Article: Why United's Jeff Smisek is the worst CEO in the Business
May 4, 2014, 11:13 am
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not every day I would link to the Huffington Post, but...
Some pretty scathing stuff here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-...b_5249902.html
In-Flight Supervisor quote..
Kevin spoke about cutbacks on meals so harsh that breakfast on long flights routinely consists only of an omelet "made of God knows what," a "tiny piece of dried-out sausage patty," and "a flimsy plastic fork." When I inquired as to how many passengers send it back, he added, "By the time we feed them, they're so hungry they'll eat anything."
not every day I would link to the Huffington Post, but...
Some pretty scathing stuff here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-...b_5249902.html
In-Flight Supervisor quote..
Kevin spoke about cutbacks on meals so harsh that breakfast on long flights routinely consists only of an omelet "made of God knows what," a "tiny piece of dried-out sausage patty," and "a flimsy plastic fork." When I inquired as to how many passengers send it back, he added, "By the time we feed them, they're so hungry they'll eat anything."
Last edited by demkr; May 4, 2014 at 1:09 pm Reason: Added hyperlink
May 4, 2014, 11:22 am
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The employee's comment about the toilet paper thing was just brutal. It is sad how low morale is. I often forget what frontline employees have to deal with. Sad
The employee's comment about the toilet paper thing was just brutal. It is sad how low morale is. I often forget what frontline employees have to deal with. Sad
May 4, 2014, 11:24 am
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My favorite quote "Probably the worst thing of all for a United customer, is to know you're getting the shaft and to see the CEO's smiling face everywhere you look. Does this guy have a camera fetish, or what? Do you see Richard Branson making movies telling you what a great job he's doing?"
May 4, 2014, 11:29 am
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Couldn't have said that one better myself! Not to mention most people don't need all that noise when they get on the plane. Smisek shpeel, safety vid, illongated announcements and DTV ads, ugh
Originally Posted by bmwe92fan
My favorite quote "Probably the worst thing of all for a United customer, is to know you're getting the shaft and to see the CEO's smiling face everywhere you look. Does this guy have a camera fetish, or what? Do you see Richard Branson making movies telling you what a great job he's doing?"
May 4, 2014, 11:32 am
#7
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Ouch...
I have been thinking about this...I guess the big problem might be he has not been able to get the internal UA vs. CO thing settled.
The cultures of the two companies are very different to start with. It seems to me that, like many sUA flyers here, sUA employees do not think sCO understand and can run an airline like UA. Whether it is true or the normal human resistence in this situation, it cannot be good for the company and a good leader would have overcome it by now.
The sUA side might be saying "we told you so" now but what are we going to do?
I don't follow the union stuff and from what other discussions here, I guess that is a big problem too.
Then I was thinking - how about the fact that CO was a great airline by many metrics? Then I realized...How much did Smisek have to do with it? He inherited it, right?
I guess it might be logical to say "let's cut and get the numbers OK before we start turning things around" but if you lose your best customers in the process...
I have been thinking about this...I guess the big problem might be he has not been able to get the internal UA vs. CO thing settled.
The cultures of the two companies are very different to start with. It seems to me that, like many sUA flyers here, sUA employees do not think sCO understand and can run an airline like UA. Whether it is true or the normal human resistence in this situation, it cannot be good for the company and a good leader would have overcome it by now.
The sUA side might be saying "we told you so" now but what are we going to do?
I don't follow the union stuff and from what other discussions here, I guess that is a big problem too.
Then I was thinking - how about the fact that CO was a great airline by many metrics? Then I realized...How much did Smisek have to do with it? He inherited it, right?
I guess it might be logical to say "let's cut and get the numbers OK before we start turning things around" but if you lose your best customers in the process...
May 4, 2014, 11:45 am
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Yes. He had very little to do with CO's success. It was bewildering to me at the time that he was chosen to head the merged airline w/o a track record.
May 4, 2014, 11:54 am
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Pretty screwy world. You can legally fly a plane with no operating bathrooms (and I've been on a plane where 3 of 5 weren't operating at take off), but you'll divert and land a plane if it runs out of toilet paper. Why didn't they just padlock the bathrooms? 
Would have been much better had it been the WSJ quoting the Morgan Stanley analyst instead of a musician/part-time blogger with various different axes to grind but no direct connection to air travel.
Would have been much better had it been the WSJ quoting the Morgan Stanley analyst instead of a musician/part-time blogger with various different axes to grind but no direct connection to air travel.
May 4, 2014, 12:18 pm
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Find it very interesting that there are more articles on SMI/J after Q1 performance, and personally, I think it'll eventually lead to new CEO sometime in 2014. It'll become a major distraction for UA with mainstream media calling SMI/J to go.. Sooner SMI/J go, better it will be for UA...
May 4, 2014, 12:23 pm
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May 4, 2014, 12:32 pm
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May 4, 2014, 12:39 pm
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