Gary from VFTW wrote up an
interesting piece based on a
Skift interview Brian Summers had with Scott Kirby. In the interview Kirby calls out that not everything is spreadsheets.
Kirby says in relation to brand image (post Dao)
In the long term you can look at airlines like Southwest who’ve had a history of good customer experience and perception and they drive superior results. We have a strong belief that even though we can’t put it in a spreadsheet and say how people feel about this one thing is going to show up in the next earnings report, we have a core belief that it does matter in the long term and that it’s tables stakes now to change the perception. It’s not true just at United, but certainly for us, it’s true at United.
Kirby also couldn't resist a jab at the ME3
I mean essentially I don’t think our government is going to give us $50 billion like the Middle East carriers, so we can’t lose money and create a product that uses government subsidies. But for all of our competitors that have to compete without government subsidies,
Are we seeing a new page for United or do we think its classic executive talk? I thought it was interesting that Kirby specifically called out measuring things in spreadsheets, and how that doesn't always work.