What is interesting is the conflicted messaging about bring a “premium” carrier, and the new pillars Kirby laid out internally just this week. I contacted two friends in Chicago, who said the message is clear on United Next - exec leaders truly believe the hard product carries the day - new seats, aircraft, TVs, etc - and claim to have tons of “customer data” to support this.

My friend in Finance said the guidance is getting focused now on everything that is operating expense - soft products, meals, labor / staffing levels, virtual vs in-person, compensation. We are already seeing this. The hard product is almost all capital expense, leveraging the balance sheet, so that’s where the spend is being directed. We shall see what happens … sad direction versus other carriers.

On the Purser name issue, the Purser training and manual requires a name badge with full name and title to be worn when working that position. That’s the funny thing about the IFM manual - when you really read there are many, many service procedures not followed on a given flight.