A letter from United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby seeks to capitalize on the recent woes at American Airlines, painting a picture of contrasts concerning operational reliability and passenger behavior onboard.
United Airlines Paints A Contrasting Picture With American Airlines
The note, with subject line “Fly with confidence this holiday season” and signed by Kirby, was sent via email to United MileagePlus members yesterday.
Why United Airlines Boats Better Operational Performance Than AA
It contrasts United Airlines with American Airlines in two key ways. First, it explains why United will be operationally reliable and why, without directly say it, that American has not:
After dramatically cutting our schedule at the start of the pandemic, we knew it would be really hard to try and bring it all back at once. That’s why we gradually added flights over time. Our North Star in this recovery is making sure we do the right thing for customers and if that means sacrificing some possible short-term profits to ensure a reliable operation, then so be it.
United says it has gradually brought back flights in a smart and disciplined manner so as to maximize on-time performance.
It also avoided furloughing pilots, which continues to hamper American:
Instead of furloughing pilots, we were the only airline that negotiated a deal with our union that kept 100% of our pilots employed and ready to fly as the recovery gets underway. That’s allowed us to avoid staffing shortages.
Not mentioned, however, is that one reason why American (and Delta) are having issues is not just a shortage of pilots, but the fact that aircraft type were retired during the pandemic. In the airline industry, seniority rules and pay is determined by how many seats on your aircraft (with some exemptions). Generally, the larger the aircraft, the greater the pay. So when American retired certain aircraft during the pandemic, like the Airbus A330, it required not just re-training for those pilots, but retraining for many more, all of who faced an aircraft assignment shuffle based upon seniority.
Why United Airlines Has Fewer Behavior Incidents Onboard
Second, United links its operational performance to the lack of poor behavior onboard, also noting that flight attendants at United have done well to de-escalate “the small number” of incidents onboard:
The way we’ve run our operation has had an impact on the environment on board our aircraft. I’m so proud of our Flight Attendants and the job they’ve done to de-escalate the small number of situations where bad behaviors occur — we now have less than one mask incident per 100,000 passengers, down over 50% since the start of the year.
It merits mentioning that flight attendants have specifically been told to stop arguing with passengers who refuse to wear a mask (but are otherwise non-combative) and file a report. Thus, passengers may “get away” with not wearing a mask while on the flight, but according to procedure, face a ban on future United Airlines flights until the mask mandate is lifted.
Full Letter From Kirby To MileagePlus Members
Here’s the letter in full:
Dear Matthew,
I hope you and your family are well.
I’ve heard from many of you in the past few weeks and I know you’re eager to return to travel — especially around the holidays. Many of you have asked if you can book with confidence on United this holiday season. And the short answer is, yes you can!
That’s because we’ve taken a unique approach to the complexity of rebuilding an airline in the midst of a pandemic:
After dramatically cutting our schedule at the start of the pandemic, we knew it would be really hard to try and bring it all back at once. That’s why we gradually added flights over time. Our North Star in this recovery is making sure we do the right thing for customers and if that means sacrificing some possible short-term profits to ensure a reliable operation, then so be it.
Instead of furloughing pilots, we were the only airline that negotiated a deal with our union that kept 100% of our pilots employed and ready to fly as the recovery gets underway. That’s allowed us to avoid staffing shortages.
The way we’ve run our operation has had an impact on the environment on board our aircraft. I’m so proud of our Flight Attendants and the job they’ve done to de-escalate the small number of situations where bad behaviors occur — we now have less than one mask incident per 100,000 passengers, down over 50% since the start of the year.
We continued to invest in technology to make travel easier for customers. The United App and United.com has information you need to get ready, including features for verifying your testing and vaccine records before you get to the airport, and easy ways to see, use or combine travel credits to book your next flight. If things don’t go as scheduled, you can talk or chat with our agents live on your phone with Agent on Demand and you can rest easy as our Connection Saver Tool helps thousands of people make tight connections every day.
We eliminated policies that historically got in the way of delivering great service — we got rid of change fees forever, as just one example.
We successfully completed our vaccine requirements early, before there was a government directive. I know that some don’t support vaccine requirements, including some of our people and some of you receiving this note. But at United, we did it because we knew it was the right thing to do from a safety perspective, and as an airline, that’s our highest priority. This vaccine requirement issue is now in the rear-view mirror for us and allows us to focus on taking care of our customers.
In our airports and on board our aircraft, our employees are amazing and have taken customer service to an entirely new level — we see that in our customer data, but I hope you see it on board when you fly because that’s our real measure of success. Our people are proud of our airline and they want to deliver for you.
United saw the pandemic as an opportunity to change for the better and our team is working hard to make that happen. We won’t be perfect and winter weather always impacts some flights, but the bottom line is that our team is ready and eager to welcome you back this holiday season and beyond. We ramped up our December schedule with extra trips to sun and ski destinations, announced the largest transatlantic expansion in our history, and by next Spring, we’ll offer 22 flights per day to London.
So yes, you can book with confidence on United.
Take care and I look forward to seeing you on board soon.
Sincerely,
Scott KirbyCEOUnited Airlines
I did not receiver the letter, but other family members did. Perhaps a different note is going out to MileagePlus elite members?
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is smart to try to capitalize on the recent woes at American Airlines. While United has undoubtedly done a better job of ramping up flight schedules, managing personnel, and dealing with bad behavior onboard, it must now deliver on its promise. While United has done well to position itself for success, that will ultimately be up to factors beyond United’s control, including winter weather.