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United Airlines
Rating the fare warriors
March 21, 2004
By Jane Engle, Times Staff Writer
This industry giant, which traces its roots to a 1926 air-mail service, is the largest U.S. airline under bankruptcy protection. Since filing in December 2002, it has continued to fly but was still in Chapter 11 at the Travel section's press time Tuesday.
United has cut costs, reduced some business fares, launched a low-cost carrier named Ted and made other changes to pull out of its financial tailspin.
At Boston's Logan airport, I checked in for my 9 p.m. flight to Denver at one of the self-serve kiosks. The remaining staff tagged bags and processed customers with paper tickets.
The gate agents were efficient and cheerful although devoid of knock-knock jokes — a mercy, perhaps. Ditto for the onboard crew.
The mostly gray cabin of our B757 showed some fatigue: Worn seatback pockets were stuffed with unwrapped headphones and well-thumbed airline and Sky Mall magazines. I missed having a personal TV, although "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," screened on drop-down cabin monitors, was a classy film offering.
My main complaint was legroom. With the seat in front reclined, my knees cleared the seatback by barely 2 inches, less than half the gap on Song and JetBlue. I'm 5 feet, 7 inches tall. No wonder 6-footers scramble for bulkhead and exit-row seats.
There was no free food on my 4 1/2-hour flight, another "frill" that the once-glamorous majors are eliminating to compete with their low-cost cousins. But my $7 chicken Caesar salad wrap, bought onboard, was ample and tasty.
Except for legroom, United delivered a good flying experience. Yet it got a lukewarm response from several passengers I spoke with.
Typical was Avery Hancock, a San Francisco resident who attends college in Boston. When asked why she takes United, she replied, "I'm used to it, and I get [frequent flier] miles." Besides, she added, discounter Southwest doesn't fly this route.
As for the fare: Had I booked JetBlue, I could have flown for $87.50 instead of the $127.60 I paid on United.
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