Pass Travel UPDATE June 1, 2019
1) Switch your Enrolled Friends by 6/28
2) Pay Pass Travel Tax Withholdings Invoice Online
3) New Livery
4) New & seasonal flights abroad this summer
5) Check your profile before flying
6) Get KTN for TSA & immigration entry
7) BONUS! 3 Items from RUPA
8) News from United Daily
9) RAFA’s website
1) Switch your Enrolled Friends by 6/28
Retirees may change their Enrolled Friends for the July-December travel period by midnight June 28th (CDT). If you do nothing your current EFs will automatically roll over. If you do NOT want them to roll over you must either change them or UNCHECK them (to leave a slot open to fill later). After midnight on June 28th the next chance to change your EFs will be in December (for the January-June travel period next year).
Visit the Flying Together website ft.ual.com and go to:
FT > Travel > Pass Travel > “Manage pass riders”.
For help: read this page, the pdf, Q&A and view the video:
Read these 3 important tips 1) How to change or add an EF, 2) why you can’t register a new EF and 3) how to leave an EF slot open to fill later:
http://www.rafa-cwa.org/3-Tips-for-Enrolling-EFs
2) Pay Pass Travel Tax Withholdings Invoice Online
When your pass riders accrue pass travel taxes United will send retirees withholding invoices via US Mail. Note: You can now opt to have those invoices delivered to you by email instead of US Mail. Here is the invoice schedule:
Pass Travel During Invoice Sent Payment Due
Nov-Jan March June 15
Feb-Apr June July 15
May-Jul September October 15
Aug-Oct December January 15
If your pass riders do not accrue Pass Travel Taxes you will not receive an invoice.
You must pay the invoice by the due date or your pass travel privileges will be suspended.
NEW: You may now pay the invoice ONLINE via direct debit from your bank account.
Pass Travel Tax Invoices may be viewed (and paid online) by going to:
FT> Employee Services > Health&Insurance (YBR):
For detailed info, click the tile named "Pass Travel Tax Withholdings Q&A”.
To see your previous invoices click on the tile that says "View/Print invoices”.
Once your invoice is loaded in the system view your current invoice by clicking on the tile "Pass Travel Tax Withholdings".
What are Pass Travel Tax Withholdings? Read item #2 and #3 in this RAFA article:
https://rafa-cwa.org/Costs-and-Taxes.
Still have questions? Read the complete list of frequently asked questions and available resources at Flying Together > Travel homepage > In This Section > W-2 Pass Travel Tax Reporting.
3) New Livery
Out with the gold, in with the blue. United’s new livery is modern and prominently features three shades of the color most connected to our heritage; Rhapsody Blue, United Blue and Sky Blue.
Read more: https://ft.ual.com/news/2019/04/24/celebrating-our-next-livery
4) New & seasonal flights abroad this summer
We have LOTS of destination choices on United this summer! Some are new, like
SFO-Amsterdam, Newark-Naples and Newark-Prague:
https://ft.ual.com/news/2018/08/29/new-routes-to-europe
Also new: Denver-Frankfurt:
https://ft.ual.com/News/2018/11/29/DEN-FRA-taking-off-in-2019
More flights to Hawaii:
https://ft.ual.com/news/2019/04/15/strengthening-our-operations-in-hawaii
There are 31 new or returning seasonal international routes from the US to 58 countries; including popular cities like Venice, Athens, Rome, Glasgow, Madrid, Barcelona & Shannon:
https://ft.ual.com/news/2019/04/09/around-the-world-in-31-ways
And, in case you missed it, United recently launched a new class of service named United ® Premium Plus on 777 and 787 long-haul international flights.
Read about it in RAFA’s March Pass Travel UPDATE:
https://rafa-cwa.org/UPDATE-2019-March
Additional information is on Flying Together:
https://ft.ual.com/news/2019/02/05/book-united-premium-plus-in-employeeres
5) Check your profile before flying
Before you list to fly away this summer make sure your docs are in order!
Go to employeeRES > “My profile” > “Manage profile” and, on the “Personal profile” tab, check all of the following information: TSA secure, United, Employee identification, Travel documents and Notifications.
If you have a MileagePlus membership, link your MP number in the United information section.
If you are in a Trusted Traveler Program, record your Known Traveler Number (KTN) in the Employee identification area (and read the next article about KTN for TSA).
Important! Be sure to record your driver’s license or passport (or BOTH!) as a Travel document type; one or the other is required before you can list for a flight (a passport is required for international flights).
Remember, beginning in October 2020, the TSA will only accept “Real ID” driver licenses. If you don’t have a “REAL ID” by then you should carry a valid passport that will allow you to pass through TSA.
After checking your “Personal profile”, use the “Traveler profiles” tab to make certain all your pass riders’ information/documents are up-to-date. The last section for them is “Permissions”. There you can specify if they have log-in access to employeeRES for listing themselves.
If there is incorrect information in your profile and you can’t change it yourself, try going to “Your profile” in FT > Employee Services > Health & Insurance (YBR). If you can’t fix it there, call the Service Center: 800-651-1007.
If your pass rider’s information needs to be changed, like a spelling correction to their name or date of birth, contact the Employee Travel team via Help Hub at https://helphub.ual.com.
6) Get KTN for TSA and immigration entry
Join a Trusted Traveler Program to obtain a “Known Traveler Number” and be eligible for TSA PreCheck & expedited customs/immigration entry. Visit Flying Together > Travel > “Preparing for Travel” > “Trusted Traveler Programs”. Links on that page will take you directly to sign up on the GOES system. There are various programs with different pricing.
Once signed up online, you will apply for an interview (Tip: If the first available appointment is months in the future, revisit the webpage often to try and move up your interview date). Some interview locations have drop-in wait lists for appointments.
IMPORTANT! After you complete the in-person interview you must input your “KTN” (Known Traveler Number) in two places:
.
1) For space available travel: employeeRES > “My profile” > “Manage profile”.
Scroll down to “Employee Identification information” and fill in your KTN. Scroll down to hit “Save identification info”.
2) For revenue & myUAdiscount travel: go to your MileagePlus account.
Visit united.com > MileagePlus > My Account > Profile > Edit Traveler Information > Known Traveler Number
7) BONUS! 3 Items from RUPA
Many thanks to Pat Palazzolo and RUPA for these three items: 1) U.S. State Department’s “Smart Traveler app” for Intl travel, 2) New ZED carrier “Vistara” for travel within India and 3) Information about changing Enrolled Friends. Click to open/download pdf:
https://rafa-cwa.org/resources/Documents/Pass%20Travel/2019_0601_RUPA_Report.pdf
8) NEWS from the United Daily (and others)
03/06: Selling pass privileges: NOT OK
04/22: Changes to unaccompanied minor program
04/30: Here we come, Cape Town
05/16: Haneda, here we come
05/21: New Supersonic planes coming(TechCrunch)
05/24: UA’s 737 Max schedule update
9) Have you seen our RAFA website?
Check out the Travel Benefits tab here: www.rafa-cwa.org/page-1830854
Read the Pass Travel Program Summary, helpful links, phone numbers & more.
For other Pass Travel Topics: Previous Travel UPDATES
Kirk Moore, RAFA Travel Benefits Committee June 1, 2019