United Airlines recently introduced United CleanPlus – the company’s commitment to putting health and safety at the forefront of the entire customer experience, with the goal of delivering an industry-leading standard of cleanliness.
United CleanPlus brings together a trusted brand in surface disinfection – Clorox – and the country’s top medical experts – Cleveland Clinic – to inform and guide United’s new cleaning, safety and social distancing protocols that includes touchless kiosks in select locations for baggage check-in, sneeze guards, mandatory face coverings for crew and customers, and giving customers options when flights are more full. Specifically, Clorox products will be used at United’s hub airports and medical experts from the Cleveland Clinic will advise on new technologies, training development and quality assurance programming.
By establishing collaborations with world-renowned leaders in surface disinfection and health like Clorox and Cleveland Clinic, United customers can travel with more confidence knowing that the airline’s protocols have been informed by trusted experts.
“Safety has always been our top priority, and right now in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, it’s our singular customer focus,” said United CEO, Scott Kirby. “We recognize that COVID-19 has brought cleanliness and hygiene standards to the front of customers’ minds when making travel decisions, and we’re not leaving a single stone unturned in our pursuit to better protect our customers and employees.”
The United CleanPlus commitment to customers is already happening throughout the travel journey across the United network in a number of ways. To date, United has implemented more than a dozen new policies and procedures aligned with United CleanPlus that are designed with health and safety in mind, including:
In Airport Lobbies:
- Reducing touchpoints by temporarily shutting down self-service kiosks and beginning to roll out, in select locations, touchless kiosks that allow customers to print bag tags using their own device to scan a QR code.
- Actively promoting social distancing with enhanced signage, including a 6 ft. rule at the ticket counters which allows for minimal contact between agents and customers.
- Deploying sneeze guards at key interaction points, including at United’ check-in counters.
At the Gate:
- Boarding fewer customers at a time to allow for more distance during the boarding process, minimizing crowding at the gate and jet bridge.
- Asking our customers to self-scan their boarding passes at our gate readers.
- Equipping our employees with disinfecting products available so they can disinfect high-touch areas including armrests and handrails.
In the United Clubs:
- Protective sneeze guards installed at credentialing desks and customer service positions to minimize contact between guests and team members.
- Enhanced safety and well-being of team members by requiring the use of personal protective equipment.
- Increased the frequency of cleaning of high-touch surfaces and equipping team members with disinfectant cleaning products.
- Removed seating at the bar area to actively promote physical distancing.
- Pre-packaged food and beverages available only at the bar area to reduce customer touch points.
Onboard Aircraft:
- United introduced an “all in one” economy snack bag that replaces the economy beverage and complimentary snack choice service on domestic flights scheduled 2 hours and 20 minutes or more. This bag will include a wrapped sanitizer wipe, an 8.5 oz. bottled water, a Stroopwafel and a package of pretzels.
- Enhancing cabin sanitization including electrostatic spraying, which happens before every flight since June.
- Requiring all employees and customers on board to wear a mask or face covering, helping protect each other.
- Supplying individually wrapped hand sanitizer wipes to customers as they board.
- Limiting advance seat selections where possible and allowing customers to take alternative flights when we expect a flight to operate over 70% capacity.
Behind the Scenes:
- Implementing employee temperature checks before the start of their workday, better safeguarding their health as well as their teammates’ and customers’.
- Employees are producing hand sanitizer that is being used throughout the airline.
For more information on United CleanPlus visit United.com/CleanPlus
