Players work alongside airline's
Special Olympics Service Ambassadors at O'Hare
International Airport for the day to help drive awareness of
organization's travel needs
Through United's Miles on a Mission
platform, loyalty customers are able to donate their unused
airline miles to Special Olympics to support athletes
CHICAGO, June 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- United teamed up with the
Chicago Bears today at O'Hare International Airport to support
Special Olympics, Inc. ("Special Olympics"). Chicago Bears Tight
End Cole Kmet worked
alongside the airline's Special Olympics Service Ambassadors
for the day to help drive awareness of the organization's travel
needs.
United launched the Special Olympics Service Ambassador (SOSA)
Program in 2019, inviting Special Olympics athletes to work in
airports as part-time employees. These employees welcome United
customers, helping them locate check-in kiosks, showing them where
to drop bags and also how to find TSA PreCheck lines. Beyond the
lobby, SOSAs also help travelers with wayfinding, gate recovery,
and assist with Agent on Demand. To-date, there are currently 18
SOSA workers at United hubs in Chicago, Houston, Denver and Washington, D.C., with further expansions to
follow this year in Los Angeles
and San Francisco. The airline has
also sponsored Special Olympics Plane Pull®
competitions, supported local volunteer events and on a global
level, the Special Olympics World Games.
Last year, 4,000 Special Olympics athletes, coaches, Unified
partners, and staff from North
America traveled across the country and around the globe for
sport and educational development, athletic competitions and
leadership events. United supports Special Olympics by providing
travel to the organization while encouraging its loyalty program
members to donate their unused miles through the airline's
industry-leading crowdsourcing program, Miles on a Mission. In
addition, United's role as a sponsor of Special Olympics' annual
Capitol Hill Day events helped to ensure that 49 Special Olympics
Programs from 47 states had the opportunity to participate in more
than 300 vital meetings between athletes and lawmakers in
Washington, DC. Since 2017, United
has contributed more than $8.5
million in travel miles and cash to support Special Olympics
athletes.
Today's unification between United and the Bears is just the
latest way the organizations have shown their support.
Chicago Bear Tight End Cole Kmet
had a hard time keeping up with United SOSA Daniel Smrokowski.
"Daniel's energy was tremendous. He was moving around all day,
smiling and greeting each passerby that he interacted with. It was
hard trying to keep up with him! Daniel is an inspiration, I'm
proud and honored to have spent the day with my new friend."
The Chicago Bears remain proud supporters of Special Olympics of
Illinois, a connection and bond
that dates back decades and carries strong into today.
The Special Olympics Service Ambassadors are gearing up for
United's busiest summer season ever, with 5% more customers flying
the airline this June, July and August.
"I've been a part of the United Airlines team as a Service
Ambassador since the Service Ambassador position was created. I'm
excited to not only have support from the Chicago Bears but to also
see United expand our Service Ambassador team across hubs," said
Smrokowski. "As athletes who are on teams, both ourselves as
Special Olympics athletes and the Chicago Bears know the importance
of collaboration and communication. We use those skills in the
airport to help travelers."
United has been a Best Place to Work for Disability
Inclusion for eight years in a row and has consistently earned
a top score on the Disability Equality Index. According to a 2018
report by the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, only 19.1% of people
with intellectual disabilities were employed in the United States compared to 61.8% for people
without a disability
"Employing Special Olympics Service Ambassadors is truly a gift
to both our United team and our customers in airports," said
Omar Idris, Vice President United
Airlines, Chicago O'Hare Hub. "Through the SOSA program and
business resource groups like Bridge for people of all abilities,
United Airlines strives to create an inclusive and dynamic
workplace environment."
Some of the airline's measures to improve accessibility
include:
- Plans to improve the travel experience for customers who use a
wheelchair, including a new digital filter on United.com
that helps determine which aircraft can accommodate different sized
chairs, and refunding the fare difference if a higher-fare
flight is needed to accommodate a specific wheelchair
size.
- Last summer, United became the first U.S. airline to
add Braille to aircraft interiors, helping millions of
travelers with visual disabilities to more easily navigate the
cabin independently. United expects to outfit its entire mainline
fleet with Braille by the end of 2026.
- The United mobile app was recently
redesigned to make it easier for people with visual
disabilities to use. The app offers increased color contrast, more
space between graphics and an enhanced display and announcement of
information to better integrate with the screen reader technologies
like VoiceOver and TalkBack.
- United's Inflight Seatback
Entertainment screens offer a wide range of
accessible features such as closed captioning, text-to-speech
controls, magnification, explore-by-touch capabilities,
audio-described movies, and adjustable and high-contrast text and
color correction. As part of United Next, the airline's
historic growth plan, the carrier expects to take delivery of about
700 new narrow and widebody aircraft by the end of 2032, all of
which will include the latest in seatback screen entertainment
options.
Visit united.com/donate today to learn more about how you
can donate miles to Special Olympics and become a
MileagePlus® Member for free.
About United
At United, Good Leads The Way. With U.S. hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los
Angeles, New
York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., United operates the most
comprehensive global route network among North American carriers
and is now the largest airline in the world as measured by
available seat miles. For more about how to join the United team,
please visit www.united.com/careers and more information about
the company is at www.united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc.,
the parent company of United Airlines, Inc., is traded on the
Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".
About Special Olympics International
Founded in 1968, Special Olympics is a global movement to end
discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. We
foster acceptance of all people through the power of sport and
programming in education, health and leadership. With nearly four
million athletes and Unified Sports® partners and one
million coaches and volunteers in more than 170 countries, Special
Olympics delivers more than 30 Olympic-type sports and nearly
50,000 games and competitions every year. Engage with us on: X,
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Learn more at
SpecialOlympics.org
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SOURCE United Airlines