United Airlines will offer an operational performance guarantee for corporate travelers from next year in line with a similar scheme announced by rival Delta Air Lines.
The carrier’s Global Performance Commitment will measure itself for on-time performance and cancelations against its two main competitors Delta and American Airlines.
It United fails to match both airlines it will offer United Services Funds to eligible customers, which can be used the following year for certain upgrades and extra amenities.
United’s monthly on-time arrival ranking was up to fifth out of 13 major airlines in September, based on government data but it will not be using the same data to measure itself against rivals.
It will employ ‘an independent third-party vendor’ to record on-time performance and not official Department of Transportation statistics.
Monitoring will be ‘auditable and transparent,’ said senior vice president of worldwide sales Dave Hilfman.
"Clearly, there’s a value in making a significant commitment to operational excellence and backing it up," Hilfman said.
"We thought to ourselves, ‘How do we differentiate ourselves and make it more valuable to more of our customers?’"
Monitoring begins on January 1, 2016 and annual compensation varies from $1,000 to up to $250,000 depening on the size of the corporate travel account and other performance factors.
"Customers have noted the operational improvement, so it’s a great time to stand behind it," United vice president of sales for the Americas Jake Cefolia said.
