mizanne

I agree, this is likely to result in changes to IDB regulations and hopefully a higher max than $1350. Meanwhile UA is free to adjust their internal procedures and pay more for voluntary deboarders.
But what else can they do?
1) A fare sale. That will bring back those of us who travel on our own dime most of the time. And make it a real fare sale, systemwide, not just 6am departures to places nobody wants to go.
2) How about a voucher for a free checked bag if you like UA on Facebook?
3) Book a flight on UA's website and get a free upgrade to E+ when available.
4) I'm gonna go big here- Loosen the stranglehold on business and first seats: if you have the upgrade miles and a seat in business or first is available, you can have it when you book your flight. No waiting until departure day. All unbooked business/first seats are available for upgrade. And no bumping back to coach because someone with a higher status wants your seat. Once it's yours it's yours.

sinoflyer

Some airlines, foremost UA, do indeed indoctrinate their front line employees with stats like that. And this is really the root of why UA staff generally have such toxic attitudes toward pax without $$$$ next to their names on the PNR or **** on the flight manifest. Deeper into those stats are more stats, not shared with general employees, showing that not all of the so-called unwashed are price shoppers.

Not all airlines train their employees to view their general FFP members as second class to the so-called "elites." But UA does. You are entitled to maintain the belief that the "unwashed" are just gravy, but the reality is actually very different. And the successes of WN and DL should give clue that UA is on the wrong flightpath if it continues to push this pax-vs-pax mentality.

catahoulafriend

An open letter I snapped a picture of from approximately 1.5 years ago.
I tried to upload the jpeg of the letter, but the image is grainy, so I re-type the content below. Behold the irony. A sad week for United Airlines

October 1, 2015 (Wall Street Journal, page A5)

To our passengers, my fellow employees and the communities where we live and work,

Today marks five years since Continental and United Airlines combined. Over that time we have added destinations, invested in our fleet and upgraded our airport experiences, but the journey hasn’t always been smooth. Simply put, we haven’t lived up to your expectations or to the promise and potential of that day.

That’s going to change. We are committed to re-earning your trust. We want to be the first choice for every trip you take. We want to be an amazing place to work. And we want to be a great neighbor. That means we have to innovate. We need to do the small things well. We have to deliver meaningful, everyday improvements.

Accomplishing these things will not be easy, but we will put in the hard work needed to get there. My singular mission is to engage our passengers and employees every step of the way. I want to hear and implement your good ideas, and I promise to show that we’re listening and report on our progress.

My goal is for you to look forward to flying United, and to be as proud to work for United as I am to lead United. So please, tell me what we can do to make that happen at UnitedAirlines.com.

Sincerely,
Oscar Munoz
President and Chief Executive Officer
United Airlines

Kamalaasaa

The Target "bathroom boycott" certainly had a much larger effect than anyone anticipated!

Bohemian1

Another reason he was named Communicator of the Year...

DrPSB

United isn't so much worried about losing customers, as it is about people being pandered to by their representatives with legislation that will harm the bottom line. They don't want to lose the ability to overbook and offer peanuts for folks involuntarily bumped. That is what they care about and why they are involved in these PR efforts.

24left

Score, so far: Media/Social Media 1, PR 0

24left

And this quote from the Reuters article I posted in the other thread that legal action has been launched by the victim (bolding mine):

"Because United has such a catastrophic PR problem, this case has a much greater value than such a case would normally have," he said."

aoumd

OP here, and while I don't work for an airline and don't know whether the financial impacts of the specific ideas above are something UA can temporarily stomach for longer term survival, these kinds of suggestions in general were what I had in mind when I started this thread.

My phone seems to hate Multi Quote, but someone else suggested "go big" by rolling back the latest devaluation of MP. Remember that UA was profitable even before that latest devaluation. Maybe it earned a penny less per share, but it was profitable. Rolling back the devaluations would raise eyebrows among those who do travel, break the trend and test whether or not "reversal" of cutbacks works in the "Me too!" Game being played by the US3, and begin to create some badly needed social media goodwill again given just how Twitter and Facebook savvy travel, mile and points bloggers are. Of course, reversing the MP cuts can only be one part of an overall larger strategy.

I hope that those UA FFs on here who have been angry about the extremely limited GPU applicability, the replacement of affordable routing strategies we could actually use with the excursionist "perk," dwindling CPU odds as GAs attempt to sell their way out of offering the same CPU odds you used to have, 10 across 777 E/E+ seating, etc. realize you're in a position of power at this very moment. Whether it pans out or not the threat of a UA boycott is all over traditional and social media. Pushing back by vocally saying "you need to fix the factors that led up to the UA3411 situation AND improve XYZ and maybe I'll consider flying you again!" Will get a lot more attention now than ever before for fixing XYZ, and likely more attention than it will once this incident fades from the news cycle. Especially if a plurality of you are upset about the same 3 or 4 things (which, from all my reading of FT in the past year or two, isn't too hard to believe may be the case).

cerealmarketer

Embrace the thug perception...

Strike a big mileage earning / redeeming / status deal with Uber.

Delta can do the same with Lyft.

rickg523

An exceedingly rational approach. But I've noticed many of the flyers who would seem to have the most to gain by employing it, are more intent on defending the carrier in which most of their FF wealth resides and are loathe indeed to consider exercising an opportunity to redress some of the flaws in UA's program if it even implies they somehow believe the airline culpable in this affair (and the parallel Hawaii incident).

invisible

Bottom line matters, not social media activities

SFO_FT

I think you'll see, within the next 2 years, a new logo and typeface for the carrier to reflect a true, "new UA". The current logo is now toxic globally for some potential customers (and the previously loyal ones for whom this was the final straw) that would be considering flying UA but then remember that horrible incident. Far too much association between the old CO globe and UA's service fails since the merger.

Madone59

I'm late to the thread but completely agree with this sentiment. It is the fortunate or unfortunate (depending what side you are on) truth of the world we live in.

toomanybooks

Well, they ain't getting my wife back, even if their flights are free. This stuff has been going on for a LONG TIME.

She swore off UA in about 2002 after they lied to her ever single time she flew them between ORD and D.C. Astonishing, obvious, absurd lies about alleged weather and mechanicals and such a 10 y.o. could have seen through. Absolute contempt for someone who had to take their crappy flights because it was a government fare.

I was astonished at the first few fumbling statements of Oscar this week. What a completely tone-deaf arrogant overpaid coddled dumb@ss. Beyond belief.

Was wondering what would have happened if something remotely like this ever happened on Southwest under Herb Kelleher. Herb would have been in Dao's hospital room in 6 hours with a case of Wild Turkey and apologize face-to-face like a man, not issue some weasel-@ss set of half-apologies/half-customer-blaming from inside a Chicago office tower. Herb would have said through clouds of cigarette smoke "We screwed up, we are gonna get rid of the idiots responsible regardless of consequences, and it ain't never gonna happen again." He have turned this into a triumph of customer service.

I do not know if it is the stranglehold unions seem to have on UA, or the legions of clueless executives, or what their problem is, but this crap airline cannot fail soon enough for me.