I didn't realize Kate Gebo, who is replacing Sandra, was sitting in an 'office of the CEO' role for the last year as a VP, prior to that was VP of real estate.
Has never done a stint in a function at CO or UA that managed customer facing employees that I can see.
Then takes over and expands Sandra's role to I guess include airport agents? It's not clear to me what makes it more 'end to end' than before.
Sandra was someone who did rotations in many parts of the company, including contact centers, before taking over all the food/clubs/customer experience/contact centers last year. Was considered a 'fresh start' for the customer service role.
Haven't met Kate in person. Have met Sandra - she's personable, a bit skittish on the flyertalk community, but willing to answer questions and put in time at events. Thought she was well liked.
My overall impression of UA was it's a very, very political place, which tends to happen at large organizations that aren't growing quickly.
https://twitter.com/kategebo
https://twitter.com/SandraPineauB
My fear is Kate helped 'create a role' at the expense of Sandra given her close access to Oscar during his transition, but that's just mindless speculation without knowing the full story.
Kate appears more 'boardroom friendly' (corp real estate is high profile - lots of big $$ deals /contracts) while Sandra comes across as more empathetic.
Not sure which is better for us as customers but hope Oscar made the right choice.