Is United Express United Airlines?

Many people assume that airline regional affiliates are are owned and operated by the major airlines, as regional airline liveries try to insinuate, and so anything that happens on a regional affiliate is the mainline carrier's fault. The truth is far more complicated.

Everyone is familiar with the notorious "dragging incident" that took place on a United Express flight in April 2017 that was boarding at O'Hare for a flight to Louisville.

Trouble arouse when shortly before departure time, four United employees showed up who had to travel to Louisville to operate flights the next day (probably on something like "positive space" passes). The flight was fully booked. Not enough passengers accepted incentives to deplane and take a flight the next day, so using whatever algorithm United was using at the time, one passenger was selected who was forced to give up his seat. When he refused, police officers from the Chicago Department of Aviation were called, who ultimately dragged the elderly passenger down the aisle by his arms, causing several injuries and outrage among the other passengers.

Social media and the major news outlets were immediately inflamed by the sensational story. United Airlines was pilloried by the press, made worse when UA president Oscar Munoz at first did not grovel deeply and quickly enough. But...was this incident United's fault?

The answer would have to be--not directly. At the time of the incident, alone among the big three US airlines, United did not own any of its regional affiliates. A statement issued a few days later by the United pilots union stated the the pilots were "infuriated" by this incident, taking pains to point out that it did not occur on a United Airlines aircraft but on a non-owned Republic Airlines aircraft. No United employees were involved in the incident, and it was the police who dragged the man off.

Of course, this logical explanation was completely ignored by the press and by social media, who were delighted to find a new target to attack. It's much more fun to attack a major corporation.

In my own experience working for United Express feeder Mesa Airlines some years ago, United agents in Denver did their best to inform passengers that we were NOT United Airlines, despite the livery on the planes. While speaking to passengers, the agents practically accused us of incompetence. "Well, what can you expect from United Express" was often heard. United did not even offer us any better pass privileges than other carriers did (ID-90 only). Even Continental, still independent at the time, gave us their employee pass rates through a "city agreement". As a result, I flew to work from Colorado Springs to Denver every day on Continental, in my United uniform.

I don't know whether United is still as hostile to its regional partners as they used to be, but if they are, the chickens are coming home to roost. If United's regional affiliate employees are made to feel like second-class citizens by United, they can hardly be expected to uphold United's standards of service, which have not been stellar in the recent past.

If relations between United and its regional carriers are still as bad as they used to be, United needs to do some serious fence mending, to make the affiliate employees feel like they belong to United and that they should behave as such.