This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. United Assures Fliers Service Won't Decline December 10, 2002 By MICHELINE MAYNARD United Airlines, on its first day of operating under bankruptcy protection, moved swiftly yesterday to assure passengers that they would see no changes in service. But airline analysts said it was only a matter of time before travelers noticed fewer flights, smaller planes and the elimination of some routes. United, answering the question on the minds of many travelers, emphasized yesterday that passengers could continue to earn frequent-flier miles and that they could continue to trade them in for tickets at the same mileage levels as before. For the moment, the airline said it would operate a normal schedule of 1,800 flights a day, worldwide, with no changes in snacks or other onboard service. United said there was no need to rebook flights on other airlines because it was honoring all tickets. But it may not be as easy in the future for travelers to book the flights on the dates and to the destinations they want, whether they are buying tickets or cashing in frequent-flier miles. Even before it announced that it would file for bankruptcy protection, United said it would cut back its flights by 6 percent through spring. Yesterday, the airline said that was still the plan. But Sam Buttrick, an airline analyst with UBS Warburg in New York, said that United could trim its service by more than twice that, up to 13 percent, depending on the changes it needed to make. Mr. Buttrick forecast that the airline would reduce flights incrementally, cutting 5 percent at a time as it worked through its schedules. In an interview yesterday, United's chief executive, Glenn F. Tilton, declined to predict which services might be eliminated. "The most important thing at United right now," Mr. Tilton said, "is our customers, our customers, our customers." He visited O'Hare Airport in Chicago at 6:20 a.m. yesterday, shortly before the airline filed its papers with the bankruptcy court, to talk to passengers and assure them that everything would be fine. Still, there were hints of what was to come. Amid the relentlessly upbeat tone of a long list of reassurances posted on United's Web site was the acknowledgment that "as we move through the restructuring process, there may be some changes that could affect certain routes, although we will strive to keep the impact on customers to a minimum." "We will make public announcements about any such decisions," the airline said. Among the places most likely to be affected are those served by United's fleet of Boeing 747-400 jets, the wide-bodied, long-haul planes that have the highest operating costs, both in maintenance and pilot pay per hour. That means passengers on routes where the 747's are most often used - like the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and on transcontinental flights within the United States - could find themselves in smaller aircraft as United begins reallocating its fleet. And some fliers could see their routes eliminated. Mr. Tilton said United planned to work more closely with its Star Alliance partners - including Air Canada, Lufthansa and Varig in Brazil - relying on them to pick up the slack on service it had been offering but might discontinue. In the case of Brazil, where United serves the two largest cities, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, from the United States, it may decide to stop flying to one of them, with Varig ferrying United passengers the 224 air miles to the other city. In addition, smaller planes are expected to be used on short flights in the United States. In the coming months, United will be giving up some bigger aircraft in favor of regional jets, which are more economical to operate but have fewer seats. Along with streamlining its schedule, United said it might close some of its Red Carpet executive lounges, although it had not determined where or when. It noted that club members have reciprocity privileges, under certain rules, with clubs run by US Airways, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this fall. The American Society of Travel Agents, which issued a list of tips for airline passengers, said the best protection for people flying on United "or any airline that has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy" was to use a credit card when purchasing tickets. The trade group said passengers could refuse to pay for services that were not rendered, like flights that are canceled if a carrier stopped flying. Industry analysts said United's passengers might face unpleasantness from demoralized United's employees, who saw the value of their stock in the airline virtually wiped out by the bankruptcy filing. But Mr. Tilton said he was certain that morale among the airline's more than 80,000 employees would remain high. He said that the combination of the terrorist attacks in September 2001, which involved two United jets, and the turmoil that has roiled the airline in the last weeks as it tried to avert the Chapter 11 filing, have made United's work force "extraordinarily resilient." Mr. Tilton said he was pleased by the reaction he received from passengers as he stood in the middle of the airport terminal at dawn. "Our customers said, `We are with you, we are with you, we are with you,' " he recalled. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/10/business/10FLIE.html?ex=1040529058&ei=1&en=a54d40da5d4d9f1e HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company