channa

This is a full-page ad in this month's Hemispheres. Is it just me, or is the merger not done, and they've been asking for our patience during the hiccups during integration. Isn't it a bit premature to be tooting the horn?


Place your expectations in the upright position.

"The world's leading route network. Unparalleled service. World class lounges, a modern fleet, an award-winning loyalty program and the finest people in the business. It's the best parts of two successful carriers...now United. For information and reservations, go to united.com."

TheManofaThousandPlaces

Place your expectations in the upright position?

What should we do with our middle fingers?

sbm12

Indeed, it is a shame that they continue to advertise rather than keeping their mouth shut until the merger integration is 100% complete and the are running a perfect operation.

channa

Nothing against advertising. But they are now, quite literally actually, telling customers to raise expectations when they're not quite done, not to mention after having made cuts that contradict their very ad.

There are integration issues, upgrade issues, interlining issues, checkin issues, and so on. They talk about "unparalleled service" what, a couple months after pulling pillows of the plane? And "world-class lounges" while I'm literally sitting in one while snacking on lunchbox carrots.

Nothing against advertising. Though a bit more truth in advertising would be nice.

uastarflyer

Those two being United and....who? Did UA merge with LH while I was offline?

BryanIAH

World class lounges? Did I miss something?

kkjay77

I just have to wonder, have the idiots at United been to places like SIN, HKG or FRA? World class lounge, huh?

sbm12

Fair enough, though I'd posit that the lounge situation hasn't changed sufficiently post-merger for its position as world class to be much different now than it was 2 years ago on either side. If that's the bone being picked here then I think we're all just going to have to accept that all the US-based carriers think their lounges are better than they really are.

As for unparalleled service, that doesn't mean it is necessarily the best, just that no one else exactly matches it.

And I'd say that the recently announced investments in the hard product are a good reason to raise expectations. I believe that they will ultimately result in a better travel experience.

The ad doesn't say that they're perfect now. It says that they're integrating the various bits described and that they're getting better. At least that is an easy way to read it.

hobo13

Or the way YOU read it......

kb1992

The world's leading route network? I will take that.

World class lounges? Other than HKG, NRT and few IFL, all other RCCs and PCs suck.

Unparalleled service? LMAO! Guess the idiot never knew SQ, NH, OZ, NZ?

Award-winning loyalty program? Soon to be destroyed by SMI/J

FINNEST people in the business? LMAO!

Do I need to say more?

This is beyond absurd.

sbm12

Indeed, I read advertising as the company trying to blow its own horn, not claim that they suck.

It is an ad, not a factual analysis across multiple market segments. Treating it as anything but is just plain ludicrous.

uastarflyer

.

Well, Jeffrey is trying to take credit for stuff that precede him.

BigPoppaCO

Referring to Smisek as SMI/J could be the most annoying ever in the history of FT

Bow Rider

^ LMAO

mherdeg

House ads are always hit and miss -- it's too bad they couldn't have sold the advertising inventory to a paying customer instead. Hemispheres is a pretty good publication.

It would be nice to see something a little less bland and a little more human in a house ad.

(1) Find five exceptional stories about five UA employees going above and beyond the letter of the job to make people's travel great. Heck, just excerpt parts of the short profiles that run at the front of every issue of Hemispheres.

(2) Make those stories front and center in the ad. Five boxes of customer joy.

(3) Add a short, unifying message, something like: "These people and their 80,000 coworkers are all here for you."

In practice what goes into Hemispheres is (crazy guess) probably not a Big Corporate decision, just a Little Filling-The-Blank-Space decision. They'll probably go through and update the icons and the text each time they change the brand.