United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has issued a candid apology after he was caught flying a private jet from Newark to Chicago in the midst of an operational implosion at United that resulted in thousands of delays and cancellations.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby Apologizes For Private Jet Trip
It has been a rough week for United that has not only been characterized by thousands of flight delays and cancellations but also pictures of passengers…and even flight attendants…sleeping on cots or airport floors.
Facing the unlikely task of flying to his Colorado home on United Airlines itself, Kirby was caught boarding a private jet from Newark to Chicago according to a worker at the private jet terminal who shared the image below with a United employee, who shared it with the world (with the quip, “He should have gone to Teterboro.”).
Other reports suggest Kirby actually did fly from Teterboro (TEB) to Denver Centennial (APA).
Understandably, I am hearing outrage from a number of flight attendants and pilots.
Earlier today, Kirby sent out a note to employees apologizing for his decision to fly private this week:
I also owe you an apology.
I took a private jet home from New York on Wednesday and that was insensitive to so many of our customers who were trying to get home. You often hear me say ‘no excuses’ so I won’t try to make any to you. Many of you have been working around the clock for days – often through severe weather – to take care of our customers. You are showing the best of United, and I regret that my thoughtlessness distracted from your professionalism.
Do not expect this issue to dissipate in the days ahead.
CONCLUSION
United CEO Scott Kirby made the decision to fly home on a private jet when it became clear he could not trust United to get home. Employees are outraged and Kirby has unequivocally apologized for his conduct.
I’ll have some further thoughts on this issue tomorrow.
What do you think about Scott Kirby’s decision to fly private jet while his airline faced what some are calling a meltdown?
image: Scott Kirby / Instagram
The alternative would be him bumping a paying passenger off of a United flight.
I think the bigger issue is why he wouldn’t be staying close to EWR or headquarters during this meltdown since he left on Wednesday
Kirby took the private jet to avoid getting the Dr. Dao treatment on United.
Based on my last experience flying United, I would have opted to fly private like this CEO. Both my flight and his choice were suboptimal.
This really isn’t Kirby’s summer, is it?
Hold there at least we can pick out preferred pronouns!!
Spare us your nonsense, please.
Only if the front line employees get spared the nonsense!!!
Kindness is a virtue. You need psychiatric help silly.
I’m completely shocked over this. Or not I guess. The absolute insensitivity to what was going on with his company this week is astounding. This is exactly why Herb Kelleher was the last great CEO in America. He would have strolled through the airport and laughed with employees and customers. Herb knew how to diffuse and contribute to the handling of a situation…not add to its drama by distancing himself In such callous disregard.
I had no issue with Kirby until now. But he should be removed or resign at this point. As a CEO he should have basic compassion and sense….he is not paid to make mistakes like this. If he can’t see a proper decision in this I wonder exactly his abilities as a whole.
Or maybe he thinks he is Ted Cruz?
@ Stuart. When the pilots turned their back last year was a troubling moment. The superlative word salad was another red flag. Ideally a good leader would have been out there fighting on the front lines and just stop talking and start engaging with the problem.
As he appears to be at a loss for a compelling excuse ( at this moment) he is making Cruz look good
Kirby is a chief executive, he should have been at the helm, trying at least to help out.
Cruz is a Senator. He is not a governor, and not a president.
Kirby could have at least offered emotional support.
Cruz didn’t do anything differently than AOC.
Cope harder Marxist.
I don’t remember when AOC fled the country while people were freezing to death in her home state.
Deflect harder Nazi
Thank you for calling out this ignorant follower of Cruz and other wanna be authoritative cowards that now control the Republican party. Their uncontrollable and constant lying and sharing of fake news must be called out and corrected. Just because they believe their lies doesn’t make any of them fact.
Yes Cruz is a scumbag senator that ran away to Cancun while his constituents froze don’t try to defend this dirtbag
But he ordered 100 787s, he can do no wrong, he has vision, etc etc
This is him showing who he really is. A selfish narcissist that only does what benefits himself.
This is going to get very, very bad. I doubt he makes it through July as United’s CEO. I mean, the poster is right. He couldn’t even have the presence of mind to go to Teterboro to catch his ride? Just a horriblr look all around.
The best thing about this is stewardesses finally getting a taste of their own medicine, lol
A taste of their own medicine? How ignorant. What, you think flight attendants are sitting around, dreaming up ways to leave passengers stranded? Guess what––flight crews don’t enjoy cancellations, either.
What do you mean when you say that employees are “toured”? What does “toured” mean? You also say he didn’t apologize, but posted an apology directly above where you say he didn’t apologize. What am I missing?
Also surprised you haven’t written a post about delta’s motion to change its Haneda gateways being denied by the dot today.
Check again.
Didn’t the CEO of Southwest fly home 1st class on AA or UA after Congressional hearings or the SW meltdown last December.
I’m sure the Southwest employees appreciated that lax of discretion.
Now Kirby takes a private jet in the middle of a UA meltdown which I’m sure was charged to UA.
How crass can you get!!
No way he is apologizing for the act. He is apologizing because he got CAUGHT!!
Absolutely!!! It is sooooo easy to “apologize” after he is at home while everyone else isn’t. The CEO of the “best airline in the world” flies private because his airline cannot get him home.
Exactly. He’s sorry he got caught.
Absolutely!!
United was a total disaster this week. I had 5 of 7 flights cancel. 39 hours of delays on the flights that did go. 4 hours on the phone and several more waiting in line. Stop blaming the FAA and own it. United was an operational trainwreck this week.
I’m sitting on a United plane at this moment…..3 hours late and not off the ground.
@ Rjb. Praying for you. Play matthew’s Ode to joy recorded at 2:00 am from a post a few days ago once you might be going somewhere. It is a traveler’s anthem. All the best
Talk is cheap and so is Kirby’s apology! Action by mgmt team is overdue!
This meltdown just keeps getting funnier
What employee received this statement from him? This “apology” was not sent to the flight attendants.
I was sent a screenshot from Flying Together.
You FAs are all the same. Serious the world doesn’t revolve around you. Maybe serve our pax better and get off candy crush.
Like a certain talentless governor who wined and dined at the French Laundry after forcing the rest of the state to shut down, it seems this woke jackass doesn’t suffer along with the riff raff.
The talentless governor that hit and quit your hero’s son’s lady. Lol
Don’t you wish that as a companion position to Matthew’s allowance of trolls he should publish the names of duplicate commenters? It’d be nice to avoid facilitating the trolls by letting them comment under various names without repercussion, to say nothing of stymieing their pathetic practice of trying to make it look like other people actually agree with them. Matthew says he believes in transparency so listing the “names” of those who abuse that premise seems very fair.
What a weird thing to accuse someone of. Are you guilty of this?
No but there are others who do so, more often than you’d think. I think it’s morally wrong and intellectually dishonest but the people doing it seem to feel differently.
@Christian It’s funny because there’s also another certain individual here who also keeps asking for IPs of others who disagree with him, but I won’t accuse you of being him.
@Jan – I never ask for confidential information like an IP address. Most people who disagree with me (or v.v.) aren’t trolls but trolls are easy to spot because they generally don’t use facts to make a point, preferring to stick with insults. TBH I find asking for their IP to be really creepy and I wouldn’t know what to do with the information anyway.
@Christian Ok ok, and I didn’t really think you were or had a burner; my first question was more rhetorical anyways. But it’s really crappy to accuse others of sockpuppeting if you yourself got even a little bit defensive when I started to question (and I don’t blame you)
Christian, I don’t allow it. The only one who did that was the late Acura.
Fair enough. I guess that there’s just a few stunningly similar trolls that don’t seem to comment at the same time. Unfortunate that they respond as they do but at least they’re unique.
I only ever use one name (Well, usually). Take a look at your fellow leftist mouth breather, Billy Bob/UA-NYC
Hey fck-face – not the same person. You really are a pathetic little wanker.
A hit dog will always holler, I suppose…
You’ve already accused me before of being the same person as Dave Edwards, Santastico and vietri/Acura. You’re now officially confirmed to be wrong once, but you’re actually wrong on all counts, which is fine for you because being wrong is your favorite thing.
“because being wrong is your favorite thing.”
That’s your thing, sweetie.
Also, my comment seems to have pole vaulted over your head. Which is understandable, given it’s you.
“no u” lol ok.
Still hollering I see lol
Huh? That has got to be one of your lamest retorts yet.
What does “woke” have to do with any of this? Some people just can’t help themselves, I suppose.
If he took the flight on united all the fascists here would be crying that he prevented some poor bastard from getting home by taking their seat. Melt snowflakes, melt
How about this. Instead of exciting stage left to the comfort of a private jet, how about leading from the front and standing in solidarity with his front line troops? Yes it would have been difficult but at least he would have garnered some respect of the frontline troops and paying customers bearing the brunt of this total sh1tstorm!!
But that’s difficult. He chose th east way out. A coward and a stand up guy feel the exact same thing. The difference is their reaction!!
If He was flying back to Chicago where HQ is, how do we know he wasn’t going there to help? What could he have done in Newark? Give out snacks and platitudes about feeling their pain? I wish people would be honest and admit that they just don’t like Kirby because of the vaccine mandates and sucking up to biden, and that this is just an opportunity to call for his firing
Wonder how Kirby will try to make this someone else’s fault?
After reading another post on a different blog, seemingly defending Kirby because he “paid for the plane himself and freed up space for passengers,” I really hope that Matthew’s follow up here tomorrow does not also try to defend in the same way. If so, I will pounce all over it. And bring the ghost of Herb Kelleher with me.
Good grief.
Wow, Kirby only apologized be he got caught. Just another tonedeaf CEO who has no idea how difficult the job is for the frontline employees that work for United Airlines. I would call him some offensive names, but I can’t find one bad enough to describe his cowardly behavior.
I would think Kirby could have sat in the jump seat in the pointy end if all the flights were full.
A CEO flying private. Just another day of the week.
these union trash need to get over themselves
Disgusting.
I want to leave DL for UA; but, I continually am reminded why I shan’t.
I think this just proves that rich people think that they can do anything that they want. Why isn’t he trying to find out why his flights are not getting passengers where they want to be? He should be investing his time into the problem instead of worrying about making dinner at his other handful of mansions. So many people are spending their time and money to travel on his airline. These are people that work very hard for their money, and sometimes save for months in advance to do so. This was truly a slap in the face to every passenger and employee that bears the name United he should be part of the solution and not the problem.
@ Matthew — I will be sadly disappointed if you do not agree that Kirby should quit/be fired. The extent of this week’s United meltdown is completely United’s fault. When you are too greedy to spend what is needed to cover inevitable operational problems, you should be penalized via your compensation. When you walk off your job to go on vacation while everyone else that works for you is attempting to clean up your mess, you should be fired.
Why do US airlines attract such reprehensible executives? First we had Doug Parker at AA, and now Kirby at UA.
Let’s be honest, he’s apologizing because he was caught, not because he regrets his actions.
The man obviously has the resources to take an alternate mode of transportation home. If any of the other stranded passengera had that option, there is no doubt that they would have done the same. This is no different than some travellers opting to drive to their destinations instead 9f dealing with the delays and cancellations. I think that crucifying this man for something that many, if not all, passengers might have done-pivoting with travel accomodations- is absurd and assenine. I do not believe he owes anyone an apology. While he is the CEO, he is mot solely responsible for the operational breakdown. The issue is multi-faceted. Good for him. It is just an unfortunate reality that not everyone has access or the resources the pivot as he did. However, that is life in a capitalistic world: haves vs. have-nots. Recuse yourselves.
Excuse the typos, my phone is horrible. That is all.
For someone with so many years of industry experience, he sure didn’t demonstrate wisdom here.
Kirby needs to resign or be fired by the BOD. He is worthless and was useless at AWA, US and AA. His avarice and narcissism is so obvious. First he lied that he paid out of pocket, the sum of $20K for a private jet from EWR to DEN. Actually that $ # is on the low side. Then, UA PR went into overdrive and would not admit that he has flown private in the past. Because, he never flies commercial and neither does his family. Who pays for it? The passengers, shareholders and employees pay for it. Mr. K has the usual AMEX black credit card and everything is paid for because it is written into his contract. Oh, why was he flying to DEN? Not on business. His mountain home is in Vail. The media needs to dig a little deeper into his unlimited expense account and not so stellar background. He is your typical airline CEO degenerate who got lucky until now.
I think he owes United Staff a huge bonus out of his own deep pockets to pay them for sleeping on cots and floors, etc. “I owe you an apology” is nice, but too easy. He should put some of his abundant money where his mouth is and give them something tangible.