Originally Posted by
ani90
True it may not move the needle now but it may move it (or prevent it moving backwards) when HVF travel recovers.
It is shortsighted if UA thinks that abysmal service during COVID will have no impact post-COVID. The lounges are not going to suddenly improve the day business travel picks up. UA may end up paying dearly for the neglect and underinvestment in it's lounges through the COVID period. Once COVID is done they will be playing catch up and will be impossible game as the competition may have long left them behind. Some airlines took advantage of the pandemic to renew and refresh their lounges whereas for United it has been an even more advanced degree of decay and decline.
What I saw in the EWR lounge this weekend is without question the worst lounge I have ever witnessed in a US airport - and to imagine that this is their main hub serving a large section of the country. There is simply no excuse for such a deplorable lounge and lounge situation - regardless of what's happening with business travel. I am not sure though that business travel alone should be what drives investment in airline lounges. Lounge access is the most tangible benefit of gold status with major alliances and one that all can truly benefit from (unlike say upgrades). If there is effectively no star alliance lounge in EWR terminal C then that is an impetus to seek another alliance or to fly other airlines in the alliance. Indeed the bulk of VS travel is probably leisure but their lounges but UA to shame.
We've debated this ad nauseam here, so I won't rehash old points, but one mistake I think people are making is drawing a bright line between "COVID" and "post-COVID". If international business travelers spending Other People's Money come back, it will be a gradual process. And it may return to an equilibrium that is higher than it is now but well below pre-COVID levels.
it's not just a matter of "maintaining service so we don't get killed when all those business travelers come back and remember our lousy service or dislike the vestiges of it". It's a matter on your service improvements being a gamble on what the market is going to look like 1 year from now, 2 years from now, 5 years from now, etc. If, in fact, United's (and the two other US legacy carriers') internal numbers say that it is going to be a very slow process of travelers spending Other People's Money returning to travel, that could easily make it not worth it to improve service right now. Yes, theoretically, you are alienating a few future customers, but meanwhile, you are saving gobs of money and the customers you are alienating are a small percentage of a small market well into the future.
I suspect the numbers for travelers spending Other People's Money are grim for the foreseeable future, due not only to the dynamics of COVID (future outbreaks, variants, lack of consistent vaccination), and the restrictions on international travel which have persisted, but also due to a lot of businesses finding alternatives to business travel, sending fewer people out, changing travel policies.
If those numbers are what I think they are, United is acting extremely intelligently and preparing for a very different future of air travel.