An interesting set of suggestions at David Rowell’s Travel Insider column (part of Joe Brancatelli’s weekly newsletter.)

For the full article see:
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/1213.htm

Six Steps to Success for United Airlines
1. Frequent Flier Program Enhancements
“Frequent flier programs are intended to be 'loyalty' programs....United needs to urgently stem this loss of valuable frequent fliers. They can do this by adding a new type of mileage override - 'loyalty miles'.”
2. Fair Schedule Cuts Policy
“Many people are prudently reluctant to book future flights on United..... These concerns can be eliminated if UA makes three public undertakings.”
3. Enhance Service Quality
“Yes, go ahead and spend more money on enhanced services!.... One extra passenger, paying (eg) $300 for one extra ticket, represents about $270 in immediate extra bottom line net profit ! And, on the other side of this coin, every $300 passenger lost impacts another $270 on their bottom line loss.”
“Here are four examples [see article] of low cost services that will encourage people to fly, and which will encourage people to preferentially fly United.”
4. Put Planes in the Air
“There is an industry saying that planes should only ever be 'fueling, flying, or fixing'....United has parked ten nearly new latest generation 747-400s in desert storage and are talking about parking more. But at the same time, they turned around and spent $1.3 billion to buy 13 more 777s. They say that they can't fill their 747-400s and so are replacing them with the smaller 777s.”
5. Discount Airfares
“Cheap fares increase the number of travelers - they always have and probably always will!....United has the yield management tools to be able to selectively discount fares without destroying its higher yielding traffic and to truly sell 'top up' fares to fill up the unsold seats on its planes.”
6. Sales Force Reorganisation
“And now, what about travel agencies? Why not pay them - not the old fashioned across the board way for passively taking orders for tickets you would sell anyway - but instead, pay them for actively steering more business your way! Give them commissions based on their ability to sell a greater percentage than your normal market share of tickets - you already have the analysis tools to enable this, and you used to offer these types of bonuses.”

[This message has been edited by bokich (edited 12-12-2002).]