United, The Duct Tape Airline

TVs on United 903, duct taped in place

I don’t normally write about such things but a couple of recent international flights on United Airlines were troubling, and raised questions in my mind about safety … how much is United cutting back on maintenance and pushing or circumventing the limits of repair standards? Ultimately, I believe it reflects poorly in United’s brand image.

Here’s the background – during a United flight to Munich from Washington Dulles, I noticed how shabby the interior of the 777C appeared. Seats were dirty looking and threadbare … plastic molding was chipped and broken.

I had splurged for business class – seat 13A – but even there, the TV screen was broken, and I noticed how glazed and old looking the windows seemed. Windows were in such poor shape that a clear photo would not have been possible. Both the TV screen and seat were broken at 13B.

Duct tape from the plane's security kit.

I have been flying United for decades but lately, their planes have a tired look about them.

Then, as fate would have it, my return home a couple of weeks later was on the same plane – nose number 2380 and tail “N” number N780UA. I was even in the same seat. And, guess what?! Everything was still broken and more.

Not only was the TV at my seat still broken but many other passengers were complaining that many of the seats in business class didn’t function. The footrest for seat 12B got stuck, requiring the passenger to move to another seat for landing.

Broken business class seat. One of many.

Here’s the troubling part … flight attendants told me that the TV at my seat had been written up in the repair log on my flight to Munich, but nothing had been done to repair it in more than two weeks. They called N780UA a problem 777 and told me of many things broken. The seat, for example, used for pilot rest periods was broken for so many weeks that maintenance people simply took it out of service permanently.

Two United flight attendants try to fix broken business class seat prior to landing. No luck.

They said that United has laid-off many domestic U.S. maintenance people in order to take advantage of cheaper aircraft maintenance in China. But, repairs are not getting done properly in China. In other words, United finds it cheaper to fly big aircraft to third-party maintenance shops in China rather than to use skilled American technicians.

The flight I was on, they said – United 903 – was short two flight attendants, raising safety violation questions.

And, what do the flight attendants do in order to help passengers who encounter broken cabin items? They provide a roll of masking tape. In my case, however, with the broken TV, the copilot had to raid the aircraft’s security kit for something stronger – a roll of duct tape – in order to hold the TV screens in place.

Makes me wonder … if that many things are broken inside N780UA, what about the engines and all the mechanical stuff that keeps the aircraft aloft for long flights over oceans? Scary thought.

A fellow passenger on United 903 told me he had flown to Germany on a Lufthansa flight and found it to be a night and day different experience from United. Lufthansa, he said, was clean, new and everything worked. He added that the Lufthansa plane was also quiet, referring to loud rattles and cracking noises on the United flight.

Category: Featured, Reputation management