United CEO Oscar Munoz penned a letter to staff reflecting on the recently unveiled new livery. Two sentences stood out in particular.
A flight attendant forwarded me the note below. I am including it in its entirety and then will discuss it below.
Dear United family,
I hope you’ve already seen and heard the incredible buzz going around about United’s new livery design, which we unveiled to the world earlier this week at our O’Hare hub. It was an outstanding day that I know I will always look back on with pride, especially when I see an entire fleet of those beautifully redesigned liveries taking flight on our aircraft for years to come.
First, I want to thank each and every person who contributed their time and talents toward making this such a success. From design to delivery, rehearsals to final reveal, it took so many of our colleagues working together to pull this off in spectacular fashion. Bravo to all of you.
It’s a testament to those efforts that, in an industry where press and the public can be hard to please, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive across the board. I believe that’s because this design captures something fundamentally honest about what’s happening at United Airlines.
We didn’t simply put on a new coat of paint to garner quick publicity as a substitute for real change, as we’ve seen other companies try to do in the past. No; instead we’ve been doing the hard work over several years, from our foundations upward. We finally began flying together as a united team, working together and rebuilding trust with one another. We developed our multi-year growth plan and stuck with it, winning over the skeptics and achieving sustainable profitability. We invested in our people and our product, rolling out a cadence of improvements to our customer experience that have left our competitors in our wake.
And we are steadily changing the way people think and feel about their United experience, making us the airline people choose and feel good about flying.
With all that hard work done, it was time for our image and brand to reflect the profound internal changes that we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
As you all know, there is an incredibly rich history to our company’s livery. The designs over time evoke strong memories – of years of hard work and service to the company; of good friends and colleagues, past and present; of time spent traveling with family and loved ones around the world.
I hope you feel, as I do, that this new design lives up to the best traditions of our company’s image and values and symbolizes what makes us proud of what we’ve created, together.
They are, quite simply, our values made visible.
Thank you for embracing this new stage of our journey and for the incredible work you do every day.
Warmly,
Oscar
My Thoughts
Two consecutive sentences really stood out to me in what is otherwise a nicely-worded letter meant to “rally the troops.”
We invested in our people and our product, rolling out a cadence of improvements to our customer experience that have left our competitors in our wake.
And we are steadily changing the way people think and feel about their United experience, making us the airline people choose and feel good about flying.
A cadence is a rhythm or tempo. The implication is that that improvements to the customer experience on United have moved in a progressive direction. And the result, according to Munoz, is that people feel good about flying on United again.
In some ways, Munoz is correct. The opening of Polaris lounges and retrofit of aircraft is a rolling improvement. Furthermore, decisions to make DirecTV free or ensure in-seat power is available on most aircraft represent important steps. United’s ever-growing route map also represents a huge benefit to customers. Most importantly, United has dramatically improved operational performance.
But let’s not forget United recently announced plans to restructure its MileagePlus program in a way broadly seen as negative. Let’s not forget that service remains hit or miss and wi-fi often does not work. Furthermore, we have seen Polaris cutbacks to the onboard soft product over the last two years, not improvements.
Thus, I guess my only beef with Munoz’s sentiment is that Munoz even seems to imply that the hard work is done. No, the hard work is just beginning. Every day is a new opportunity to innovate and lead from the front, rather than follow the competition.
CONCLUSION
Perhaps I’m reading too much into his words, but the work continues every day. There is no time to rest. The battle is not won.
The premium cabin onboard food and beverage is not up to standard. But they are running on time which is the biggest improvement in recent years.
United have not provided me a reason or desire to even try them out (living near LHR) yet. So i wouldn’t say this new livery has provided a reason either.
I do not like the new livery. It seems cartoonish. I would have preferred something that more closely aligned with Polaris branding.
This week I had a flight cancelled causing a 2-hour delay. No apology, not even by email. Also, wifi did not work. Finally, tomorrow’s dinner flight (7:45 pm departure) was just moved to 8:05 changing dinner to a snack flight.
United has a lot of work to do.
What a bunch of BS. Pure marketing with no content.
Continental Airlines has never looked nicer
Blah, blah, blah…
The livery looks even more boring and uninteresting than the previous.
It would have been nice if they used in some minor details the blue-red-orange of the 70’s.
Matthew, I agree with your pushback regarding the mileage program and the Polaris trims, but I wonder what your thoughts are overall on mileage programs.
My feeling is what we are seeing is the gradual pull-back by all airlines from mileage programs. It appears to me that both the airlines and credit card companies now understand these programs are not the panacea they once were and don’t necessarily drive the differentiation of their product. Airlines (in the US) are generally learning they need to compete on how they award status, product, price and schedule (AA is still learning) and credit card companies are learning that mileage offers will not necessarily result in more revenue.
The fact that most major airlines are slowly walking back points/miles programs suggests that the end game is near, or at least the mileage/points programs are going to be significantly dialed back and applicable to less people.
Just my opinion.
Noooo! Culmination? That mean United is at its best and will go further downhill.
No, the new livery should be a start to perfection and the eventual return of the tulip.
I think the rebrand is pretty reflective of the company’s journey: They realize things need to change. They have made effort to effect that change. But if you look past the surface, not much has actually changed.
I see the same thing I saw before- two airlines.
United CEO sure says a lot of $hit.
The new paint scheme / livery is obviously a matter of personal taste appealing to some and not to others. It is clean, modern and not gaudy. The important thing of course is not the the look of the aircraft. A fabulous color does not make a bad car great, it is the continuous effort to improve and to fine tune the product. United has made some improvements with the new Polaris product and the Polaris lounges. On-time performance is improved and the baggage handling in my experience is better. The experience inside the planes is spotty. The most inconsistent experience is the staff. There are some great, very professional staff members that provide a pleasant experience. Then you get on a flight and the staff appears to be upset that they have to be there. Figure out how to address whatever causes that issue. The first class product on domestic flights is not very good. Recently flew 1st class from OGG to SFO (revenue, not upgrade). Wasn’t worth the extra cost. Continously improvement on the service and product side will be needed to accomplish the goals outlined by Mr. Munoz
The new livery is disappointing. The tail logo should have been extended down the fuselage (like on American) or even under the belly of the plane (like Alaska). The all blue is officially boring and the hues cartoonish. The swoosh line does nothing and should go. If United really wanted to be united, they should have reintroduced a stylized “U” as the logo instead of this so called refresh. Regardless, everything else about United has been rising of late. Cabin retrofits, new menus, Upgraded Polaris, domestic and international network additions, impressive lounges, facility improvements and better overall…. all excellent. My last two trans-con flights in particular were reminiscent of the good ole’ days, far better than what Continental ever offered. Their Mileage Plus program, based on loyalty, is the best in the industry. Too bad about the “new” livery, but what really matters is definitely on the rise at United.