August 11, 2006 – Employee Response to New Security Directives

Hi, it's Glenn, it's the 11th of August, a Friday.  We just concluded our Leadership Call that recounted the extraordinary efforts that are going on throughout our company as we respond to directives from the Department of Homeland Security.  The details of these efforts speak volumes to the dedication, strength and commitment of our people at United.

On the call this morning, Captain Hank Krakowski, vice president, corporate safety, security and quality assurance, talked to the leadership team about our work with the Transportation Security Administration in implementing the various security directives that have been issued.  After going through the details, Hank commented on the recognition by the TSA of the importance of working with us and other carriers to create the best outcome for our passengers and our people.  From his perspective, we have achieved new levels of cooperation with the TSA, due in no small part to the knowledge and the expertise that we bring to the table all across the United system.

After Hank, Alex Marren, vice president, operations service, shared information on the performance of our operations, including the fact that we have completed 98.4 percent of our departures -- topping our target for the day.  She reported that we had no cancellations on Thursday resulting from the security directives.

Then, Joanne Calabrese, our vice president of hub operations, talked about the quick work that was done to accommodate and encourage customers to check their bags at lobby counters, including the EasyCheck-in units, with the appropriate fee waivers put in place.  In San Francisco, the foundational work that's being done in Customer Experience contributed to the wait in our Premier checkout line being held to less than 30 minutes.

Judy Bishop, vice president of customer contact centers, then provided the global leader team insight into our performance relative to customer calls.  In the face of significantly higher call volumes, we focused on providing fast response to our Global Service customers by answering calls in 12 seconds on average, and at a rate only slightly higher for Elite customers.

As added insight into the individual contributions of our people, Judy shared a customer message to me by e-mail that expressed appreciation for one of our customer service representatives -- Sam Craft -- who, in the words of the customer, “made a lasting impression” in the way in which he handled a rescheduling issue.  To be sure, we had hundreds of employees that rose to the challenge in the same manner as Sam.

In terms of our operations at London Heathrow, I'll let Ray McGhie, our general manager there, speak for himself and his team of the challenges they faced and that they effectively dealt with.  I know that you will hear the pride that comes through in Ray's voice at the opportunity to speak to the ingenuity and spirit that were evident in our people there…just as we heard him do on the leadership call this morning.  So, Ray, I'll turn the call over to you...

RAY:
I'd have to say it was what we'd call a challenging day.  In fact, first thing in the morning we weren't even sure whether we could get into the airport because at one stage, the roads, as you could imagine, were gridlock and the airport almost came to a stand still.  We then had problems with the ramp security post, so we couldn't get fuel dispensers in, the caterers couldn't get through, the crews were waiting at the security gate for up to two hours to get through, vendors couldn't get through and, indeed, we couldn't even get our employees through at one stage. 

But the day did start very early, as I say, when we got the call from the U.K. Department of Transport telling us about the new security directive, and it was obvious at that stage that the scene was set for a significant impact for our customers and operation.  So, the first step was to inform the critical people and open up our local crisis center, so we got folks -- representatives from ramp service, operations, customer service, onboard, and consulted with all the local departments.  We were in constant communication with OPB, Headquarters.  We contacted all our vendors to make sure we had a clear understanding of any issues that they might have and that gave the crisis team the basis to set the plan for the situation as it unfolded.  Lots of things happened during the day, as we can imagine.  One of the challenges was first thing, we couldn't even open up check-in because customers were not allowed any hand bags, as we know, and the airport authority didn't have any plastic bags.  So, we had a quick-thinking CSR who nipped across to our caterers, got some bags, came back, and we opened up check-in.  So that was kind of fortuitous for us.  We then had to prioritize all our departures.  We had to look at the cargo, would we take cargo or not?  So we prioritized that.  And we put in place a robust customer communication plan, and we briefed all the departments, we briefed crews, front-line staff and opened up the lobby. 

We had great support locally from people outside the airport ops. environment.  We had people from cargo sales, from passenger sales, from communication.  We had staff on their day off that came in - all of us to help in the lobby, which gave us the opportunity to have a managed operation.  I can't say enough about how the folks worked here; the CSRs, the ramp staff, flight crews, did a really good job, and it paid off because we didn't have any cancellations and all our trips departed - be it within about two hours of departure. 

We've got plans in place for this weekend.  I've just heard that perhaps it's on for another few weeks, so we'll have to tweak that up.  But just in summary, yesterday, as I said once again, all our flights departed within about two hours of schedule.  We've pulled that round today - we've done a much better job.  We're averaging about 50 minutes on the delays today - still got a few flights to go.  But certainly all our departures will depart again today, and we haven't got any cancellations.  I'm so proud of the team in London and so pleased with the cooperation and the teamwork that we experienced with all our colleagues in OPB, headquarters, gateway stations.  And it served our customers in operation - put us in great stead. 

GLENN:
Thanks, Ray, for that excellent report, and for a great achievement in getting all of our flights out yesterday.

At the conclusion of the call, I talked about the fact that on Wednesday, a number of officers were gathered at O'Hare in Cindy's conference room, to discuss the path of our journey down the road of continuous improvement.  It included a review, by some of those who were there, of site visits to Alcoa, Boeing and Toyota.  These were visits that the team took throughout the weeks prior to our meeting on Thursday to learn of continuous improvement at these companies.  I would have to say upon reflection, that had anybody from Alcoa, Boeing or Toyota visited United yesterday, they would today be talking to their employees about what they saw at United Airlines.  We should take a moment to appreciate the work that our people did yesterday and our ability to perform under the most difficult of circumstances.

So with that, all that is left for me to do is to thank all of you for all of the extraordinary effort and the excellent work that you put in over the last 48 hours.  That's all for now.  I'll be talking to you again soon.  Until then, stay focused on our customers, stay focused on one another, and stay united.