There's not a question of my belief, but reality. For sure BA faces more competition in London than UA in Chicago.
Also remember that EU airlines don't have luxury of CH11, where they could languish for years, shedding costs, protected by courts.
If they go out of business it's like flick of a switch.

All Things to All People
 

This brand confusion and lack of a clear strategy is what drives UA's customers crazy. WN is crisp and clear in its product and service levels and does not begin to engender this level of hostility **and** they are profitable!

UA tries to be all things to all people, rather than hunkering down and focusing on a given segment of the market. The meal issue is just symptomatic of the larger issue travelers have with UA: what kind of airline are you and what can we expect from you? UA has failed more egregiously than most of the legacy US carriers to clearly and consistently answer that question.

I agree. The airlines do not want to be treated like a commodity, yet their business practices suggest otherwise. If everything is about price, then the legacies are going to lose.

I'm guessing boxes of Franzia (red, white, or sangria) would be lighter still. Yummy :rolleyes:

No time to read all 450+ posts, but from what I scanned, the majority of us think this is a stupid move.:td:

Through this board, and other methods, we are all trying to scream as loud as we can, but none of the suits can hear us. You may not all agree with the reason behind this web site, http://www.glenntilton.com, but it does provide a link to send a message to Mr. Tilton. Who knows, enough traffic from this source might get somebody's attention?

I'm sorry, but I'm still not convinced this is a big deal. In the scenario you described, the only pax affected would be those headed to SFO or LAX, and occasionally DEN. UA has non-stop SFO-LHR and FRA flights, so these pax do not have to connect. For the vast majority of C-cabin pax -- those headed everywhere else in the network -- it is business as usual (i.e. fly TATL to IAD or ORD, followed by a two-class narrowbody or RJ to destination).

Even in SQ's backyard I rarely see $39 DING! fares. I'd love to see that to/from KUL or BKK of HKT, for instance. Doubtful they'd add tons of capacity for $199 transcon roundtrips, especially with all their bells/whistles.

We in the US pay less for air travel, electronics, clothes, gasoline, food, paper products/disposables than just about anywhere in the world. And most consumers are price-conscious, so the service industry responds accordingly.

This latest move is another instance of that reality.

SQ customers are willing to pay SQ prices. If the market was willing to bear $500 T fares SFO-JFK even at $75/barrel this change might not have been needed.

The problem with being all things to all people is you end up being "nothing to nobody" (pardon my insult to the English language).

The problem with US airlines (US/UA/AA stick out most) is that they are too inept or lazy to develop a strategy that truly differentiates their product; instead they tack on annoying fees and cut costs at the expense of customers. Its like fixing a dam with chewing gum - easy, simple minded and works for a while, but pretty soon the damn breaks. Its a tough industry but not the only one to see spiraling raw materials costs over the past few years.
Another problem is the inherit adverse selection of management talent that occurs at a company and in an industry that is suffering. This, you clearly see at UA. I left UA last year after I moved from Chicago and stopped flying Trans-pac, so this won't so impact me so much, but I can assure you that if I were flying TATL from a UA hub, and had a choice, I would definately choose a Euro carrier (already do so when stuck in the back on a Delta route).

Has anyone actually confirmed this with UA?
 

I find this so very odd that there is only 1 article about this and UA has not issued any press release or response. Did UA fire their PR department too.

Here's the priceless response from 1K Voice. Note the apparent reply from India even for a 1K.

Dear Mr. XS,

I regret your disappointment with our new policy of charging for BOB
meals.

Your comments are important to United and will be useful in our ongoing
efforts to make your travel experience as enjoyable as possible. I have
shared your disappointment with our management responsible for the same
so they understand how this policy change is felt from your point of
view.

Additionally, I am sorry to say that we may not be able to honor your
request of free itinerary change since we do not have exceptions in this
instance. Your understanding is solicited.

As a 1K member, you are one of our most valuable customers. We're
grateful for your loyalty and look forward to the continued privilege of
serving you.

Regards,

Somebody with an Indian name
United Airlines Customer Relations

<snipped survey link>

-----Original Message-----
Received: 8/19/2008 11:43:19 AM
Subject: Protesting your new meal reduction policies

From: MarkXS UA 1K #redacted

Dear United,

This is one 1K who is disgusted by your just-announced policy of
charging for BOB meals in transatlantic Y and doing Y-cabin BOB in
C-Cabin domestic Business on 3-class planes. Please note my
ever-increasing business given to United and its Star Alliance partners
during 2004-present, progressing from general member to 2P in 2004, 1P
in 2005 and 2006, 1K earned in 2007 and on track to requalify as 1K in
2008 for the 2009 program year based on flown and already-purchased
tickets.

As far as SPECIFIC question: Now that you have changed the service
offering in domestic 3-class United Business, will you allow me a free
itinerary change for my two itineraries (November 15-23 and December
7-13) where my Business Class service is not what it was when I booked
and upgraded? I am on 777 3-class and 763 3-class flights in Business,
and expected Business Class service or at least Domestic United First
service on those upgraded flights. You have changed the terms of what
you are offering me for the consideration given (fare, change fee, and
upgrade certificates which I EARNED by my loyalty to United). Thus I
believe that legally, and certainly ethically, you are obligated to
allow me to change those flights to 2-class service with confirmed
upgrades to domestic United First where I will receive the service for
which I contracted with you.

As far as future travel: I will be using my 1K status to show to one or
more of your competitors to obtain a status match and switch my business
to them. This latest "enhancement" does not reflect the wishes of your
customers at all. I regret having paid you yesterday to switch some
flights to 3-class domestic and wasting upgrades to upgrade to United
Business, now that I will have to pay for your miserable buy-on-board
boxes.

I'm looking forward to flying Delta and/or American in 2009, along with
their Skyteam and/or oneworld parters. You will note that although I
usually book my twice-monthly or more mid-con (DEN-RDU) business travel
and frequent leisure travel (often DEN-OAK/SFO, DEN-LAS) months in
advance, I have zero bookings on United in 2009. I also am looking
forward to flying Delta and/or American for my transatlantic leisure
travels (usually 3-4 DEN-hub-LHR) in 2009. Given your removal of the
DEN-RDU flight and most mainline out of RDU, the removal of the DEN-LHR
flight, the removal of many DEN-OAK flights thus increasing the loads
and fares on DEN-SFO, I have to connect in most cases anyway. Thus
connecting via ATL or SLC or MSP or MEM or CVG or DTW onto a higher
quality service on the New Delta/Northwest, on AA, on BA now that AA/BA
are allowing FF earnings in each other's programs, are far more
attractive offerings than the downward-spiraling United.

Please note I also will be letting Lufthansa and Air Canada know that I
expect to discontinue flying with them because they no longer have a
quality USA-based Star Alliance partner. Perhaps I will reconsider that
after Continental joins Star, but with UA and your equally miserable
partner US in a race to the bottom in terms of service quality, Star
Alliance is now very unattractive to me.

I regret the loss of jobs by United's employees, especially the many
excellent flight crew, cabin crew, RSSRs and CSRs I have dealt with,
when UAL likely folds due to their loyal customers finally having had
enough with the horrible management of UAL.


Sincerely,
MarkXS

Oil is down now, market is up, but UA is still down.

Just out of curiosity, how do AA, CO, DL, NW answer this question more "clearly and consistently" than UA?

:rolleyes:

Which customers exactly do you think UA should get rid of in order to improve profitability? Which segments of the market should it stop focusing on?

Just to add a bit of reality here - my Y meals on CO - EWR-MAD-EWR were the single most disgusting things I've ever been served anywhere, ever. So, I wouldn't be rushing over to CO just for that meal.

I believe 1Kvoice was outsourced some time ago. :rolleyes:

Try calling the 1K desk and asking for Customer Relations.

Wow. Thanks for this. What a heartless response. Why did I gun for 1k this year. I need to seriously think about moving to Continental.