How to attract premium travelers back to UA.
#166
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 4,449
Food food food
They need to fire the head of their food department and start fresh. The people who run the food/catering of UA are like GM/ Chrysler/Ford. They need to bring in an Elon Musk/Tesla sort of thinking. They need fresh blood in the catering department.
UA food changes have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. The problem is that when you start with such a bad product, evolution is not the answer.
If I were Smisek, I would replace the entire staff of food/catering planners etc. That is UA's achilles heel in the premium sector.
UA food changes have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. The problem is that when you start with such a bad product, evolution is not the answer.
If I were Smisek, I would replace the entire staff of food/catering planners etc. That is UA's achilles heel in the premium sector.
#168
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHX & AGP
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,449
They need to fire the head of their food department and start fresh. The people who run the food/catering of UA are like GM/ Chrysler/Ford. They need to bring in an Elon Musk/Tesla sort of thinking. They need fresh blood in the catering department.
UA food changes have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. The problem is that when you start with such a bad product, evolution is not the answer.
If I were Smisek, I would replace the entire staff of food/catering planners etc. That is UA's achilles heel in the premium sector.
UA food changes have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. The problem is that when you start with such a bad product, evolution is not the answer.
If I were Smisek, I would replace the entire staff of food/catering planners etc. That is UA's achilles heel in the premium sector.
#169
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: BWI, MD
Programs: AA Gold, UA Silver, HH Lifetime Diamond, Marr Lifetime Titanium, Avis Presidents
Posts: 337
Reliability trumps everything else. Most of my friends who have stopped booking UA do it not owing to lack of limes, or TODs, but because you can't count on your flight even operating or your connection working. When you go to the airport to fly UA today you have no idea what's about to happen to you. Fix that, explicitly and visibly, and it'd be a start.
#170
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,067
Fix IRROPS Handling
I continue to be floored by the lousy customer service from some staff. They simply don't value their customers or their time.
I had a delayed inbound the other day. I asked the GA to please call the gate for me, I'll make it (had 15 minutes, it wasn't far). In lazy CO IAH style, she said, "Oh they know y'all are comin'!" and didn't pick up the phone. I missed the flight by seconds because of this.
Fine, get rebooked on the next one with space (3 hours) and wait it out in the club. While waiting, notice that an earlier one (by 2 hours) opened up and went Y3. I ask at the club desk to move to that one since I'd misconnected, and the agent refuses saying she can only do standby. I couldn't believe that. I verified she saw they're selling 3 revenue seats and then simply demanded it -- I'm a misconnected 1K, there's space for sale, put me on the flight now.
For some reason, she didn't want to touch it, she called someone, and they did it no problem.
This CO style attitude during IRROPS really needs to get fixed.
I had a delayed inbound the other day. I asked the GA to please call the gate for me, I'll make it (had 15 minutes, it wasn't far). In lazy CO IAH style, she said, "Oh they know y'all are comin'!" and didn't pick up the phone. I missed the flight by seconds because of this.
Fine, get rebooked on the next one with space (3 hours) and wait it out in the club. While waiting, notice that an earlier one (by 2 hours) opened up and went Y3. I ask at the club desk to move to that one since I'd misconnected, and the agent refuses saying she can only do standby. I couldn't believe that. I verified she saw they're selling 3 revenue seats and then simply demanded it -- I'm a misconnected 1K, there's space for sale, put me on the flight now.
For some reason, she didn't want to touch it, she called someone, and they did it no problem.
This CO style attitude during IRROPS really needs to get fixed.
#171
Formerly known as UATexasFlyer
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: AUS
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Plat, Natl. Car Exec Elite, UA 1MM, *G
Posts: 451
I won't even consider coming back to UAX. When UA starts flying mainline aircraft again, I'll start to look, but even then, there is a miriad of other problems that need to be addressed before earning my $25K+ of annual revenue again.