In a passionate video message to employees, CEO Scott Kirby outlines his vision for making United Airlines world’s number one airline as it emerges from the pandemic. The focus is on customer service, with particular emphasis on transparency.
United Airlines CEO: We Are Going Become The World’s Number One Airline
The video, sent to all employees on Monday, was shared with Live and Let’s Fly.
Kirby begins by recounting how United handled what he calls the “worst weather event in our entire history” after below-average temperatures across much of the United Sates led to unprecedented flight disruptions earlier this month.
Despite the disruptions, United’s net promoter scores went up (on a year-to-year basis). Net promoter scores measure the willingness of customers to recommend a company’s products or services to others and are ascertained by post-flight surveys. Kirby credits this to the “culture change that has been happening and will continue to happen here at United to take care of our customers.”
Throughout his message, a recurring theme is United’s effort to get customers to like it.
“But it’s also the little things that are important that we continue to do to get our customers to like us. We started down this journey with core4 a couple of years ago when we talked about caring as our number two priority behind safety.
“And we’ve continued as we’ve gone through COVID, as we talk about innovating for the customer, putting the customer at the center of everything we do, getting our customers to like us. And it really is different and I can feel it. Our customers can feel it every day.”
Core4 represents United’s four core principles it unveiled in 2018 after the David Dao controversy:
- Safe
- Caring
- Dependable
- Efficient
How was this specifically put into place? Kirby notes proactively reaching out to customers and using ConnectionSaver to hold flights:
“During this weather event we actually managed to contact over 94% of our customers and give them the option before they needed to leave for the airport for flights that were going to be cancelled.
“We used the ConnectionSaver to be able to connect customers instead of having them sit in an airport and spend the night on cots in airports, which is what used to happen in these bad weather events. This event was totally different.
“Our ability to communicate transparently, open, and honestly with customers made what was a really bad event into something that led to the net promoter scores being up on a year-to-year basis, despite the impact of the weather.”
Technology is key to the advances United has made in recent years. Not only does it offer an industry-leading app which is far more functional than its competitors, but advances like Connection Saver, which will hold flights for late-arriving customers if it does not adversely impact others onboard, help to win long-term loyalty.
Kirby: Culture Is The “Secret Sauce”
What will make United Airlines number one? Per Kirby, it will be the culture:
“We have all the raw ingredients, the seven hubs that we have, our commitment to growing when this is all over. And the key secret sauce, the magic ingredient that’s going to propel us to the number one position is this culture with customers, and getting our customers to choose United Airlines.”
United is preparing to battle its low-cost competition and Kirby indicates it will respond aggressively:
“When this is over, a lot of our low-cost carrier competitors are gunning for United Airlines. They think this is the old United Airlines who would sit back and shrink after a crisis.”
Unlike his predecessors, United Airlines has not shied away from competition and is already planing to fight for market share and growth with the explicit goal of becoming the world’s number on airlines (note, he doesn’t say world’s largest airline):
“We’re the one airline that uniquely is planning to grow back at a hundred percent, including all of our widebodies. We are going to come back and win market share on the other side of this crisis and become the world’s number one airline.”
Kirby talks of honesty, transparency, and being open. This is refreshing. But will be it be put into practice?
“And this culture change about customers is going to be the key to our success. Because we need customers to choose us, not just because we have the best schedule, not just because we have the frequent flyer program, but even when everything is equal, even when the schedule, even when the price are equal, if you’re a customer in Denver, I want those customers knowing that United Airlines is the most open, the most honest, the most transparent, that cares the most for what they’re doing and those customers choosing United because they believe in us and they like United Airlines.”
As always, actions speak louder than words.
CONCLUSION
Kirby is saying all the right things. The secret sauce is indeed employee culture and transparency. Technology advances have made that much easier. Will United be able to take advantage of the pandemic to gain market share? It’s too early to tell, but foundational to achieving that goal will be be consistency. That means transparency on onboard cutbacks and MileagePlus devaluations as well.
This reminds me of Smisek infamously saying there’s a number of changes ahead, “and I think you’ll like them.” How does UA plan to be the world’s number one airline? My only having a limited number of United Clubs open and keeping Polaris Lounges closed? By “enhancing” the Polaris soft product? Devaluation of the Mileage Plus program? Horrible no-refund process during the early stages of the pandemic? Actions speak louder than words, and it’ll be a long time until UA earns the trust of the flying public.
If Kirby is looking at NPS then he should set a company wide goal at a certain number. Kirby loves hard numbers and spreadsheets when it’s cutting cost but offers pie in the sky unmeasurable goals for things that aren’t money related. A true executive.
12 months ago, NPS was reflective of much higher prices, lower upgrade rates, lower award availability, fuller planes…yes clubs were open and food was better, but net-net there are a lot of benefits traveling right now vs. then.
So YOY NPS is a really flawed metric IMO.
United the passed few years has gutted Mileage plus to almost as low as Delta Skymiles. With worse culture, worse planes and worse service I do not see how he plans on achieving this. United also has a unimaginative route network right now. It was getting great pre-covid but I think Kirby will be the slowest to get it back. I think the best major in the US right now is American. No big devaluations , easy upgrades, good service and good route network. I only have one policy hatrid with AA and that is same day confined. UA is so far below the competition its crazy.
“It’s good to have dreams” LOL Starts from the bottom. Upper management says the same crap all the time. If you can’t have ALL of your guest facing employees genuinely take pride in their job then there’s no way UA will be the top airline. Seniority issue with FAs is another massive obstacle to this as many senior FAs are 100% secure in knowing they don’t have to provide top level service and they’ll be just fine. There are just so many things UA has to completely blow up and rebuild to achieve anything remotely close to the level guests receive on SQ or NH. So in short, no, UA will not be top dog but it’s nice to have dreams.
Not sure Kirby has ever been the problem. He may not be as deserving of the rep that he has. He worked under Parker at AA and only recently became the CEO (though Munoz remains Chairman)
Not sure we will ever see big changes until Frank Lorenzo is no longer one of the largest share holders. He had enough a few years ago to keep Bethune from coming back as chairman
https://www.thestreet.com/opinion/let-oscar-munoz-run-united-says-frank-lorenzo-who-built-continental-13493307
Just on a methodological basis wouldn’t their net promoter scores go up any time travel is down. When no one else is flying, let alone flying on United, wouldn’t the people left be the “True Believers”? I am absolutely unconvinced that the net promoter score improvement is anything other than customer purification.
I got booted out of the LAX United Club last month, even though I had a LAX-EWR business class ticket. The desk agent couldn’t “see” (whatever that means) my previous LAX-SFO-EWR ticket that I’d had changed to a direct routing because of an equipment change. I asked her to check with a supervisor, and she said, “Customer service is over there. They’ll handle it.” All this despite there being no line behind me and no one in the club. I made the trip, got it sorted, and got in, and when I told the club agent that she she was offering poor customer service by refusing to take the time to help me, her response was, “No, I didn’t provide poor customer service.”
Every time I give United a try, they find new ways to disappoint me. This went beyond their previous lows, but I got the message: we’re not here to help, and you can go to hell for asking.
So sad. Please write United. Please let them know what happened. Unacceptable.
I was delayed for 6 days due to the storm, when I finally got on a plane, my upgrade had cleared (Free Silver Status via Bonvoy) on what was originally a Basic Economy booking. A deal of a lifetime. I gave them high marks when the survey arrived a day or two ago. The FA was friendly and provided great service on the 2 hour flight. I was a 1K from 2010-2014, but I’ve been EXP since 2017. It was nice to be back on United…
If my experience is replicated every time, they will indeed be the world’s number one airline. The problem is that respect, courtesy, and empathy remain rare with all US carriers. I just don’t see an environment where seniority as opposed to hard work dictates your role actually producing an elite airline.
US carriers have great technology, and United probably leads the pack. Their hard product can be competitive if they want it to be, that’s easy. What’s hard is truly fostering an environment where customers actually feel like guests. To me, that’s what it takes to be number 1.
@Jerry…agree. You have to hire/retain employees that actually care about being passenger focused and like people…and who have a bonus structure that is tied to measurable customer satisfaction. The flying public is difficult to deal with, but that is no excuse for taking care of the little things that create a positive experience.
By the way, I am very skeptical when I hear companies/orgs talk of transparency or ethics, because to me it reveals a huge cultural problem in those areas. And we know that culture is very difficult to change, unless top management lives it every day. The change starts at the top must be driven to the entire organization.
good luck with that, no US or Western world airlines have the service and genuine care as Asian and Middle East airlines. period.
The instigator of what you called Kirby Kuts wants to be number one? Most of his moves have made things worse for customers, staff, or both. If he actually did want United to become number one, he could restore Polaris completely, reverse his choice to wipe employee bonuses, revalue Mileage Plus, make it so that United doesn’t have the absolute worst premium economy restrictions of any legacy domestic airline, etc.. Long story short, his actions have continually belied what he’s saying. Does this mean that he has reversed himself?
Scratching on my head – Maybe they have some typographical error, they were trying to type “10th best airline” def not number one! UA has a LONG way to earn our trust and loyalty –
To the extent he means that UA will be dependably on time, have few maintenance issues, and have a good route network, then UA is a lot better than it was years ago. But that is baseline. For quality of service, necessary to maximize revenue, it is in the middle of the pack, and down from where that was a few years ago. Particularly for international. They have work to do to make that competitive with the major non-US carriers. Of course, I might still fly them if they are the cheapest, but the whole point of Polaris was to try to get people to fly you when you are not the cheapest. And if demand post-COVID is more on the leisure side than the business side, corporate contracts may not help as much as they did before.
Number 1??
AHAHAHA
Well the level of delusion displayed by Kirby is sky high. In his dreams. Jeez, how anyone could vote United anywhere in the top 10 would be unexplainable. A mediocre airline with mediocre crew and terrible catering.
Scott Kirby is doing his part as a BS CEO. What is he going to tell his employees? Let’s aim for #24? Well, it works as an incentive but it is the same as a tiny country in the developing world say they aim to be the #1 economic power in the world. Aspirational but unachievable.
You better be kidding me Matthew Klint. Number 1 in the world with what? grumpy old FAs? Dirty business class lavs? Sub par consistency on lounge access to customers?
Let’s compare with other star alliance members, Turkish, EVA, Singapore. Can United even come closer??
How much they paid you to write this document?
Amazing HenryLAX hasn’t showed up to defend and praise UA…there is still a monthly quota to fulfill at $.02/word.
What a master of spin.
I want to be the world’s number one man, desired by every woman and a beacon of light everywhere I go. Alas, I will probably be rated 24,398,456. Just like United and any other U.S. airline. We are just not that interesting.
Out of what, 4 billion men on the Earth? That’s not a bad ranking.
I agree with many readers here about Kirby. Is anyone surprised? Shouldn’t be. Kirby always talks big and delivers nothing. He is “number one” for devaluing MP, for cutting back everything, screwing guests up with shocking changes. Did we hear any AA flyers in this forum stated that they missed him? That is the answer how great Mr. “Bean Counter” is. Several UA flyers abroad left UA for another carrier/program after he changed the rules to qualify for 1K, Platinum based on dollars spent, not distance flown. Think about it Mr. “Spreadsheet”, they live abroad, and support UA instead of other carriers, and you want them to pay $20,000 annually. Dumb decision.
I used to live in San Francisco, and then in the Washington D.C. area, and got used to plenty of United service. Now I live near Seattle, and United is a minor carrier here: SFO, LAX, DEN, ORD, IAD, IAH, EWR. Alaska and Delta own the place. I’d like to see broader United schedules, and nonstops to London and Hawaii.
United used to dominate the North Satellite at SeaTac.
United- it took them many years just to unite the company, it was late in rolling out the Polaris Product/what a mess, and customer service is often encumbered by conflicted policy. I am a 1K member, and they shift the goalposts and targets arbitrarily and with rare empathy. I am frequently frustrated, let down and disappointed- and not for the efforts of many of the employees, but by the policies and arbitrary decisions made by management.
Empathy, care, consistent program- simple, direct and fully engaged with the flying customer.
From the standpoint of a regular 1K customer (or should I say “guest”?), what I’ll tell you is that United needs to return food and beverage SERVICE to its flights if they want to broach this conversation! For example, in the last eight days, I’ve flown IAH/SEA four times all up front, and if I see another tapas box I’m going to be sick. Drinks still in plastic cups (a huge waste, especially for me…). Good luck getting a warm “sandwich” if you’re flying in rows 3-5 (quotations because, well, have you read the nutritional label and ingredients?) All in the name of “safety”. And we’re talking about transparency? Give me a break…and yes, I write them every time (in the post flight survey, anyway).
Hope Kirby understands, a customer-centric culture is not a microwave meal. It’s a slow-cooker recipe, cooked over years, not weeks/months. They have their work cut out for them, if they plan to catch or match Delta’s culture.
It’s good for Kirby to dream and to fantasize. But, “reality” is what the paying customers will see. I do not see myself throwing gobs of money at UA anytime in the near future, and I have gobs of money to throw. I live in a major UA hub and have lifetime top tier UA status, but I fly other carriers. I had no choice but to fly UA a few weeks ago. Yes, UA did not fail to disappoint.
It’s all great – and it’s very reminiscent of what I heard Continental Airlines was like. Unfortunately, the “battleship grey” mentality with employees remains and after almost 11 years of trying to shake it off. The mis-placed pride of the glory days of the past is evident in every corner of every airport, office, plane and zoom call… 747s that had never had carpet replaced, playing Halfway-to-Hawaii games as a gimmick to get employees to interact with customers, Queen carts with folded linens, stores in San Francisco, overhead compartments not bins (because we are classy British folk), asking for a file number when calling a desk and still being proud that flight attendant domiciles end with (SW) stewardess… because it was so fabulous for them to weigh-in for their job… we can go on and on.
The color gold was taken off the planes – which was painted to signify how important the employees are to a business – they are worth more than gold. Until treating employees like gold returns, United will remain grey. Covid-19 couldn’t shake this misplaced pride and Scott won’t be able either.
Funniest thing I’ve heard all day