Originally Posted by
star_world
With a transformation project of this scale, you have at least 6 months where you are operating in a "keep the lights on" mode. You have to get all of the basics correct so the company can work together as a whole, address any major issues that prevent you from doing business, and then you can focus on the medium- and long-term strategy. Advertising, branding, new customer acquisition plans, etc. - these are not critical to getting through the first months of a merger.
Good point. The merger closed 10/1/2010, so 6 months would have been 4/1/2011. They've had plenty of time to "keep the lights on" so to speak.
Originally Posted by
UA-NYC
However, I do think it is "business as usual" when it comes to their business practices - elite levels have been compressed, they're doing their best to dismantle 1K, "loyalty" is valued much less than before, they'll do everything to sell the smallest benefits, etc. That's why many of us laugh at the huge dissonance of $misek et. al saying "we're focusing on business travelers" when most words and actions go contrary to that.
The merger isn't a "failure" - they've merged, mostly successfully. My point remains (as does the poster I was replying to and agreeing with) that they could have truly made it a leading global airline, but their strategy instead appears to make it just a really big one. I think many of us wanted to fly PMUA; we're more now resigned to flying COdbaUA (or slowly/quickly moving away from it).
Well said. We're well beyond fine-tuning at this point.
They need a massive mindshift change to even attempt to regain the customers they lost.