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United Airlines has announced that, later this year, it will be taking steps to “elevate the customer experience at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport by offering customers shorter, more convenient connection times and better access to more destinations“.
The move, known as rebanking, will take place on 29 October 2017 and will see United realign its schedules to bring closer together its arrivals and departures in an effort to bring down the connection times between flights.
In principle that sounds great…but it opens up numerous opportunities for things to go wrong.
While shorter connection times mean shorter total traveling time for passengers, it also means there is less slack built into the schedule to allow for delays – If you have a 2 hour connection time then it often doesn’t matter if your first flight is 30-45 minutes late as you should still have plenty of time to make your connection…that’s not the case if that connection time is slashed.
Having large volumes of aircraft arriving and departing at the same time also has challenges of its own – airports can quickly become congested (a bit like a highway during peak hours) and that can lead to delays….which then plays in to my first point above.
Here’s what Andrew Nocella (United’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer) had to say:
We are excited to take these steps to improve our operations in Houston which will offer our customers greater access to more destinations throughout the country and more opportunities for connections
Together, we are working to make United an airline that is the first choice for customers in Houston and everywhere we fly.
Per United’s press release:
United is continuing to invest in its employees in Houston, providing them with more of the tools they need to better serve customers, particularly under the new structure. The airline is also increasing staffing and adding new lobby check-in kiosks to provide customers with a more efficient airport experience.
This effort is called “rebanking.” United has traditionally operated a schedule of ten “flight banks” at Houston, with the hub serving as a connection point for east-to-west routes across the U.S. along with Latin America. With the new effort, United will consolidate existing flights into an enhanced eight-bank structure, connecting customers from all directions, enabling the airline to use aircraft more effectively throughout the entire country.
United Airlines also took this opportunity to remind travelers of the updates that are taking place at George Bush Intercontinental Airport:
United’s customers will see big transformation at the airline’s Houston hub in 2018 with the completion of its $277 millioninvestment in the new C North Concourse where United customers will enjoy roomier gate areas, the latest technology and chef-inspired dining choices.
Thoughts
I’m always a bit wary when airlines rebank an airport as, lets face it, they’re not the greatest at getting things right as things stand so what are they going to be like when traffic is flowing at a more hectic pace?
In principle I like the idea of shorter connection times as, in an ideal world, the less time we take to travel the more time we have at home or our destinations….but this isn’t an ideal world and things go wrong. They go wrong all the time.
Given a choice I’d rather had a padded connection than a shorter one just so that I have some leeway if (when) things go awry so I’m not exactly jumping up and down with excitement at this news.
