dank0014

My two cents, but a once a year or every five year type passenger isn't really going to completely understand the industry unless they do their homework. They don't care about if an airline is making profit or not, they just want to get to point A to B at a low rate and descent customer service.

They wouldn't probably even know who SMI/J is until they see him on video.

Heck, many don't even know the difference between an RJ and Mainline, and when they get into a smaller sardine can, most just think, oh, ok, wish it was bigger but oh well.

They may form a perspective on an airline, but not a CEO in many cases. Investors....well, they just want to make money

CAETravlr

To me it seems that he is trying to copy Delta's FF devaluation moves without the added benefit of product investment and operational reliability that Delta has going for it. I don't think he is really doing a job at all, good or bad. Just kind of reading the news and whenever Delta changes its FF program, copying it.

FlyWorld

Can someone please explain to me why we need yet another $mi$ek thread to rehash the same things we've rehashed no fewer than 10,000 times over the past 3 years? Is there any value whatsoever being added by this thread?

Let's go over it one more time? Then, again, next week?

BearX220

He's been the beneficiary of forces beyond his control and UA is therefore succeeding despite him, not due to him. But he's done severe long-term damage to the brand, customer relations, and employee morale, and when these positive macro factors start to go south (Dow crash, oil prices, OAL challenges, labor crisis, critical mass of customer unhappiness), the chickens will come home to roost.

I've said for years that it is traditional UA labor problems that will get Smisek in the end. The few UA employees with whom I have had recent contact hate Smisek. Then again they hated Wolf, Greenwald, Goodwin, and Tilton. They hate everyone who tries to run the place.

fjfv19

Half of this forum is repeated catharsis.

drvannostren

I suppose I could've phrased it a bit better perhaps.

I agree the whole industry has gone up and thus makes them all look good at least in comparison to the previous regimes. But the reason I asked this thread is because of how much Smisek vitriol I've read, I haven't seen the same regarding Delta/AA and others management.

Personally I've never had an issues with UA other than hard product consistency, which is why I'd put myself in between.

I'm a FF, but not with UA, and price matters to me. My priorities are Alliance then Price. I figure if I'm gonna spend the money I might as well accrue points. So while I prefer AC's hard product when I'm going YVR-MDE for leisure, and UA can consistently beat AC by $200 or better, or buy up to J for only $400 more than AC "tango" it's an easy decision for me.

So for me has he done an awesome job? No, but I also don't have 1/10th of the complaints everyone does, which is why I'm asking for you to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective.

If you think it's just a rehash Smisek hatred thread, that's not what I'm looking for, I'm actually looking for the opposite. If he's so awful, why is he keeping his job etc?

BearX220

You haven't seen the same explicit disdain for "over-entitled" customers from those other guys, either.

bhrubin

It's always entertaining when people surmise that it's the forces beyond one's control that cause positives and blame that same one for all things negative. It's called self-serving blame, and it's the same with Smisek and Obama.

Your own statement demonstrates what most rational people have always known--UA labor despises Smisek for being in charge, as they would despise and have despises everyone who has been in charge before him. Which is why I largely discount UA labor's opinion of what is best for the AIRLINE...as it more often than not is simply their understandable opinion for what is best for themselves. The labor unions are now the biggest obstacle for UA's success, as they cannot accept any merged contracts to streamline operations for the airline. American-US Airways is facing the same obstacle. People don't like change, and they ALWAYS tend to blame the person in charge and circumstances rather than the obvious need for change.

Everyone accepts that when one airline raises fares, the others often might try to match that in order to collectively earn more profits and remain competitive at the same time. Yet when DL changes its system and UA largely matches it, everyone loves to slam on Smisek for being a follower. It's hilarious. DL's revenue based switch allows it to earn more money, and United's match allows it to do the same while being competitive in the same way. American's holdout isn't about charity or trying to better serve its customers as much as it being in the midst of a merger that precludes such a change for the time being. Everyone knows and accepts that American will devalue (to follow DL and UA) and then likely move to the same revenue based system as DL and UA in due time.

Turns out that the pie is on the faces of people who pretend to know so much and yet don't actually know enough--and many of those are here in this forum.

Sane and rational business people know that the market changes and that business must change with it. While I don't like all the changes, none of them surprise me because I know and can see the market. I don't need to waste time whining about the changes because some of them are better for the long term profitability of the airlines, which I believe is better for the long term for all of us, too. Having profitable airlines is better for all of us, and yet whenever the airlines do something to change your elite or miles earning potential to what is more lucrative for the airlines, everyone has a cow--and then blames Smisek.

Having a scapegoat makes everyone feel better, and Smisek is everyone's favorite scapegoat. Yet Smisek has brought UA through a painful merger that was eventually going to happen with or without him, including changes that were going to happen with or without him. UA seems to have turned a corner, and no one here likes to give credit for that. Instead, everyone just whines like little girls. Enough already.

boss315

Depends on which end you are on: If you're the stomach (shareholder), you are marveling at all of the new offerings coming your way down the gullet. However, if you're on the other end as an elite or passsenger, well, I'll let you visualize what's coming out the ***.

hockey7711

So $mi$ek is the metamusil of the airline industry...

SunLover

If you are a UA shareholder = yes.
If you are a UA frequent flyer = no.
If you are a infrequent flyer = it doesn't really matter as you don't fly enough to care.

Like Bill Clinton and the dot.com boom of the 90's SMI/J has had the good luck of timing: consolidating domestic airline industry, lower energy prices, and DL to copy...


SunLover

McTigerFan

I wonder if there's a thread somewhere on the Net asking if the CEO of MegaBus is doing a good job?

FlyWorld

Why would a shareholder think he is doing a good job when that shareholder could have made a lot more money investing in DL instead of UA?

stevescott1983

My thoughts as an infrequent UA flyer....

If you are cheaper than the other airlines I will go with you. If you aren't, I won't. So Smisek is doing an awesome job if I save $100.

Last year I flew over over 40,000 miles, 20+ segments. Of that only 2 with UA which I chose because I was able to book J with UA for the price of Economy Flex with AC.

Baze

Not the ones with holes in them