UA: We Will Upgrade Customers if we have more Late Arrivals than DL/AA

That sound you heard this morning was probably United Airlines executives, linking arms, skipping down their carpeted hallways and singing “Anything you can do, I can do better.” Almost six months after Delta told its corporate clients that it would give them fare credits if it had more cancelations and delays than its competitors, United is doing the same thing.
Bloomberg reports that the airline has told its own corporate customers that it will be as reliable as American and Delta next year, or it will give them credits that could be used for seat upgrades or other ancillary purchases.

Unlike Delta’s Operational Performance Commitment, United’s guarantee will also include international and regional flights (Delta’s is limited to domestic routes, and does not include its regional affiliates). United will be measuring its on-time performance — defined as landing before or right at scheduled arrival times — against American and Delta, but in order to award those customer credits, it has to beat either the on-time rate and completion rate of either airline, not both. In other words, don’t start adding up all of those Economy Plus upgrades yet. Dave Hillman, the senior vice-president of worldwide sales at United said that the chances that the airline would actually have to pay up was “slim to none.”