United Airlines announces updated flight schedules

GUAM—United Airlines announced the updated flight schedules for Guam, Saipan, Palau, and Micronesia from May through July 5, 2020.

At a time when demand for travel is quite low due to the COVID-19 global outbreak and strict travel restrictions remain in place in the islands, United is carefully adjusting flights in the region. United will be operating an estimated 85% fewer flights in May and June 2020 compared to the same period last year.

Sam Shinohara, United’s managing director of Airport Operations for Asia-Pacific said, “As the islands slowly reopen, United will continue to support its customers and the community by trying to maintain lifeline connections. While we see that travel in the months ahead and into late summer might be slow, United looks forward to welcoming our customers back and providing a safe and comfortable travel experience.”

United also provided updates for the following routes:

■ Tokyo/Narita: Two of the three daily flights from Guam have been suspended until further notice – UA 828/ UA 827 and UA 873/ UA 874.

■ Nagoya and Osaka: Suspended until further notice.

■ Fukuoka: Suspended until October 24, 2020.

■ Manila: Suspended until further notice, including the Manila to Koror segment.

With current COVID-19 travel restrictions in place, flight schedules are subject to change without advance notice. Customers are encouraged to check united.com for the latest flight schedule.

Flexibility to change flight bookings

Given the high level of uncertainty regarding travel, United is working to give customers more flexibility by waiving change fees for any booking – domestic or international – through May 31 for any travel they have booked through the end of the year. For more information visit https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html. What United is doing to keep customers and employees safe
The safety of our customers and employees is and always will be our top priority, and we have implemented strict policies to keep our customers and employees safe.

Staying updated:

Because the impact of the coronavirus outbreak continues to evolve rapidly, our teams are in daily contact with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), government agencies and other global health organizations to share the most up-to-the-minute information. We also have a team of in-house medical experts, including an industrial hygienist who reviews and tests cleaning products, and a corporate medical team who are on-call, around the clock to assist with employee and customer health inquiries.

Aircraft cleaning:

All aircraft are cleaned at a variety of touchpoints throughout the day. The cleaning procedure for flights includes a thorough wipe-down of all hard surfaces touched by customers and employees—lavatories, galleys, tray tables, window shades, and armrests. Our teams use an effective, high-grade disinfectant and multi-purpose cleaner.

When we are advised by the CDC or local health authorities of an employee or customer who has traveled onboard and who is exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, that aircraft is taken out of service and sent through a full decontamination process that includes our standard cleaning procedures plus washing ceilings and overhead bins and scrubbing the interior.

United’s mainline aircraft are equipped with state-of-the-art circulation systems, similar to those found in hospitals, which use a high-efficiency (HEPA) filter to circulate the air and remove up to 99.7% of airborne particles.

In flight:

Limiting person-to-person contact and contamination are paramount to what we do. We have implemented onboard procedures to minimize risks, including:

■ Effective April 24, all flight attendants have started to wear face masks while on duty. We are the first major U.S. airline to implement such a requirement, which further demonstrates our commitment to the safety of our customers and flight attendants.

■ Effective May 4, all travelers are required to wear a facial covering on board. We encourage customers to bring their own face coverings, but our customer service agents will be able to provide them if they don’t have one when boarding our aircraft.

■ We have stopped refilling used cups and glasses in all cabins. If a customer requests a refill, our flight attendants will provide a new cup or glass.

■ Customers may now see flight attendants wearing gloves during food and beverage service as well as during pickup, in all cabins.

■ Our flight attendants will hand all beverages directly to the customer, instead of allowing the customer to take their own from the tray.

■ All tableware, dishes, cutlery, carts, and glassware are washed and sanitized.

■ We have added supplies where circumstances warrant for our crews such as gloves, masks, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, sani-com wipes, foaming hand soap, and disinfectant wipes as supply becomes available.

■ We will be doing more to promote social distancing such as restricting advanced seat selection for adjacent seats and will be boarding fewer customers at a time during the COVID-19 outbreak.

United invites customers to visit the hub.united.com website to learn more about how the company is taking extensive measures to safeguard the health and safety of its employees and passengers.

Shinohara added, “We understand that our customers may have some concerns about traveling again, which is why it’s important that they understand United’s commitment to keeping customers and employees safe from before takeoff to after landing.” About United

United’s shared purpose is “Connecting People. Uniting the World.” For more information, visit united.com, follow @United on Twitter and Instagram or connect on Facebook. The common stock of United’s parent, United Airlines Holdings, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL.” (PR)