United Airlines Contrite on Fiasco at O’Hare

UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, the second-biggest U.S. carrier, said it failed to prepare for a deluge of holiday travelers that left customers waiting in subfreezing temperatures at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport last weekend.

“We disappointed our customers by not being prepared, as we should have been, for the extraordinary volume of passengers,” Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said in a message to employees Sunday. “We will identify and we will resolve the cause.”

The city provided four “warming buses” outside United’s O’Hare terminal Saturday for travelers waiting in lines that stretched out the airport doors, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for Chicago’s aviation department. Police were sent to help the airline direct the crowds, Abrams said.

The airline is trying to convince customers that its performance is improving and that it is ready to emerge from three years of bankruptcy protection. United customers filed 16% fewer complaints with the U.S. Transportation Department in October than they did in December 2002, the month UAL filed for bankruptcy protection.

United spokeswoman Jean Medina said the disruptions were caused in part by weather-related flight cancellations Thursday and Friday that pushed passengers onto Saturday flights.

“They may have trimmed their system too low,” said Tom Parsons, who monitors fares and service for online travel agent Bestfares.com. “It can’t handle it when things go wrong. Everyone is trying to push the system as if it’s a perfect day 365 days a year.”

UAL, based in Elk Grove Township, Ill., has reduced labor costs by $3.85 billion annually since filing for Chapter 11. United has about 57,000 employees, down from 102,000 at the end of 2000.