Earlier this week, Oscar Munoz stepped down as CEO of United Airlines, after nearly five years on the job. How should we evaluate his legacy?
My friend Gary at View from the Wing called the Oscar Munoz legacy disappointing. His focus, however, was not so much on Munoz himself, but his critical decision in 2016 to poach Scott Kirby, United’s new CEO, from American Airlines:
Kirby’s history is as a destroyer of airline customer experience and as a micromanager, eliminating elite bonus miles and charging for water at us airways, insisting that American AAdvantage blindly follow the revenue-based programs of Delta and United rather than charting its own path and even getting so far in the weeds as to overrule the AAdvantage team over the name of their new 75,000 mile elite tier.
Red flags and other warning signs certainly accompany Kirby. While I have argued that he is the best person to fight for United’s survival during this time, I suspect he will continue to alienate customers with onboard service cutbacks and further devaluations to MileagePlus.
More Than Kirby
And while Munoz’s inability to control Kirby is a mark on his legacy, I want to focus on Munoz’s unique role in transforming the culture of United Airlines.
I’ve flown United as my primary airline since 2004, which spanned the Tilton, Smisek, Munoz, and now Kirby years. Munoz was absolutely instrumental in transforming culture and improving morale. A strong leader has that impact and employees rallied around him.
Why? It was not because of core4 or other gimmick programs to encourage cohesion. It wasn’t because of service changes after David Dao, because every United employee who talks to me off-the-record still thinks that Dao was belligerent and deserved to get dragged off the plane.
People say nice guys finish last, but Munoz’s secret was that he was a genuinely nice guy. He did not have to put on act to seem likable; he was likable. A family man, honest and empathetic, he was a pleasure to be around. And that inspired the same amongst his employees.
That truly counts for something.
And while Munoz’s tenure ends on a down note with COVID-19, he ushered in a transformation of the business class fleet, an impressive expansion in United’s international route map, and many innovations, like United’s excellent app, that have made travel easier. Plus many years of profit and new contracts with pay raises for unionized divisions…
I appreciated that Munoz was not a micromanager, but instead delegated key tasks to others. When I look at leaders I admire, it is those who are strong enough to trust others, noting that even if they (think they) could do everything themselves better, there is great benefit to building a team that works well with one another and in which mutual trust is cultivated.
I won’t excuse Munoz for many of the more recent unfriendly polices toward employees and customers. I also view’s Munoz’s biggest failing as the inferior onboard wi-fi system United continues to offer compared to American and Delta.
But overall, I’d say job well done. It is up to Kirby, not Munoz, whether his legacy of goodwill is squandered.
Personally Speaking On Oscar Munoz Legacy
On a personal note, I’ve had many pleasant conversations with Munoz over the years. Again, I appreciate people who are kind. We first met at the opening of the United Club at LAX in 2016 (I met Kirby as well…he was just weeks into the job).
I met him again onboard the final United 747-400 flight from San Francisco to Honolulu in 2017. He even scanned our tickets as we boarded:
I also met him at several United Polaris Lounge openings and other United ribbon-cutting or press events.
Most recently, he congratulated me after winning top prize in the “Price is Right” style trivia contest during the last press day:
Munoz is an honorable man and that will be his enduring legacy.
featured image: United Airlines
Munoz was liked by “WE” the employees because after years of stalled labor contracts he got them done and we were able to get our well deserved raises after United had been making money hand over fist at our expense.
Now in the past month all that went to hell with the dog and pony trick they tried to pull on the 15,000 + frontline employees by trying to reduce our hours at taxpayers expense.
The Core 4 you mentioned was the biggest joke and I’m am glad it’s finally DEAD because none of us believe in it.
Rest assure Kirby isn’t liked by the frontline employee who haven’t drank the Kool-Aid that the company has been trying to shove down our throats … he will destroy us and we know it … hopefully we can take him down with us if it gets to that point.
Take care Oscar .. you were better then the previous CEO’s but you left while the house is still on fire and that won’t be easily forgotten
Kirby and all the changes he has made were the reason I (and probably many others) switched to fly with other carriers. Good luck to all with the new requirements of MileagePlus program, including how you would earn PQP when flying with partners.
Forgot- Oscar can never be compared to Gordon Bethune or some others, but he was much better than Kirby in all. Had I known Kirby would come to UA and be a CEO one day, I would never try to reach 2MM with UA.
I’ve never flown United, so i don’t fall into the camp of “i’ll never fly United again”, but rather they’ve never given me incentive to want to try them in the first place. Based in the UK, most of my flights to the US have been DL and VS (the latter has consistently amazing cabin crew) and while i intend to give American and Norweigan – hopefully – a try*, United keeps providing me reasons to try some things: Polaris lounges and new cabins, while continuing to stack up reasons why i dont – the Dao incident, namely “reaccommodating”, their current aggressive stance of penny pinching, the general lack of identity (you can see what VS goes for, DL equally so in recent years, for instance).
I was hoping the Munoz years would have given me reason to try, but it didnt. Maybe the Kirby years will surprise me.
*BA is off the list as i simply dont agree with their stance of charging for seats in premium cabins if you dont have status. It doesn’t incentivise me to go for status it just makes me disagree with wanting to try it in the first place.
Munoz will be remembered chiefly for the David Dao incident and the consequent customer service debacle. United didn’t need the incident to effect operational and cultural changes, but Munoz centered his transformation around the counter-response to his initial much-condemned response.
His ability to connect with the united employees is certainly a great legacy. After years of management abuse, he independently saw what he had to do, and did it. For that he should be admired.
I’m torn. One one hand he improved rock bottom morale and helped right the ship while on the other hand he invited the wolf into the hen house by hiring Kirby. Except for the Kirby move, which subsequently led to Kirby making a number of negative changes for employees and customers, Oscar’s legacy would be comparatively good. If Kirby turns out to be drastically different than he always has previously, Munoz can bask in a golden legacy If not, he’s Captain Smith from the Titanic, who lead the way into catastrophe.
I will remember Munoz as the CEO who shoved identity politics and DIE down passenger throats before every flight. While the marketing efforts checked all the PC boxes it left many passengers wondering if quality and merit became undervalued, starting in the cockpit.
Matthew, has anyone ever told you you look like Tintin? 😀
Those are actually not very flattering pictures! But you are not the first to make that comparison.
Could Kirby have been using CEO Munoz as a cover for all the unpopular changes? Well, Kirby was nowhere seen during the entire David Dao saga.
IF Kirby has gotten all the worse things done by now, he can become nicey-nicey CEO. Consider his recent I’m-now-CEO-like-me message.
You couldn’t set “the bar” much lower than Tilton or Smisek. Never worked for Munoz but couldn’t help but wonder how he got the job. He was a railroad guy and pleasing freight is not the same as pleasing customers. Also, he was on the board during the Smisek years and didn’t appear to be very influential. Have never heard anything good about Kirby but he sounds like a typical bean counter with a focus on the numbers and not what generates them. Was a former Continental employee and unfortunately the merger brought CO down to the UA level in virtually every respect. UA may not survive.
NOBODY and I repeat NO ONE “deserves to be dragged ” off an airplane the way Dao was. There are other ways to deal with a belligerent customer that don’t become a PR nightmare and cost the airline millions in settlement.
United has kept the Continental logo and destroyed everything that was good about it after they merged. As an outsider, Munoz’ legacy will stay etched in my mind as the Dao incident.
Ok, so this piece is mainly about you and your rubbing shoulders with Munoz.
No it’s not. That’s only the small final section.