fotographer

its all about money.. period..
meals on internal Indian based airlines are really tasty..

revigik

They did that - it's called the Polaris Lounge, Polaris seat investment, Premium Economy. You certainly have options to pay more for a better experience. However, if you want to buy a cheap fare to get you from A-B, that's what you get!

prometa

Corporate booking policies and TA IT software + leisure travel aggregators (Kayak.com, etc) have made lowest price the norm, not best value. Travelers have created this race to the bottom and continue to foster it along. At some point it gets so bad they will lose business, but UA will continue to cut what it can to reduce top-line fares while keeping seats full. The move to Polaris was recognition that their existing J seats were not competitive and they were losing business. The continual decline in food seems evidence that food quality doesn't change flight purchase patterns much.

bocastephen

When Apple is buying half of your Polaris seats, why be concerned with any other customers?

I've had better overall service in SQ Y on a 3hr flight then I've had in Polaris on a 10+ hr flight - I don't think UA execs care - these people are not cut from the same cloth as Kelleher - they only care about metrics that drive the stock price and remaining in the good graces of their analysts. Leaders like Kelleher didn't care about Wall Street, they knew the right way to run a business was to create and sell a differentiated product people wanted, treat employees like gold and empower them with the responsibility to treat customers like gold. The business will do well, money is made, the stock price increases, metrics be damned.

Is it the right away to run a business? Absolutely not. Do they care? Absolutely not. Why? Their inflated paychecks clear, their golden parachutes are in place, the flights are full, board members are insured against their incompetence and bad judgement, and there is nothing to worry about until some major dynamic changes the rules of the game.

So while Oscar promised major upgrades and improvements - and we've realized some incremental improvements here and there - and some major fails there and there - I don't see anything changing until the economy tanks and the airlines are faced with two options:

1. downgrade everything and screw over customers, lashing out at those who aren't paying full price for everything (think BA and US after 9/11)

2. upgrade to differentiate, toss out the carrots and grab as much business as possible until the mess turns around

No way to know what UA would do at this point because it hasn't happened yet.

Steve M

Compare that with Ethiopian, which is owned by the government. I don't know what their operating principles are. Profit may not be #1, and growth in profit almost certainly is not. In fact, it may not even be required to turn a profit at all. As a government institution, perhaps its mandate is to operate efficiently in order to grow the overall economy, and not generate a direct profit. I have no idea. But it's certainly very different than UA's raison d'être.

rufflesinc

This, they are investing in what people are willing to pay for

hockeyinsider

I flew Ethiopian in September 2017 on its weird, fifth-freedom flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. It was marvelous in business-class.

Yes, the product was a little uncompetitive -- 2x2x2 seating -- but the service was amazing for a 60-minute flight. I think I managed four glasses of champagne in such a short period.

The purser apologized that she couldn't serve me a meal, as the meals were for the connecting Singapore–Addis Ababa segment.

narvik

If the champagne was good, it will automatically make the flight good!

evanroberts

Partly it's the kitchens, which are somewhat common to all the carriers. I notice the UA meals ex-Europe or ex-Aus/NZ are slightly better than in the other direction. Conversely when I fly Air NZ, it's worse going SFO-AKL than AKL-SFO.

DCP2016

This paragraph makes no sense whatsoever.

When a company operates a route with no competitors and one flight a day, there is ZERO incentive for them to offer low fares, good food, good service etc because there is only one choice - you either take it or you don't. Yet Ethiopian still chooses to put forward a good product.

Compare that to NYC-LAX or SFO to Asia where there are MULTIPLE air carriers serving the same routes. United SHOULD be putting forward their "best product" to lure others towards them, they choose not to.

This goes back to the larger argument of how brand loyalty/customer loyalty is dead here in the US. This is just another example.

rxziebel

Just looking on the web for pictures of United long haul meals and Ethiopian meals, and I clearly would prefer what United offers over Ethiopian. Not even close. Cheese ravioli over some unknown "mystery" item? In a heartbeat.

Is there a quality of ingredients issue? Presentation issue?

Just curious.

Thanks

gmt4

This is really a question people can't understand? Its perception coupled with a lot of related fact. African airlines are among the most unsafe, poorly rated and inconsistent in the industry. Whether Ethiopian is leaps and bounds ahead of other African airlines safety-wise, service-wise, or product-wise they have a large perception obstacle to overcome. Doesn't matter if its deserved or not, perception is perception until the flying public and industry are shown reasons otherwise.

In all fairness Ethiopian shouldn't be lumped in with those poorly rated African airlines, but distinguishing yourself and evolving a brand is not a an easy process and it will take time to change the perception.

skidooman

Maybe they realized that there is no way they can compete on quality in front of European, Asian and other carriers?

I would hope this is not the way they think but then there could be a case for this. On the level of service many of these foreign carriers are head and shoulders above anything the US airlines came up with. So perhaps they just told themselves "why even try?" and just focused on pricing from now. Well, at least in Y.

That would be discouraging, and probably quite a bit short-term too. When they complain about the ME airlines it smacks of guys that did not take good care of their clients and that are angry when a competitor comes in and swoop a bunch of them away from them by delivering quality at good prices.

MrMan

Well Norwegian a LCC has better coach meals than UA, turns your argument upside down.

prestonh

WN has meals? I must have missed something....like everything