aluminumdriver

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. I had high hopes for Mr. Smisek taking over from Mr. Tilton, but so far I have not been impressed. He speaks a good game, but so far follows up on none of it. I hope that he still comes through for our passengers and employee's sake, but right now, I'm disappointed.

AD

channa

Actually, I think if anything, $misek is starting to bust that culture at CO, which IMO is a good thing.

It's about time that management tries to inject the CO-workers with a dose of reality. Much better COmpared to the unsubstantiated hype they'd been COmmunicating for the past several years.

Being excessively proud of inferior products or services reinforces mediocrity. A culture change for the CO staff would be a change I think I like.

bseller

As a UA flyer, I haven't experienced the CO culture as others have here. However, I've spoken to FA/GAs and CSRs who wonder about the impact of the merger on them as well.

It seems to me - from an untrained eye - that the relative lack of "fortress hubs" ought to have an impact on a change in this culture.
I'm curious what CO flyers think w/r/t that???

Thanks! Dave

bldr1k

Jeff is a smart guy (Princeton University, A.B. summa cum laude in Economics, in 1976, and Harvard Law School, J.D. magna cum laude, in 1982) but has his challenges in front of him. I believe it was Gordon Bethune, who took over Continental in the early 90s, who changed to culture to focus on customers and customer satisfaction instead of just maximizing profits. Jeff doesn't have a proven track record and clearly has to focus on profits going forward to justify the acquisition (and make himself wealthy).

I talked to Glenn Tildon quite a few times and thought he did a good job with United. United is one of many companies (including mine) who blew up pension plans. Defined benefit plans are not sustainable and will go away everywhere (ok, maybe not on Wall Street). That is difficult to take when a company promises it to you and then takes it away after 20 years. The United employees just have to accept it or find a different job. Working for a company you despise is bad for the employee and the company.

Ultimately the success of the merger will be determined by how the new company treats all passengers, not just 1K and GS members. The few companies who allow employees to purchase full fare or business class tickets will continue to decline so United has to be profitable selling coach tickets, which of course leads to all of the up-sells we frequent flyers hate.

BearX220

Very true. The airline can achieve high sat scores among GS-tier customers and still fail. I think this point is sometimes lost on high-tier UA elites who see no reason to change things because "UA works fine for me." They get a whole different customer experience, on a different (virtual) airline.

lhrsfo

It is absolutely true that many people on FT, and particularly many elites, whine about matters of little substance. Although I don't fly other airlines sufficiently frequently to make an informed judgement, I've no doubt it is also true that service on DL or AA is just as inconsistent as it is on UA.

However, it does seem that, rightly or wrongly, UA has a reputation for particularly poor service. It also seems that senior management has recognized this and is trying to address it.

As an elite with UA, I'm torn on this one. I fly UA because it flies where I need to fly and it suits me better than other airlines - in part because it treats its elites incredibly well. If UA improves such that it can charge more than other airlines and such that it no longer needs to give so many goodies to elites, then maybe its attractiveness to me diminishes. So part of me wants UA to do better - to make money, to provide better service, to grow - and part of me wants to keep it just the same so that I get the benefits.

Although part of one of my posts was quoted by BearX220 in a refutation of the posts by ptc8329 and SaveTheTulip, I lean more towards their stance - we should stop criticising as much and enjoy the ride. My SWU to C has just switched from new C to old C today. I could complain about how it's a disgrace that UA is still flying old C, but instead I shall glory in the fact that I shall be seated in C rather than E+ - and I daily glory in the fact that I always sit in E+ rather than other airlines' E-.

aluminumdriver

First paragraph agree, Smisek is a smart guy. Will he be an airline guy is the question. He's a lawyer, not a business man.

Second paragraph, have to disagree. Tilton was bad for United, it's product and morale. You now have a greater than 60% chance of buying a ticket from United from an international CSC and flying on a plane not even run by United. Not a good way to run a business in my opinion. His only reason for coming in was to gut the ESOP, pensions and contracts, and sell United. He accomplished that, but I don't consider that a "success".

Third paragraph, I would rephrase it to say ultimately the success of the merger is how the company treats the employees, and that will carry thru to how the passengers are treated. It's not rocket science that in a service industry happy employees are happy at work. United is putting money into new products, but the complaints are still there due to poor service. SWA has it right when they say employees come first. That in turn brings in the passengers, who pay to fly, which then rewards the shareholder. Compare that to United's past philosophy which was take care of management first, take care of shareholders (of which they are major shareholders) second, then take care of employees if anything is left.

Mr. Smisek has that rare opportunity that Gordon Bethune had, which was come into a demoralized outfit, and have a very easy bar to cross to engender good will and positive attitudes. Unfortunately, so far, not impressed. Time will tell I guess.

AD

UA-NYC

...and CO may score better than UA among the masses, but when your best, most loyal customers have increasing dissatisfaction (especially among those who felt conned in spending $30K plus last year for a less-than-actual-highest-tier), you have a whole new level of fail, one that leads to a rapid decline of a premium cabin (which seems to be in process)

BearX220

I strongly agree as long as that key message doesn't mutate into "the airline is here for the employees." On SWA employees who feel they have good status at the airline pitch in and help with cabin cleanup during quick turns. On UA employees who feel they come first tell loyal customers the F cabin is sold out, then fill it up with their friends. There's a fine cultural line between putting employees first and putting customers last.

UA-NYC

This assertion is pretty laughable, especially post-UDU when you rarely, if ever, see any employees in domestic F

cubfan99

+1. So true. It's great that UA focuses on their top tier of customers, but it can't be at the expense of the E- passenger. A friend who flies UA a few times a year muses that -- in her experience -- UA's new marketing slogan might as well be "At United we put the U in FU." Lots of truth in humor.

BearX220

Well, they made themselves famous through their Employee Class shenanigans, well-documented here on FT. Negative brand impressions take a long time to shake loose. My long-term impression of UA service culture is that they reluctantly go through the motions of caring when their backs are really to the wall (post-9/11 BK, etc.) but give it up as soon as possible, especially for non-elites.

TIMOS

http://www.ausbt.com.au/united-conti...an-747-service

Thank god! As someone who flies UA LAX-SYD at least 3 times a year normally in E+ this is welcome news!

SEA1K4EVR

That article is from December 30th... it was posted here back then.

FriendlySkies

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...e-culture.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...sub-fleet.html