garykung

The CFO is honest - he says some are over-entitled. And he means it.

entropy

I agree. Its not the customer's fault for enjoying the benefits bestowed upon them by United (or really, being upset at their reduction). There are some benefits that seem to work well scale-wise (bonus miles, CS) that don't really affect other passengers. Others, like the E+, do. And I agree that E+ is a problem on packed flights with lots of elites. COdbaUA response was to say "Silvers aren't pulling their weight".

They would have gotten a lot less badwill if they came out and said something along the lines of: Our new combined airline is going to have even more elites than before, to preserve the ability to access E+ for our top tier members, Silvers will not be eligible to select complimentary E+ until check-in. We understand that E+ is an important benefit, thus Silvers will be able to purchase a subscription to E+ Access at a x (50%) discount.


United already recognizes its customer by 'yield', regardless of status, in that Y/B fares have pretty good upgrade characteristics domestically. I would argue that what really ticks off 1Ks and GSes (including myself), is the lack of recognition, and the general difficulty of getting proper service on the ground, especially during IRROPs, but also the lack of differentiated security/boarding lines. The whole Premier Access thing is wrong-headed.

What good is revenue recognition (GS 'status') if the front-line employees are unable/unwilling to help?

demkr

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

That's a very good point above. No one "felt" entitled to anything- the benefits were offered to get us to want and obtain the respective status level.

This is why the "all elites are equal" mentality is mystifying- wouldn't a company *want* lower level elites to see what top tier elites had to try to attain the status? Now that everyone is miserable- where's the incentive?

cmhua777

I have been an EXP and 1K for the last few years and I can unequivocally say that AA > UA. It was better than UA when it was "United" and it is a lot better than COdbaUA.

Now, AA has it flaws too. It's mileage program is not at par with UA's and its route network over the Pacific is paltry. Its business class hard product is also inferior, but that is being addressed. However, customer service, meals, airport lounges, upgrades (unlimited as an EXP domestically with 8 'GPUs' good on any fare internationally) and just about everything else push it over the top. Unless you are at a UA hub or travel to/from a city with limited AA service, given today's state of UA I would prioritize flying AA.

Luvs2snowbordbut1kSEA

Another jerk involved in ruining this company. Glad I have moved a lot of business.

gradsflyer

This is a great statement. As a silver I totally support higher level elites being granted more than me, its only fair that way, and I'm totally fine with paying for something like an E+ annual option. However they still can't seem to figure out how to even make something like this that worked fine in Apollo/Fastair, work in SHARES.

I think obviously where a lot of the "entitlement" ideals or frustration came about was that the new benefits were announced more than halfway through the earning period for 2012 around September 2011, so people were already earning their status with various expectations for this year. Waiting till 2013 to actually institute the changes would have been way less alienating, of course after the Rainey speech we know that not upsetting elite flyers isn't something the Smisek regime is that good at.

LarkSFO

halls120:

- You are spending pleasant days smiling with your grandchildren when you should be here .....ing about UA.

- You are applying thought and logic in defending UA's new practices with 2P's and E+

Guilty as charged. Excommunicated.

Now a gang of 10.



I would change this to: Most will return, but some likely won't.

One can only hope...

76Patriots

Nice thought but ain't gonna happen. Despite the opinion of some, Smi/J and staff desperately want the business of all elites including the 1k that purchases the lowest available fare at time of booking. However, they want to hold onto that business with the least amount of additional effort/least amount of perks bestowed upon elites (All elites). J/Smi and staff are trying to find the "sweet" spot between reducing perks to elites while keeping their flying business....and they are doing it as inconspicuously as possible. A customer is less likely to to take their business elsewhere if they discover a watered down perk here and there versus getting the totality of watered down perks thrust upon them. Dishonest? Maybe. SOP for the types of executives at the helm? Likely.
COdbaUA is looking to be more of a kettle flyer. That isn't right or wrong, it simply is Smi/J's decision to make as a business strategy. I agree with others that they don't prize high volume-repeat business that purchase the cheapest fares. But I would say two things to that. 1) As long as flights are taking off with empty seats, they absolutely cannot afford to go without all the elite business. As they -- If they -- reach a point of greater capacity with kettle flyers, expect the perks to get watered down to far greater extents. This is their business strategy. That isn't right or wrong, it is just their business strategy to decide. 2) Good luck Smi/J making the business model of WN or B6 work for COdbaUA. It seems unlikely to happen. Credit pmUA for knowing this and using MP benefits to keep revenues flowing (albeit unprofitably at times). COdbaUA will require a galactic change in its culture, its product, its perception to even begin to approach WN. Imho the more COdbaUA tries to be WN, the more opportunity the actual WN has to expand/siphon business from them. My suspicion is SMI/J at some point will do course changes to make sure high repeat business remains....their long term viability will depend on it (again IMHO).

GUWonder

He may be honest in acknowledging that he and COdbaUA think the MileagePlus customers are "over-entitled" and that they have a plan to reduce frequent flyer benefits -- it's already in play in large part -- in order to pad their own compensation packages. However, that doesn't mean the customers should appreciate "honest" insults or welcome cutbacks not honestly disclosed.

COdbaUA has the customers it deserves. When/if the CFO and the rest of the COdbaUA management team thinks they can do better by further commoditizing their business and jettisoning material amounts of "over-entitled" customers, then COdbaUA management are living in a dream world and/or the government has failed to appropriately regulate the company and the industry.

If COdbaUA has a material amount of "over-entitled" customers in the opinion of company management, then that too speaks to current management's failings; or the claims about "over-entitled" customers driving the changes are just an excuse being used by management trying to line its own pockets sooner than later since they won't be around when the consequences of their actions end up really hitting the company and whatever stakeholders have been duped into becoming long-term shareholders.

Semi-Retired-Honolulu

Does United care that they are losing loyal flyers?

Look at myt last email to United:
I am absolutely amazed that you would not grant this 500,00+ lifetime flyer the 121 miles needed to reach silver. I have a 4900+ mile flight booked for Jun 7 and will reach silver then, however it would be nice to have silver status prior to boarding that flight. Do you care that you treat customers so badly that they will go out of their way to never fly United? My last three experiences flying United have been horrible, due to the confusion caused by the merger. AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE. I HAD TO WRITE SMISEK via return receipt certified mail to get a refund owed me after making numerous calls and visits in person to United customer service. AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS.

I guess if my job was horrible I wouldn’t care about the customers either. I wish you the best of luck in finding a prosperous new career.

soccerguy985

United won't care until they take Hundreds of millions of dollars in losses quarter upon quarter upon quarter while all other US Carriers post gains. Maybe that will wake the board up. It is great to cut costs, but if you are losing more revenue then the costs you are cutting, then you still lose money.

desperationsearch

Do any of you guys read Joesentme.com?




THE REVENGE OF THE 'OVER-ENTITLED'
By Joe Brancatelli
May 24, 2012 --Every airline crisis comes with its own defining quotation. Some idiot airline executive eventually says something so truly inane that it perfectly defines the issue and simultaneously explains his regime's eventual downfall.

We now have the definition for the crisis at United Airlines. The buffoons in Chicago think we're "over-entitled."

<snip>

While chief executive Jeff Smisek is grabbing with both hands, more than tripling his annual compensation as his airline melts down, his new chief financial officer tells investors that United's frequent flyers have been "over-entitled."

A year from now, perhaps two, when Smisek is finally exposed, he will go. He will leave United in a mess, but he will be gone. He'll go back to Houston and the legal business from whence he came and he probably won't give a damn. But, at least, he will be gone and there will be a chance to save United Airlines.

The Revenge of the Over-Entitled will have toppled another despicable, self-important Skygod and we'll start again, hoping that the next moron will at least understand that you don't publicly criticize your most frequent, most loyal and most profitable customers.

<snip>


So let's thank John Rainey for his tongue-tied categorization of us as "over-entitled" because it defines the inevitable fall of Smisek. Just as the idiot Leo Mullin was doomed as Delta chief executive when he claimed the "airline industry cannot be the first casualty of this war" even as actual 9/11 victims were still buried in the rubble. Just as the buccaneer Stephen Wolf was doomed as top dog at US Airways by claiming "there is no Plan B" if US Airways could not merge with an earlier iteration of United. Just as the preening Gordon Bethune was eventually driven from the chief executive job at Continental after uttering the classic: "If you have to be in San Francisco for a presentation tomorrow, you are going. If I say it's $1,200 or it's $800, you are still going."

None of those men ever worked in an airline C-suite again. They took their ill-gotten gains, fled the scene of the corporate carnage they created and disappeared into Skygod Stovokor.

So you think we're "over-entitled," Jeff? That explains everything. When The Revenge of the Over-Entitled sweeps you out of the Chicago C-suite in the next year or two, make sure that your Golden Parachute includes lifetime free passes and GS status on United Airlines.

'Cause if it doesn't, you'll be just another "over-entitled" passenger sitting in coach on the flight back home to Houston. And ORD-IAH in coach, without status or an upgrade to E+, is a miserable place to be.

UA-NYC

Brilliant! ^^^

njcommodore

nope. Does anyone?

entropy

Definitely love the Brancatelli version, including the Klingon reference....