Originally Posted by
spin88
kettles are unknowledgeable flyers who travel once or twice a year. They are NOT "High Value Travelers" They are not buying a M/E/U/H, let alone a Y/B or F. They are buying a S/T/L/K, and united hopes to charge them for a bag, "elite access" and perhaps an upgrade to E+ or a TOD to F.
Very succinct definition and spot-on.
Originally Posted by
jchiguy1
Yes! It's not to be taken literally. This misguided, narcissistic CEO is chasing away HVFs and trying to replace them with Kettles. That is a primary reason United is a mess and why he and the rest of the cabal need to go.
Indeed; as I posted somewhere upthread, IMHO current management has made a mission of courting the "kettles" while assuming they get to keep the "suits" for free... when in fact the policies they've put in place for the former have to a degree driven away the latter.
I don't see any problem in courting the infrequent-flyer business, per se; I've long said that airlines need all customers, and that those designed for niche-only markets have failed almost every single time (think those all-C TATL airlines, or Hooters Air, for example). Jeff & Co. have decided that they don't need loyal-but-lower-revenue pax, or even HVF who happen to be flying today on a cheap fare (and they continue to think that; see the recent suggestion that they hold back cheaper tickets so they can sell more last-minute fares, as if there's a magical demand to fill all those last-minute buckets).
There's also the problem that the current management seems to be very transaction-oriented. You see this in the way they punish a HVF who isn't flying full-fare today, or how they look at their glorious "network" on a per-segment basis rather than holistically. This is short-sighted in business in general and in the airline world in particular.