A day after United and its pilots reached a tentative contract after nearly a two-year dispute, operations at O’Hare International Airport and throughout the carrier’s system had improved dramatically, though beautiful summer weather played a significant role.
O’Hare travelers said Sunday that they were pleased about the pact, but were reserving judgment on how soon it will affect service.
Larry Williams, a 56-year-old owner of a lumber company in Boise, Idaho, said he flies United at least once every two weeks on business. He called flying United this summer a “disaster,” and expressed relief over the tentative deal.
“It’s tremendously important,” said Williams, who has logged 700,000 frequent flier miles with United. “I never take a United flight without having a backup. Today, I had backup flights on Delta and Northwest.”
Frustrated at the lack of progress on a deal, United pilots had been calling in sick and refusing to work overtime, causing thousands of flight cancellations.
Industry observers heralded the agreement and rejoiced that the deal came in before the critical Labor Day travel weekend.
“This is an important first step to ensuring that passengers continue to make it to their destinations safely, and on time, with minimal hassle,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement released Sunday. He said United’s troubles have already cost consumers “a great deal of time and money, not to mention the impact on the company, pilots and employees.”
But airline industry observers noted–and both sides acknowledged–there’s still a long way to go to restore customer loyalty and resolve remaining labor issues at United.
“We’re cautiously optimistic we will see a return to normal operations,” United spokesman Joe Hopkins said Sunday.
Several pilots interviewed Sunday said they were pleased that a tentative contract was reached, but said they were still waiting to see the details.
Pilots want a three-year pact with the industry’s highest pay package and protections for seniority in the company’s planned merger with US Airways.
Details of the proposed contract were not disclosed, and a spokeswoman for the union representing the pilots said it will be at least mid-October before the deal is ratified.
United Chairman James E. Goodwin called the agreement “industry-leading” in a statement late Saturday.
Pilots have expressed major concerns over how seniority will be affected as the two companies integrate their pilots into a single staff. United pilots worry, for example, that they will be assigned to smaller regional jets–traditionally lower paid routes than the major aircraft such as DC-10s.
One 34-year-old pilot with five years’ seniority, who asked that his name not be used, said he will vote no if the contract doesn’t adequately address the seniority issue. He also said he will not work overtime until the contract is ratified.
Kathy White, spokeswoman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said it is still the pilots’ “contractual right” not to work overtime.
But another United pilot with nine years on the job said he would work overtime, and he expects the number of flight delays and cancellations to continue to drop.
With clear summer weather playing a part, the carrier said Sunday’s on-time arrival rates substantially improved from the dismal performance of the last few months.
More Top Picks Best Space Heaters For Garage
United canceled 50 flights across its system Sunday, down from 108 Saturday and from the August average of 192 per day, a spokesman said. The airline completed 96.2 percent of its flights Sunday, up from its average for this month of 91.9 percent.
At O’Hare under clear skies, the airline canceled 12 flights Sunday for a completion rate of 95 percent.
Flights landing within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival were up to 72.2 percent across the system Sunday and 70.1 percent at O’Hare, the United spokesman said. Those levels are up dramatically from the month’s average of about 39 percent.
United has canceled more than 23,000 flights since April, when the pilots’ contract expired. United announced it would cancel 1,950 flights in October, to go along with the 4,000 canceled in August and September.
Meanwhile, the company will have to now work to restore its image with customers, and to settle a contract with its 30,000 mechanics and customer service and reservation agents who are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Their contract expired July 12.
“I would say this summer has shown that United’s problems extend beyond the pilots’ contract,” said Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University and a former United strategic planning specialist.
“The pilots appear to be emerging with a handsome contract,” he said. “United may be smoothing over the work issues with generous salary increases.”
That could pose difficulties for the company as it bargains with other employee groups, including the machinists. It could signal to other unions, for example, that taking a hard line, as the pilots have done, works.
“Obviously, it worked this time,” Schwieterman said.
In light of this summer’s troubles, he said, federal regulators likely will take an even slower approach to approving the United-US Airways merger.
Meanwhile, travelers at O’Hare received news of the pact cautiously.
Harold Banks, 26, of Charlotte, N.C., said he had a two-hour delay Saturday when he flew to Chicago. He said he experienced delayed flights before this summer, and he doesn’t expect much to change even with the pilots’ agreement.
“Of the times I’ve taken United, the majority of the time I’ve been late,” he said.
“I’ve had the same problems with the other carriers, too. Basically, I’m used to it.”