A few weeks ago, United Airlines seemed poised to make some big changes, with a new CEO on-board, Oscar Munoz, from rail giant CSX. Munoz acknowledged that United, one of the Big-3 legacy airlines, has struggled since its 2010 merger with Continental, and had made many mistakes. He reached out for customer input, and promised changes.
That seemed like a promising start, and it's clear a restart was needed: United suffered repeated plane-cancelling computer breakdowns (attributed by many to poorly-planned merger of reservation and operations systems), delays, continued labor issues, and a general air of poor customer service.
Munoz suffered a heart attack Oct. 15; during his recovery an interim CEO, Brett Hart is "using what he provided in terms of his vision as a lens for executing on his plan." Given that, what is United doing?
- New boarding procedures are being are being put in place at United's Chicago O'Hare hub this week—but vice chairman Jim Compton told finance analysts he couldn't say exactly what the changes will be, even though they are only a week away. "We're always looking at the boarding process. It's one of the things we hear a lot about," he said. That part will probably continue to be true!
- United can claim some improvements, but the scale is still a bit scary. This year, for instance, United has cancelled 30,000 fewer flights than last year, affecting 2.7 million fewer travelers. That's not the total...that's the reduction from bigger numbers. It's also mishandled 9% fewer bags than last year.
- There is no reported progress on negotiations with unions representing flight attendants and maintenance crews, who have not had a contract since the 2010 merger, a factor that has possibly affected attitudes and service on-board, a big area of customer complaints.
- And "we're down to three choices of premium coffee. That was something we heard loud and clear."
Sounds as if United needs to keep listening a little louder! For more details from USA Today, click HERE
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