Originally Posted by
fastair
I'm not knocking the business practice, it makes sense, but it also is an easy way to show gains to these metrics compared to an airlinethat expands, which will have a tougher time getting the same stats.
Wait...UA is expanding capacity? Care to share the numbers to support this claim?
Originally Posted by
spin88
My point is that UAL is doing post 3/3 very poorly. Had they had an attractive proposition for fliers with the capacity cuts at DL and AA one would have expected UAL to pick up business. Did not happen, UAL has been flat on how many fliers they attract (down .1% in may, up .1% in june) yet are not getting the same extra revenue for the seats they sell that their competitors are.
This is what I have been saying for months. UA is losing the frequent business traveler. And the numbers are consistently underlining this trend. Business travelers don't want upgrades to be sold out from underneath them to kettles, they don't want to have to babysit reservations daily, and they want the automation the airline has in place to work flawlessly enough so they can have confidence in what they will get in return for their airfare. And contrary to the assertion of a select few on this board, UA has been failing in all these categories, and it is not getting any better.
I personally expect the Q2 numbers on UA's side to be ugly. And while that will not be enough to oust Jeff and his team and to reverse some of the poor decisions that have been made to date, I do think it will move the needle towards both ends incrementally.