Hi, this is Glenn, and it's Thursday, the 4th of August.

With me on the call today is Katherine Nickel, United's Operating Manager for Customer Service at the Denver International Airport . Katherine is going to share with us how she and her team are implementing new procedures for customer check-in and service.

In Airport Operations, FIT stands for Fix, Improve and Transform...and it is exactly the kind of proactive approach we are taking to every aspect of United's business to sharpen our competitive performance.

As we move toward exit from Chapter 11 and the opportunity to be a leader in this highly competitive industry, operational excellence is more important than ever to our customers. We all own responsibility for the customer experience.

Just as United's restructuring work continues to move ahead, our work to make United the best we can be is also continuing across the company.

Working together as one company, dedicated to continually improving every day, we can achieve the competitive edge we must have to succeed.

So Katherine over to you...

Katherine:

Thanks, Glenn.

When EasyCheck-in Units, better known to most of us as ECUs, were introduced, customer service representatives at DIA were given responsibility for four and often more machines.

A CSR might be working five minutes to help a senior citizen find her way through the screens and options, while another customer had completed check-in and was ready to roll, but couldn't because he was waiting for the bag tag hanging out of the printer.

The process was somewhat difficult for CSRs and was sometimes inefficient for customers.

After a thorough study of the process and how we could make it better, we introduced a new standardized way of check-in processing and service. That is what FIT is all about.

We have three points of contact.

The CSR in Position A greets each customer, checks that they are in the right place with the right information and makes them feel comfortable.

Position B takes charge of the ECU efficiency and productivity. Idle machines waste customers' time and United's money. Position B also is the troubleshooter, spending more time with customers who need help.

If the customer can't get through the process, then he or she is led to Position C, which is our secondary check-in, usually for longer transactions.

Service directors used to walk around with a radio, moving from one call to the next without being able to really manage their operation. Now each service director owns his or her particular area and is accountable for having the right people in the right positions.

With FIT the average peak line wait at the busiest times during swing shift is 10 minutes...day shift is 15 minutes – that's a great improvement. Previously, our cost per check-in was about 3 dollars per transaction. Today our average cost per check-in on the day shift is 94 cents and 1 dollar 50 cents for swing shift.

The experience is better for our customers, too. We do line checks and time customers' progress. If they arrive at a peak time, they can be concerned. We explain that we are there to help them. Then, we check with them again when they're done –- usually less than 15 minutes later –- and they say, "You were right. It was quick. It was easy."

That makes the CSRs feel good. They can see that the productivity is there. They know that FIT works.

I was a CSR and I understand the anxiety you feel when you walk in that door on a high volume day and see the line stretching around the lobby. You know that it makes customers anxious, nervous they might miss their flights.

We just don't have that situation anymore. CSRs have confidence that we can take care of our customers. Supervisors can move where they need to be to serve customers and supervisors have more time to lead their teams...time to mentor and coach people on how we can do the job better.

Recently, we suddenly had three busloads of ROTC guys and gals show up. They can't go to the group desk, they all have individual reservations. For those of you who know the lobby at DIA , the line was suddenly out past the queue, along the wall and all the way down by the Credit Union.

In the old days, if three bus loads dropped in on us like that, we would have been scrambling. But you know, within 15 - 20 minutes, that line was all cleared up. The CSRs did phenomenal work using the FIT procedure. I'm very proud of my team.

Glenn...

Glenn:

Thanks, Katherine. You really should be proud of yourself and your team. Not only have you successfully adopted a whole new way of serving our customers, your team managed this switch to FIT in the midst of a huge lobby reconstruction project at DIA , which in itself presented everyone with very challenging working conditions.

This is an excellent example of how United employees are working together to fundamentally change the way we do business. Working smarter, more effectively and more efficiently...working together as one company and Katherine has provided us with an excellent example of that on the call.

That's all for now. Thanks again, Katherine. I'll be talking to all of you on the call again soon. Until then, stay focused on our customers as Katherine has suggested and on one another. And stay united.