United Club Overhaul
United Airlines announced today that they are “transforming the customer experience” in their United Clubs. According to their press release, this transformation involves renovations, a new menu and a new hospitality based approached to customer service.
New Menu
United released the details of their new menu as part of their overhaul. The new menu will be available in Chicago O’Hare this week with a number of cities following by the end of the summer. All United Clubs will feature the new menu by the end of 2015.
As part of the new menu, United will also roll out a new upgraded beverage sale program with premium wines, beers and spirits. The only two specific brands mentioned were: Champagne Laurent-Perrier and Trinchero Family Estates Wines.
Morning Food Selections
- Hot Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
- Greek Vanilla Yogurt
- Scones
- Assorted Cereals & Milk
- Fresh Bagel Sticks
- Cage-Free Hard Boiled Eggs
- Spicy Bloody Mary Trail Mix
- Fresh Fruit
Afternoon Food Selections
- Fresh Hummus
- Mediterranean Salad
- Soup du Jour
- Cured Salami and Cheddar Cheese
- Healthy Fitness Trail Mix
- Salty Ranchero Trail Mix
- Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle
- Artisan Breads
You can find detailed descriptions of each item in the here.
Renovations
Only a few of the existing United Club locations will receive renovations. United has stated that clubs in Chicago O’Hare, Washington Reagan, Hong Kong & Tokyo Narita will be renovated by the end of the year. They are also building new clubs in San Francisco and Atlanta and will begin “major changes” at their Los Angeles club.
About the renovations:
Each lounge will reflect the new, modern style with upgraded amenities showcased in the airline’s Chicago O’Hare,Boston, London Heathrow, San Diego and Seattle United Club renovations. The new design schemes incorporate both United’s unique aviation history and panoramic views of modern-day aviation in action. New and renovated United Clubs offer more and diverse seating arrangements.
Service
As part of this initiative, United is also going to train their agents with a new customer service program. This new training is supposed to be more hospitality focused and is designed to, “better match club members’ expectations”.
This is something that I feel is sorely needed in a lot of club lounges. I have never had any specific issues in United Clubs, but I find the agents in Admiral’s Clubs are a tad nicer. My biggest complaint about United would be indifference. This demonstrates that the airline realizes they need to move in a better direction.
Conclusion
It is nice to see that United is expanding the complimentary food offerings in their United Clubs and I hope that American Airlines will follow suit. Overall these changes seem to be positive and it is good to see a focus on customer service as part of the overhaul.
What do you think? Will this improve the United Club experience? Let me know in the comments.
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[…] United Revamping Their Lounges – New Menu, Renovations & Customer Service Training! […]
These guys have gone so far down the cheapness rabbit hole that there is no return. The latest cheap out I noticed was the cheese in the lounge has been reduce by 1/2 in terms of package size. Combined with surly (at best) customer service from all levels means gazillions are going to have to be spent bringing things above a Walmart standard. I’d love to have that contract!!
Maybe this is their way of trying to make it right. At least they are acknowledging the poor customer service with this new training program. I am reserving judgement, but hopefully it makes some sort of a difference. With that said, I like to see results and not just press releases.