Goodness gracious. The choir whining about United again. I would remind the choir that in the good old days of the "old United," the airline was in bankruptcy court more times than I can recall. Fly Frontier over United; no thanks.
I am only a flying customer of United; I have no credentials that would give me insight into the company's culture or management. [Please go easy on me here; I know that so many of you who comment on these pages are professionals in the airline industry]. I don't see a cancer infecting United's entire organizational culture. I think the flight that night from Chicago was a contractor-originated flight by Republic. If the crew were not mainline United staff, then United's biggest future challenge is to ensure adequate training for contractors who wear the uniform of the major airline they represent. I have 32+years working across two branches of the federal government; I am deeply aware of the problems that contractors can create when rigorous guidance and evaluation by the parent is lacking.
This looks like a very good move. The feed from Manchester to Houston should be much livelier than Moscow to Houston. And the codeshare with United allows Singapore Airlines' customers to transit easily to South America.
I am also inclined to give Mr. Smisek the benefit of the doubt here. I recall years ago that Delta was engaged in similar gymnastics with the Minneapolis airport authority.
The September 10 and today's edition (September 11) of the Wall Street Journal has an interesting story-line on this (one not connected to the never-ending gripes about the merger). The "new" United had been hammering the Port Authority for years to upgrade facilities and lower fees given its huge presence at Newark. Regardless of how one views Mr. Smisek's handling of overtures to the Authority Chairman, the Journal articles suggest that the new United CEO will have the same problems in pressuring the Authority for the upgrades.
