Originally Posted by
CJ99
Remember when they floated the idea of eliminating free meals in coach on longhaul int'l flights? Rarely had it been so clear how much they hated their customers.
To be fair to the old UA management, they were loosing massive amounts of revenue with the 2008 crash (which hit SF and LA very hard) and fuel costs had massively spiked, and were trying to keep the lights on. It was also only IAD to Europe flights, not longer flights. They though saw the light (as with removing meals for domestic C flights) when the blowback hit. That is the difference between the current "savvy" UA management that sticks to its plan, and never backs down and the old management that would respond (sometimes quickly) to pressure.
I view these moves very differently than the "savvy" cuts Jeff did -
when revenue was on the upswing - such as removing snacks or free booze from international Y, or tanking the food/booze/coffee quality. Jeff made his cuts to service/product because he thought he could save money and have no impact on revenue. He assumed the world was like IAH/EWR. Well it turns out people noticed United was now the skank to be avoided, and revenue has badly trailed. The plan has also destroyed UAs reputation.