A great gesture by United Airlines. And what it costs in dollars will be paid back in recognition and passenger loyalty.
United Airlines has given out 30,000 miles in vouchers to those passengers who were affected by the delays and cancelations during the July 4th holiday.
Passengers who were delayed overnight or outright missed their flights between June 24 and June 30 were given the vouchers. The vouchers are redeemable to fly in the continental United States between 8,000 destinations, a United spokesman said.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said he can’t remember a time when the airline was so operationally challenged, and that giving out the vouchers was the right thing to do.
"Airlines can plan for things like hurricanes, sub-zero temperatures and snowstorms, but United has never seen an extended limited operating environment like the one we saw this past week at Newark," Kirby told employees in a July 1 email.
Kirby himself came under some social media backlash last week when his commercial flight on United was canceled and he opted to take a private plane.
"Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home," Kirby said last weekend in a statement.
During the week-long period at the end of June, leading to the run-up to the holiday weekend, United had 40,000 flights delayed and 8,000 canceled, according to FlightAware. United was especially hard hit at Newark International Airport, one of its hubs.
Bad weather, including thunder and lightning storms, was the culprit.
“Airlines, including United, simply aren't designed to have their largest hub have its capacity severely limited for four straight days and still operate successfully," Kirby said, also adding last week that a short- staffed Federal Aviation Administration and a lack of air traffic controllers contributed to the delays and cancelations.
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