Dear Readers -
I have to apologize for being out of touch. This time of year is crunch time at my day job and there has been a lot of health and other personal crap that saps the energy out of me. This post I had started while traveling in December. Nothing like posting it four months later, but I think it has something to say. I have started a post about all of the recent shenanigans and hope to finish it this weekend. Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement. It means so much to me and it is a testament to how dedicated you are to United Airlines.
December 2015
As I write this, I am sitting in the United Club West at Denver International. I am waiting for my flight home after visiting family in Colorado for a few days. It has been three months since Mr. Smisek was shown the door. His successor, Oscar Munoz, was sidelined with a heart attack less than six weeks into his new job. Brett Hart, United/Continental Holdings (UAL) General Counsel was appointed interim CEO until Mr. Munoz' anticipated return in January. Around January 20, 2016, UAL will be posting its fourth quarter 2015 results and many will be waiting to see how this newer United is performing.
I traveled on United in September shortly after the Smisek ouster and the employees were shocked and elated at the same time. For five years under Smisek's leadership so many of the employees tried very hard to let management know of the mistakes that were being made. United was going downhill at a faster clip and they were powerless to make any changes, until "he who shall not be named ("HWSNBN")" was defeated. Right away Mr. Munoz took to the road to visit the hubs and many other stations to actually hear what the employees had to say about what was happening to their airline.
Mr. Munoz was listening, and he responded by placing full page ads in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and many other newspapers publicly apologizing to both United's customers and its employees about how bad things had gotten, and he pledged to make things right once again. This was the first time in the 5 years since the merger was completed that someone from senior management was acknowledging that United was losing its most loyal customers to the competition. I get a little angry thinking about how much time I have spent writing this blog, attending shareholder meetings, and standing with employees on the picket lines as they try to get the attention of management. I have been saying for 5 years that the numbers proved United was losing customers, yet the arrogance that was the hallmark of HWSNBN would not let him do the right thing and accept that the Continental way was not going to work with the merged carriers.
Back to today and I am sitting here in the United Club - I have not really noticed any of the positive changes that were promised by Mr. Munoz and Mr. Hart. Employees appear happier, but their enthusiasm has waned. Crappy fare is still being served in the United Clubs. Mr. Munoz - please, the Mediterranean fare is disgusting. Nobody wants to eat cubes of cheese or hummus that have been sitting uncovered out in the open air, or soup that has lingered all day in the tureen to turn into salt.
Most importantly, and most noticeable, is that United's Flight Attendants still do not have a joint contract. Mr. Munoz - your Flight Attendants spend the most time with the customers, and they are very unhappy and frustrated by lack of any progress in the negotiations. It baffles me why Mr. Keen and Mr. Risoli go to the bargaining table expecting concessions from a group that has already given up so much. Pilots, engineers and technicians, customer service and other groups all made net gains with their joint contracts. Why must the Flight Attendants be expected to move backward?
