readywhenyouare

Oscar Munoz is arguably one of the few airline executives that seems to care about the customer experience and employees. United seemed to be on the path to a better future when Oscar came aboard and he made some great improvements. Then along came Scott Kirby from Useless Airways. The guy has no experience except for LCC's and really has no business being at a legacy airline. Same goes for his pal Doug Parker who is currently tearing AA apart. They are both penny-pinchers who don't care about the customers or employees. People who book with a legacy airline expect a nicer experience or else we would just fly on Spirit or Allegiant. United has the potential to be a great airline but I just don't think it is possible as long as Scott Kirby is around. He has done nothing but make cuts to the product and service since he came along and won't allow for any innovation. The rollout of Polaris has been a nightmare due to lack of funding and Kirby has already made cuts to Polaris. United is going to have to make some big changes to right the ship.

flyerbaby19

I think it's a simple case of you can't have it both ways. There's nothing wrong with Kirby's model. It works quite well i think. But the legacy UA customer base is looking for something different. Those of us who want that traditional experience just need to look elsewhere. Foreign Airlines or Delta would be my guess. They probably should just stop the Polaris rollout. Not sure why they even need lounges. If you're gonna make the airline a spirit replica, then make it a spirit replica.

wanderingkev

This is a legacy airline that had issues way before Kirby, I think the thing that has been lost and this based on feedback
from a number of people I know at UA from cockpit to cabin is that they had confidence in Oscar and were more willing
to follow him. Kirby has now been labelled after the bonus debacle in the words of my purser friend as another cost cutting
"pretty boy" and seems to have lost any follower ship if he ever had any.
That said Munoz is still in charge and somebody needs to decide on what strategy they are pursuing as I believe they are currently half pregnant
saying one thing and doing another

milepig

readywhenyouare

KansasMike

I suspect United Airlines will soon be the taught as the quiessential dysfunctional company case history at Harvard Business School. In spite of having an oligopoly handed to them via the federal government's utter failure to enforce anti-trust laws, they have been unable to:

• Create a cogent strategic business strategy
• Create and follow a tactical business strategy (upgauge, downgauge, etc., etc.)
• Execute high profile product roll-outs (Polaris, internet)
• Create an incentive program that actually incentivizes someone in 2018
• Have reasonable employee relations and a positive customer service reputation
• Develop and deliver any sort of consistent value proposition

Yes, they are safe. But, that became a hygienic factor (they get no credit for it) a quarter-century ago.

An airline is extraordinarily complex in that it is both a labor and capital intensive business. That said, they are rewarded by the huge barriers to entry (slots, anyone?).

Kirby needs to go, no question. However, Carlos' Oscar's instincts led him to botch the Dr. Dao situation so badly at first that I have little faith in him. The only advantage United has is its network but none of its top management has been able to leverage it to the extent it should.

Ber2dca

Not too long ago that Smisek was seen as the root of all evil. Then Munoz came in and people praised him - for what exactly I never quite figured out - now Kirby is the whipping boy again (for what exactly also still escapes me). For a board full of people 'in business', people here sure get hung up on individual scapegoats or savior figures (depending on mood/time of day).

DCP2016

Then, pray tell me, what is the root of UA's problems at the moment? Smisek wasn't evil, but the new UA proved too much for him. Munoz is decent, but UA will and is be run into the ground by Kirby. His buddy Parker is already doing a find job of running AA into the ground.

UA, DL, and AA are legacy carries and should be treated as such. We have many options for LCC's in this country, and after all the recent mergers the legacy carriers should not be struggling AT ALL or trying to compete with the ULCC's. I really do hope this comes back to bite all of them in the you know what. I just hope AA and UA get the sense soon to dump Parker and Kirby before it's too late.

onthesam

Capacity is expanding and for better or worse so too is the target market.

readywhenyouare

usbusinesstraveller

Yawwwn! Kirby is the new whipping boy at UA so people can take pot shots at him. But he’s actually growing the airline by adding capacity, and looking to right the operational mistakes Smisek & co made. That means tough decisions and upsetting/confusing the analysts but he’s rightly IMO sticking to his guns.

Is he CEO material? Not yet, no. He does come over as brusque and aloof and he’s made a few mistakes, including the rollout of Basic Economy and the bonus. But UA has backtracked (as least somewhat) on both.

If Kirby becomes CEO the BOD would be well advised to find and appoint a #2 with the same qualities as Oscar, to complement/counterbalance Kirby’s weaknesses. Sometimes, including at my company, having opposites as #1 and #2 works very well.

For now, I’m very glad Oscar is in charge but also glad there’s someone like Kirby to grow UA’s business.

EWR764

I have little doubt that Scott Kirby knows the airline business. The structural initiatives he’s implemented are difficult to challenge (e.g., grow domestic capacity, improve hub connectivity, long-term upgauge trajectory) but the “soft” competencies of a CEO are lacking.

I have serious doubts about his ability to be a “leader of people”, as he’s clearly failing at generating favorable employee morale and goodwill, evidenced by the bonus/incentive debacle. The more UA pushes Kirby into the chief public-facing role, the worse things seem to get. I hope the BOD is taking notice of the lack of favor it’s “heir apparent” is creating...

readywhenyouare

TexasAggie02

The truth of the matter is Oscar and the Board of Directors don't seem to want to challenge Kirby - or are using him as the scape goat to protect Oscar. It's sad, they have constantly over promised and under delivered for the last two years (as previously mentioned Polaris Lounges, Polaris retrofit, internet) combine that with the PR nightmares they have ensued over the past year and devaluing of Mileage Pius, they just can't seem to get out of their own way. There is something obviously very systemic still going on that is hard to right the ship - I just don't see how Kirby is the answer.

I was on a flight from LHR to IAH this week in faux Polaris on a 772 and the woman sitting next to me asked the purser where the Polaris seats were. He responded with "It's Polaris service, but the new seats are only a few aircraft, this is a legacy Continental aircraft" . She was pretty bummed since she specifically bought into the marketing material that she was getting on a new or retrofitted Polaris hard product. So they won the revenue from her on that single ticket, but she told me she wouldn't fly United again and felt deceived.

hoshattack

I wouldn't really say there are many options. We have, what, 10 main commercial carriers in the US including AA, DL, and UA? I'm interested to see if some of the other LCCs turn into more of a legacy airline to fill the void of UA's incompetence (B6 seems to be going that way a little bit with Mint, but would need a pretty big overhaul to its FF program).