 3, operated on a two-cabin Airbus 319 (the bolding of the premium codes is mine):

F2 A1 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S6 T6 L5 K5 G1

As many of you know, the letters F and A signify first class. Compare that to Flight 823 from Washington Dulles to Mexico City on the same day, also operated on a two-cabin Airbus 319. The letters J, C, D and Z signify business class:

J4 C4 D4 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G0

Now let's look at an intercontinental flight, United 916, from Washington to Frankfurt, again on Sept. 3. We see both first and business-class inventory, as the flight is operated on a three-cabin Boeing 777:

F4 A4 J9 C9 D9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 E0 U0 H9 Q6 V3 W0 S0 T0 K0 L0 G0 Things are about to get much more confusing. As I've written before, United is one of the biggest champions of what I call fake "direct" flights. Those are two separate flights that have nothing in common but a number. In this case, United sells its morning flight from Seattle to Washington with the same number 916. Why? Because that allows it to market it as a "direct" Seattle-Frankfurt flight, deliberately misleading customers, most of whom make no differentiation between a direct and nonstop flight.

Seattle-Washington is operated on a two-cabin Boeing 757 -- yet, if you look at the inventory, you'll see that United is selling it as a three-cabin flight, because in theory it's the domestic connection to the truly three-cabin Washington-Frankfurt flight:

F7 A7 J7 C7 D7 Z7 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 K0 L0 G0

So what happens if you want to upgrade on this flight? Do you upgrade to business or first class? The rule is that you can upgrade to the next higher class of service -- according to the inventory, that's business, but according to the aircraft, it's first. What if upgrade space is not available in business, but is open in first? Are you allowed to jump over business into first and, in effect, get a double upgrade? Well, it's not really a double upgrade because there is just one premium cabin.

United's inventory management tries to align the seat availability in business and first class on those fake three-cabin flights, but sometimes they fail to do so. Perhaps they are confused, too. I've had occasions when I was waitlisted for an upgrade on one of those flights, and there was an upgrade seat available in the business-class inventory (the code United uses for that is NC), but not in first (code NF).

Once, I was on a two-cabin flight from Portland, Ore., to Chicago, which had the same number as a flight from Chicago to London. There was NC space, but not NF. My upgrade wasn't clearing, so I called United and asked for a supervisor. She explained that, because this was a domestic flight, I needed NF space to get the upgrade -- but it would have cleared had that been an international flight. I was furious, of course -- it's the same freaking cabin; why are we arguing about NC and NF codes? The upgrade did clear the next day.

More recently, I was on a two-cabin Washington-San Francisco flight that was sold as a three-cabin, because United markets it as the "continuation" of its Dubai-Washington flight. Guess where my upgrade was booked? That's right, NC. So was that supervisor earlier wrong? Who knows...

Wouldn't it be much easier for everyone if the domestic premium cabin was called business class? The only argument I've heard in favor of keeping the status quo is that passengers are used to domestic first class. I wouldn't worry about that -- they weren't used to paying baggage fees, either.

The United-Continental merger, which received a green light from the Department of Justice last week, is a good opportunity to do something that should have been done years ago, when the rest of the world changed with the times.

Of course, it would be even better if United got rid of those fake "direct" flights -- a practice Continental doesn't use as widely as United -- but more about that next week.

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Hotels find smoking fines hard to charge

nkralev — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:35:24 +0000

If you check in to a smoke-free hotel, you are usually warned that you'd be fined for smoking in your room and even required to initial a written warning. It turns out, however, that you can easily get away with no charge unless a hotel employee catches you while smoking.

I stayed at one of those smoke-free hotels in Wichita, Kan., this week and initialed one of those pieces of paper saying the fine would be $250 if the smoking ban wasn't observed. I've never smoked and am, in fact, allergic to smoke, so I was very happy with the policy. But as soon as I opened the door to my assigned room, the unpleasant smell hit me.

The only other available room was a penthouse-style suite, so I was of course happy to move. My first night was, indeed, smoke-free, but the following night things changed. I smelled cigarette smoke on the suite's lower level, but the bedroom on the upper level seemed fine, so I didn't complain to the hotel staff.

Big mistake. Early in the morning, I was awoken by that smell. I asked housekeeping to come and figure out the source of the smell, so I wouldn't be charged the fine. They reported that the guest in the room below mine had been smoking. I said I hoped he'd be fined -- only to be told that he'd just checked out, and they couldn't fine him unless they had caught him in the act. "It's my word against his," the housekeeping supervisor said.

Had I complained the night before while he was smoking, things would have been different. That was the last time I hesitate before complaining in a hotel.

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U.S. ESTA trouble for SAS passengers

nkralev — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:59:34 +0000

It has been more than seven months since the new U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) has been mandatory for airlines that fly citizens of visa-waiver countries to the United States. Yet some carriers' computer systems are reportedly experiencing serious problems, resulting in denied boarding for travelers with valid ESTAs.

Last week, I received a disturbing e-mail message from an Austrian citizen who had read my previous coverage of ESTA issues. On July 5, she wasn't allowed on a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Stockholm to Chicago, for which the carrier blamed problems with the passenger's ESTA.

In fact, the customer, who asked that her name not be used because she hasn't yet resolved the matter with SAS, had a valid ESTA on which she had previously traveled to the United States. The validity was confirmed by my sources at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency in Washington that administers ESTA.

There were no signs of any problems when the passenger checked in at the SAS counter in Stockholm, according to her account. Her boarding pass, a copy of which she sent me, clearly shows "API OK," which means that all necessary documentation was in order. However, when the boarding pass was scanned at the gate, it produced a sound indicating that not everything was actually in order.

She was then sent to a customer-service counter, where only one agent was equipped to handle ESTA issues, and she had to wait in line -- with her flight already boarding. A German citizen in front of her in the queue had the same problem, but the agent was able to request a new ESTA for him that was instantly approved, and the SAS system was able to establish a link with the ESTA system and issue a boarding pass.

But the Austrian traveler had no such luck. No fewer than six new ESTA requests were approved as soon as the agent submitted them, but the SAS computer was never able to link them to the airline's boarding system.

The passenger missed her flight and was told that no seats were available to the United States for the next two weeks. Her "dream vacation," as she called it, which had taken weeks to plan, never happened. SAS refunded the miles she had used for the award ticket, as well as the money paid for taxes, but she claims she lost about $2,500 in non-refundable domestic U.S. airline tickets, and hotel, rental car and tour reservations.

SAS has yet to respond to her letters, but that's not what she's most worried about.

"What makes me angry is that they are obviously having problems with passengers traveling on [non-Scandinavian] passports and have not bothered to do anything about it -- not even a simple measure, such as asking these people to show up at the boarding gate a little earlier to settle things," the Austrian passenger said.

I e-mailed SAS spokeswoman Elisabeth Manzi in Stockholm asking whether the carrier was aware of the problem and if it's doing anything to fix it. Instead of responding, Manzi forwarded my message to Martina Vercellini, a customer-relations representative in Frankfurt, who wrote me that she would contact the Austrian traveler directly. It's not clear why SAS hasn't done so seven weeks after the incident.

Still, as the passenger suggested, the problem is bigger than her. "Now I'm wondering how to avoid similar problems in the future," she said. "For my next trip to the U.S., I'm very much leaning towards getting a visa beforehand, whether it is necessary or not" -- and despite the $140 visa application fee.

On Sept. 8, DHS will start charging ESTA applicants $14 -- $10 for the new Congress-mandated U.S. "travel promotion" initiative, and $4 to "recover the costs incurred [for] providing and administering the ESTA system." Perhaps DHS could make sure that airlines are capable of verifying the validity and authenticity of an ESTA, so fee-paying travelers aren't denied boarding for no good reason.

It's important for passengers to know that each ESTA is linked to the passport for which the ESTA was originally requested, so if you get a new passport, you also need to apply for a new ESTA. That wasn't the case with the Austrian citizen -- she has had the same and only passport since 2002.

My DHS sources also told me that tens of thousands of people are applying for an ESTA every day. If you want to beat the $14 fee, make sure you apply before Sept. 8 -- an ESTA is valid for two years, so it makes sense to do it if you plan at least one U.S. visit in that period.

Many travelers consider ESTA a de facto visa -- except that it's much cheaper and faster to get than a regular visa, for which you have to be interviewed by a U.S. consular officer, wait in long lines and sometimes travel long distances from your hometown.

Currently, 36 countries participate in the visa-waiver program, but that number can change at any time, as their qualification is reviewed periodically. To be eligible for an ESTA, you must stay in the U.S. no longer than 90 days and possess a machine-readable passport. Other passport security features also apply, depending on the issuing country.

Just like with a visa stamped in your passport, holding a valid ESTA doesn't guarantee you admission to the United States, which is at the discretion of the immigration officers at the point of entry.

However, if you have a valid ESTA linked to the passport you are traveling on, and no warning has been issued by the U.S. authorities against you, airlines should be able to verify that and let you on the flight you've paid for.

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Clarifying United’s StarNet blocking

nkralev — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:59:33 +0000

Readers' interest in United Airlines' practice of massively blocking award seats otherwise made available for mileage redemption by United's partners in the global Star Alliance doesn't seem to subside, judging by the feedback I get and the web traffic on this site's pages dedicated to the issue. So it's time to clarify some misconceptions about the infamous StarNet blocking. Earlier this week, I received a complaint from Norma Brandsberg, a reader from Virginia, that United is "blocking an award through Continental" Airlines. "United's own site is showing availability," but "Continental is not seeing the open seats in their system," she wrote.

Brandsberg mistakenly thought that what she discovered was part of StarNet blocking. However, the controversial practice doesn't involve seats on United flights -- only seats on flights operated by other Star carriers, such as Lufthansa, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and others. United denies members of its Mileage Plus program access to those seats to avoid paying its partners for them.

What Brandsberg is comparing are two completely different things. First, she looked at award seats United has made available to book with United miles -- inventory reserved only for Mileage Plus members. But then she tried to use Continental miles to book those same seats, only to find out that they are not available to members of Continental's OnePass or any other Star Alliance program.

Every airline in the alliance has the right to set aside certain award inventory only for its own frequent fliers, and it has no obligation to offer that inventory to its Star partners. The seats it decides to provide to partners are published on the common IT platform known as StarNet. So contrary to Brandsberg's understanding, United wasn't "blocking an award through Continental" -- rather, United wasn't offering those seats on StarNet to any of its Star partners.

In a related misunderstanding, many travelers wrongly accuse United of blocking partner seats. For example, they call Swiss International Airlines and are told that seats are available on a certain Swiss flight -- they can also see those seats on ExpertFlyer. Then they call United, which is not seeing availability, and conclude that "StarNet blocking" is in force.

That conclusion would be correct only if you confirm that Swiss is offering the seats in question on StarNet. The best way to do that is to consult the All Nippon Airways (ANA) website, which has the most comprehensive free online StarNet tool but requires that you have an ANA account with miles in it. The paid KVS tool is another option, and the Continental and Air Canada websites show limited partner inventory. ExpertFlyer tends to display seats offered by an airline only to its own customers and not to partners.

There have been recent reports from United customers that United is less aggressive with StarNet blocking these days, and of course we all hope that the practice will be discontinued after the merger with Continental.

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9/11 pilot scholarship plans expansion

nkralev — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:57:48 +0000

Captain Dennis Flanagan, the United Airlines pilot I profiled last year, just reminded me about the upcoming anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the scholarship fund in the name of his former colleague, Captain Jason Dahl, who was at the controls of United Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The charity, whose official name is the Captain Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund, was established soon after the pilot's death by his wife Sandy. Each year, two aviation students -- one at Dahl's Alma Mater, San Jose State University, and one at Metro State University in Denver, where Dahl lived -- are awarded $5,000 grants. There have been 16 recipients so far.

The fund's ambition is to expand and offer scholarships nationally, and it uses this time of year to do fund-raising, said Flanagan, who is better known as Captain Denny. "It seems the farther we get away from that tragic day, the less people remember. Our goal is to keep Jason's memory alive and not let anyone forget," Flanagan said.

You can learn more about the fund, its board of directors and past scholarship winners on its website, where you can also make a contribution.

"Jason Dahl represented the best in the American aviation community, always providing assistance to others in both his chosen vocation and his community," the site says. "The family and friends of Captain Jason Dahl strive to be more like him."

As has been well documented in press reports, Dahl, who was 43, wasn't originally scheduled to work that fatal flight on Sept. 11, 2001. He traded trips with a colleague so he can take time off for his wedding anniversary on Sept. 14. Still, he seems to have had second thoughts, as he later sent out an e-mail message looking for another pilot to replace him on Flight 93.

The hijacked flight, a scheduled service from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco and the subject of the film "United 93," is believed to have been headed to Washington. The Boeing 757 aircraft was ultimately brought down by passengers who apparently stormed the cockpit and attacked the hijackers. The plane crashed in a field in Stonycreek Township, near Shanksville, Pa.

Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when we first heard of or saw those planes smashing into the World Trade Center. Each year on Sept. 11, commemorative ceremonies take place in New York, Washington and in that Pennsylvania field.

As it happens, this year I'll be teaching an "On the Fly" Seminar in New York on that day, and two weeks later in Boston, from where the two planes that hit the Twin Towers departed. We have our own ways of remembering and paying respects, and mine is helping travelers make their journey less stressful and more enjoyable.

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My trips with Clinton back in the news

nkralev — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:59:32 +0000

My name was involved in a curious intrigue this week. One of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's aides, in an attempt to get back at the Washington Times for a recent series of critical stories about Clinton's deputy Jacob Lew, leaked to a reporter unpaid bills for trips I took with the secretary last year.

I understand the bills are now being settled, following yesterday's story on the Foreign Policy magazine's website. I was the Times' diplomatic correspondent for nine years, until June.

When reporters travel with the secretary, the State Department charges their respective media for the plane ride and any costs incurred on the ground, such as motorcade vehicles and filing centers. Sometimes, those bills are sent out months after a trip, but every time I received one, I gave it to the appropriate person at the Times, along with the original trip authorization from senior management.

I'm told that four unpaid bills have been sitting in a folder in the accounting office for months. Shortly before I left the paper, I was asked how important it is to pay them quickly, given the Times' tight finances. I pointed out that the bills are overdue, but that was the last time the subject came up.

The Times has had a new editor since January, and it's possible the issue was never raised with him. It appears he has now made sure the matter is resolved.

This was certainly a very creative way for the State Department to get its money back. Isn't the Washington game just precious? The stories the Times has been running about Lew have to do with his financial disclosures from his time at Citigroup, before joining the Obama administration. Since I haven't worked at the paper for two months, I obviously had nothing to do with those stories -- nor did I have a hand in any articles about Lew that may have been written before my departure.

Lew has been deputy secretary of state for management since January 2009, and earlier this summer, President Obama chose him as the next director of the White House Office of Management and Budget -- a post he held at the end of the Clinton administration.

Talking air travel for an hour on NPR

nkralev — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:51:52 +0000

Air travel is one of those topics that no radio or TV show can go wrong with -- it's certain to touch a nerve with many people and provoke numerous comments and questions. That's what happened yesterday on NPR's Diane Rehm Show, which I was on for the first time.

I always thought the reason to be invited would be to talk about foreign policy on the Friday news roundup, where Diane has three Washington journalists discussing issues from the passing week. That never happened, but a couple of weeks ago I suggested to one of the show's producers that the summer is a good time for a program on travel.

The Diane Rehm Show is widely considered the best talk show on NPR, with more than 2 million listeners a week. It's produced by WAMU, the NPR station in DC, and airs in dozens of markets across the U.S. Diane is on vacation this week, so the guest-host was Frank Sesno, a former CNN bureau chief in DC who now heads the George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.

There were two other guests except me: from Dallas, Scott McCartney, who writes "The Middle Seat" column for The Wall Street Journal, and from New York, Susan Stellin, a New York Times contributor.

You can listen to the show and read some of the comments left by listeners on its website. We actually got hundreds of comments and questions by phone, e-mail and on Facebook and Twitter.

We talked about various familiar topics, such as airline fees, seats, delays, the proposed Passengers' Bill of Rights, re-regulation prospects and others.

Since the show's topic was "Navigating the not-so-friendly skies," I wanted to offer some advice on how to do that. The main point I tried to make was about the need for travel education, realizing that most people don't see such a need because they think they know how to travel. But if that were true, we'd be hearing many fewer complaints and horror stories about air travel.

It's convenient and popular to blame the airlines all the time -- and they often deserve much of that blame -- but there is a lot travelers can do to make their own experience less stressful and more seamless.

The airlines have made the system very complex, confusing and frustrating. It is what it is, and we can't changed it that much. However, we can find ways to make the system work for us -- and to do that, we need to know it really well. That's why I believe every traveler can use a bit of education.

My other main point was about the importance of elite airline status, which is the only decent way to travel today. The reality is that airlines don't even pretend to try taking care of you if something goes wrong unless you are a loyal customer. More practically, elite passengers are exempt from luggage and other fees.

Unfortunately, most people don't even try to achieve elite status, because they only travel a couple of times a year. As I wrote last month, you only need 4,000 miles on Greece’s Aegean Airlines to get silver status on the Star Alliance, and Aegean gives you 1,000 miles just for signing up. You don't have to fly on Aegean -- just to credit your miles from flights on any of the 28 Star carriers to that program. Silver status waives baggage fees on United Airlines, US Airways and Continental Airlines.

I was amused to read in the comments on the Diane Rehm Show's website that a listener accused me of being unpatriotic for recommending membership in a foreign airline's frequent-flier program.

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Mexicana embarrasses Oneworld alliance

nkralev — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:58:41 +0000

Global airline alliances are a relatively new concept, and the three existing ones have naturally had to create their own rules. This week's Mexicana Airlines decision to suspend ticket sales raised serious questions about Oneworld rules and requirements.

Why did the alliance insist publicly that all was fine at Mexicana just a day before the announcement? Did the carrier fail to give Oneworld a proper warning?

On Tuesday, Mexicana filed for insolvency proceedings in Mexico and bankruptcy protection in the United States. That same day, Oneworld spokesman Michael Blunt issued a press release, assuring travelers that the Mexicana's position in the alliance was "unaffected" by the developments.

"Mexicana has stressed that it will continue to operate normally, in line with Mexican legislation covering such restructurings. Its schedule is being maintained -- though with some network and frequency changes -- and it continues to take bookings and offer its full range of services. So the airline continues to offer full Oneworld services and benefits, and tickets for flights on Mexicana and its frequent-flier arrangements are unaffected," Blunt said.

That statement reminded me of the Star Alliance's expression of support for United Airlines when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002. But as it turned out, things with Mexicana were very different.

Late Wednesday, Mexicana stopped selling tickets. In a new press release, Oneworld called it a "temporary suspension," adding that, "during this time, Mexicana will continue to operate most of its previously scheduled international flights as normal, but further bookings will not be accepted."

The logical question is, How long can the airline continue to operate flights for which it accepts no bookings? More importantly, was Oneworld blindsided by the sales suspension or did it mislead customers in its first statement? Did Mexicana bother to tell the alliance what was coming up? Was it even required to do so by Oneworld rules?

Blunt didn't respond to an e-mail I sent him yesterday with those questions.

Mexicana is Oneworld's 11th and newest member, having joined in November 2009. Among the alliance's other members are American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas Airways. Mexicana was part of the Star Alliance from 2000 until 2004. Interestingly, Star's CEO, Jaan Albrecht, is a former Mexicana pilot.

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United, Continental execs at odds over loyalty program

nkralev — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:58:42 +0000

The management teams of United Airlines and Continental Airlines have never seen eye to eye when it comes to customer loyalty, and that seems to be causing trouble during their merger preparations. My inside sources tell me that Continental executives don't quite understand United's big emphasis on loyalty in recent years.

It also appears that Jeff Foland, who last week was named head of the combined carrier's frequent-flier program, Mileage Plus, will have a tough job selling United's current philosophy to his new bosses in the Continental team, which will run the company once the merger is completed, most likely around year's end.

Even though Foland, who has been United's senior vice president for worldwide sales and marketing since 2006, didn't have a direct formal role in Mileage Plus' decision-making, he is said to be greatly influenced by the way his current superiors and colleagues do business. After all, his entire short career in the airline industry has been spent at United.

In addition, all United call centers, including the only remaining Mileage Plus center in Rapid City, SD, reported to Foland, so he is no stranger to the recent drive to turn the program into a profitable business.

Foland will succeed Graham Atkinson, the current Mileage Plus president, who used to have Foland's present job. As I wrote in February, Atkinson is responsible for changing United's overall approach to loyalty by proving that what's good for customers doesn't necessarily have to be bad for the company.

Most of the changes he made in less than two years on the job have been welcomed as major improvements by Mileage Plus members, including the introduction of one-way awards and eliminating so-called close-in fees, charged when an award ticket is issued less than three weeks before a trip. The attention Atkinson has paid to customer feedback and the degree to which he has acted on that feedback are extremely rare, if not unprecedented, in any customer-service-driven industry.

The bottom line for the company is that, by making and keeping its most loyal customers happy, Atkinson turned Mileage Plus into a money-making business. The bottom line for customers is that Mileage Plus today is probably the best program in the industry, with the notable exception of StarNet blocking. Hopefully, the practice of massively blocking award seats otherwise made available for mileage redemption by United's partners in the global Star Alliance will soon be on its way out.

It's no secret that Continental's priorities have lied elsewhere under Jeff Smisek, its chairman, president and CEO, who will be CEO of the combined airline. Smisek has won much praise for his management style, which has helped the company's finances during a tough period and significantly improved both its hard and soft products. Continental has chosen to lure passengers in its premium cabins by lowering business-class fares, while United has kept those fares high, resulting in more upgrades for elite customers.

Although that choice has its merits, Continental's OnePass is hardly a leading loyalty program. There is nothing wrong with trying to attract more paying business-class passengers, but in the current environment, a strong upgrade product would go a long way to securing long-term customers.

United has that product, and so does American Airlines, United's main competitor. Even though Mileage Plus and OnePass have aligned some of their features, they remain apart in many respects -- and most importantly, in their business philosophies. Hopefully, the unpleasant prospect of losing customers to American will prevent the merged carrier's management from curtailing the more significant benefits in Mileage Plus compared to OnePass.

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