The United Airlines brand sank to a new low in 2017, but the US airline has been working around the clock to recover its tainted name. 

United Airlines has been on an up and down roller coaster ride when it comes down to its reputation. Based on the American customer satisfaction index (ACSI), the airline is on the road to recovery after its infamous incident in 2007. However, the decline started long before the eventual climax in April of 2017. In 1996, United Airlines received a 70 point ASCI score, falling to 59 in 2001. 

While slightly recovering to 64 in 2004, it dropped to an all time low in 2007, persisting up to 2009, when the company started its slow and arduous process to brand recovery. In 2017, a little over two decades, it once again reached 70 points and managed to reach its highest rating since 1995, with 77 points in 2023. The time between 1995 and 2023 has been riddled with issues, internal and external, with the company having to make drastic changes to become the prestigious airline it once was. 

United Airlines Flight 3411

The incident Flight 3411 became a textbook PR-disaster for United Airlines. Sparking massive public outcry. On April 9, 2017, David Dao was forcefully removed from a plane after being bumped by the airline. The flight destined to Chicago O’Hare International Airport was overbooked and passengers had to be removed to allow United employees to operate another flight. Mister Dao refused to give up his seat, which led to him being forcibly removed from the airplane.

Security personnel dragged Dao by his arms and feet, while he was resisting his removal. He managed to break free and return to the airplane, his face covered in blood. The scene was recorded by passengers who shared the footage on social media. Passengers urged security officers to leave Mister Dao seated, but to no avail.  

The incident on Flight 3411 quickly unfolded into United Airlines’ largest PR-nightmare, with the carrier scrambling to mitigate the negative backlash. The initial response from the airline was cool and distant, denoting Dao as an obnoxious passenger in internal documents. Meanwhile the incident was reaching national headlines and was spreading like wildfire across media outlets. A few days after the incident, CEO at United, Oscar Munoz spoke at ABC News about the incident and the subsequent outrage. Munoz expressed the shame that befell upon him, highlighting that what had occurred at Flight 3411 wasn’t what the airline stood for, with his initial response being unable to cover all the failings by the company. 

Munoz pointed out that a system failure has led to all bad actors coming together. Policies and procedures were put in place that were too restrictive, with individual employees being unable to properly manage situations like those on Flight 3411. Highlighting that front line workers were capable enough to assess and regulate incidents during unforeseen circumstances. Munoz said policies would be reviewed and promised that law enforcement would never be used to remove passengers who’ve booked and paid for a flight and have been seated. The events that led up to the fall out with David Dao weren’t a random coincidence, but a decades-long build-up that eventually led to the climax that brought United Airlines to its knees. 

Calculated misery

The beginning of the 2000s have been dubbed as the lost decade within the airline industry, who had to fend off crisis after crisis, starting with the 9/11 attacks and shortly after the Great Recession that crippled economies around the world. Margins have always been tight at US airlines. Between 1951 and 1960, profit margins sat at a comfortable 3.2 percent, declining over the years and falling to a razor thin 0.3 percent between 1981 and 1990.

Between 1991 and 2000, profit margins improved to 1.6 percent. While the percentage is lower than four decades earlier, net income was at an all time high at $16.3 billion. Tides quickly turned after the 9/11 attacks with profits spiraling down, with US airlines accumulating $54.6 billion in financial losses between 2001 and 2010. Airline executives were in a race to reach profitability.

The race towards profitability however, came at the expense of the customer experience, and has been colloquially dubbed ‘calculated misery’ by Tim Wu at the New Yorker in 2014. Embodying every profit generating tactic airlines in the US have implemented to generate as much revenue as humanly possible. Cutting costs wherever possible. Wu brought forward JetBlue, who, for years, aimed to deliver an unparalleled customer experience in an industry that was actively aiming to squeeze every dollar out of its passengers.

A tried a tested tactic by US airline Spirit, who has perfected the art of additional fees. JetBlue had succumbed as well, following in the footsteps of Delta and United, to maximize revenue per flight, by cramming as many seats as possible in an airplane by shrinking legroom and adding fees for baggage and amenities such as WiFi.

These operational changes at JetBlue were for good reason, because other airlines were able to generate quite the extra revenue by overhauling their planes and pricing structure. Wu cites that major airlines around the world were able to generate an additional $31.5 billion in 2013 alone. United Airlines collected an astounding $5.7 billion and Delta Airlines over $2.5 billion and there was more money to be made. Airline executives were also fully aware that as competition decreased due to mergers, passengers had little alternatives left. Leaving the door wide open for US carriers to demand high rates for their services. 

Turbulence at United Airlines

Closer to home, United Airlines was undergoing its own internal shake-up with top executives leaving the company in rapid succession and a bankruptcy following shortly after. In the closing hours of 2001, James Goodwin resigned as CEO at United Airlines, leaving the company behind in a world where the airline industry would undergo drastic changes in years to come.

The LA Times commented that Goodwin was under immense pressure, which was a concentrated effort put in motion by the machinists union and flight attendants, who were left disgruntled after Goodwin wrote to its employees that the company might cease to exist if it wouldn’t take drastic measures.

Once the letter became public, the news sparked panic with investors, resulting in the stock falling 20 percent. Goodwin’s desperate plea followed as the financial stability of the company came into jeopardy after two of its planes were involved in the 9/11 attacks. The airline was forced to scrap 26 of its routes and let go of 20,000 employees. In October 2001, Goodwin was replaced by John W. Creighton Jr., who served as CEO at timberland company Weyerhaeuser and sat at the board at the parent organization of United, UAL, since 1998.

The new head of the struggling airline told the New York Times the first order of business would be restoring its balance sheet in cooperation with its employees and unions. In the first of the year, United had already accumulated $605 million in losses, with analysts predicting the airline would lose over a billion dollars the quarters ahead. The newspaper commented that the once famed airline had fallen into disrepair. Its tainted reputation resulted in the company being unable to attract new qualified leadership, having to opt for an outsider. Creighton Jr. could do little to turn to the sinking ship that was United Airlines.

Ultimately, United filed for bankruptcy in December 2002, which would go down as one of the largest bankruptcies in the nation’s aviation history, with UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, listing $22.8 billion in assets and $21.2 billion in liabilities in its filing at the Federal Bankruptcy Court. United Airlines was forced into bankruptcy after requests for federal loan guarantees were rejected. PBS noted that industry experts were anticipating a potential bankruptcy, which was fueled by the inability of United to establish revenue recovery after the 9/11 attacks. Profitability was already on the decline with the commercial airline accumulating a loss of around $1 billion between 2000 and September 2001. 

In February 2006, United Airlines exited its Chapter 11 bankruptcy status, now embarking on its journey to recovery. The road to its former glory would be a difficult one, NBC News highlighted. The airline awoke in a changed world with high oil prices and low cost carriers turning their first profits since the year 2000. Employees who lived through the bankruptcy had to make multiple sacrifices, with unions now expecting the airline to put its best foot forward and bring compensation in years to come.

Then CEO, Pete McDonald marked this a new beginning for the airline. Thanking employees and passengers for keeping faith in the company. While United expressed its hope for the future, the world was driving into the dark of a tunnel that became one of the largest economic crises in modern history, further putting struggling airlines under pressure.  

Saving United Airlines

Fast forward to 2017, the airline was once again faced with an existential crisis, having to put everything into motion to prevent it from spiraling into a financial downward loop it could not escape. On the 27th of April 2017, United Airlines announced it would make substantial changes to its organization to improve the customer experience, following the incidents on Flight 3411. The first structural change was to limit the use of force to dedicated law enforcement personnel.

Passengers wouldn’t be forced to give up their seats involuntarily unless a security or safety risk was present. Compensation for customers who decided to voluntarily give up their seat, could go as high as $10,000. An automated solution would be implemented to search for passengers who wanted to give up their seats by adjusting their travel plans. United Airlines said it would also limit the amount of overbooking instances. 

A dedicated team would be established to help customers find solutions during and for unforeseen circumstances to help them reach their final destination. Employees would receive additional authority to solve issues for the customer during high stress moments. This change might seem minor, but would prevent passengers from getting stuck in an infinite loop with the customer service agent. Customer service representatives on the other hand, could reduce tension and stress at the passenger’s end. Further red tape regarding lost baggage would be removed.

Chief executive officer of United Airlines, Oscar Munoz, commented in the press announcement, that every customer deserved to be treated with the highest level of service. Admitting that it failed to deliver on the promise during the incident at Flight 3411. The unfortunate chain of events served as the wake-up call for the commercial airline to take decisive action to prevent such an incident from happening again. The company would roll-out the new policies throughout 2017. 

Customer centricity at United Airlines

The incident revolving around Flight 3411 would haunt United Airlines for years to come. Managing director for Greater China and Korea at United Airlines, Walter Dias, said in a 2019 interview with Business Traveller, that throughout the 1980s and 1990s, US carriers faced financial difficulties that forced them to focus on profitability, leading to poor customer service.

This image had become emblematic for the industry. Dias might be responsible for the Asian region, speaking in regards to business travels, his statement shows that having the customers best interest in mind, hasn’t always been the case at US-based airlines. While not explicitly referring to United Airlines as one of the culprits, by stabilizing their cash flow, United, together with other carriers, could now re-invest into rebuilding a strong customer experience. 

Dias highlighted an initiative launched a year prior by United Airlines that aimed to add empathy into daily operations. The program, called “core4”, was created to retrain employees  through a four-hour session to improve customer service and improve worker efficiency. The approximately 30,000 employees would be educated across 4 core principles; caring, safe, dependable and efficient.

Employees at United Airlines were taught how to become more approachable through open body language, eye contact and other interpersonal skills to improve the customer experience. Data initiatives also received a much necessary revamp, as they can be linked to many of the quarrels passengers experience day-to-day.

Bad data equals bad customer experience

Optimizing software might not be the first avenue one might think of, but having poor data and outdated software can lead to a less than stellar customer experience. In 2018, Sarah Steimer at the American Marketing Association (AMA) highlighted the case of Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Peter Fader, who was a frequent flyer and experienced first-hand how poor data can harm the customer experience.

The particular airline where Fader was a frequent customer, had a system in place where the captain would personally welcome high value passengers. During this particular case, Fader was reminded of his first-class status with the airline, despite him being in economy with his family. A wave of embarrassment flew over him as he was embarrassed in front of his family, Steimer notes. 

Automated systems at the carrier had neglected the situation on-board, disregarding the amount of travelers and remaining laser focussed on greeting high value customers. This underlined that big data didn’t necessarily translate into a unique customer experience. Steimer commented that more data, ultimately leading to more personalization, automatically results in a better service.

The experience leading up to, during and after a flight is communal, meaning the overall enjoyment is only as good as the least happy customers on the airplane, Steimer highlighted. Airline carriers therefore have to deliver a strong baseline for them to prevent the whole system from collapsing, as witnessed during Flight 3411, where a rigid framework resulted in a burst of violence. 

Systems at airlines have become so refined to upsell wherever they can, adding baggage fees, frequent flyer programs, seat upgrades and more. All designed to generate as much revenue per passenger. Revenue per flight is inflated through overbooking, where a calculated guess is made how many passengers won’t show at boarding.

A nifty tool to sell extra tickets without anyone noticing. Until every passenger shows up. This relentless drive to maximize profits, leads to practices that do more harm than good. Giving US carriers a bad reputation. United is no exception and it was now forced to revamp its software suite to be more accommodating to passengers.

Streamlining digital support

In May 2022, CIO magazine spoke with Senior vice president of digital technology at United, Jason Birnbaum, how it had developed an “Agent on Demand” to deliver a virtual assistant to add a human touch to a customer’s flight. The technology had earned the airline the CIO 100 Award for innovation and leadership for delivering value to passengers and improving their relationship with the brand.

Birnhaum points out that during incidents such as extreme weather events, the need for support grows exponentially. Customers are in need of information on how to reach their destination. Passengers will line-up to the nearest available carrier representative, getting caught up in endless queues. United therefore, had to look for alternatives to provide adequate support during these high stress situations.

The airline got to work and developed a technology in cooperation with SaaS provider, Acquire.io, where passengers can dial into a live video or audio session at one of the company’s customer service representatives. Connecting is one easy QR-code scan away. Passengers remain informed about gate changes, upgrade their seating or make reservations. The live feeds are managed by Acquire.io, with the service running on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Over 2021, 350,000 passengers have dialed in, with United already surpassing this figure by the first half of 2022. 

A few months later, in January 2023, CIO spoke with Birnhaum again about the carrier’s plans to further improve customer service in years to come. This time around, the airline had been working on technologies that would enable its 86,000 employees to deliver a stellar customer experience. Birnhaum points out the boarding process, which can lead to much disappointment with passengers. Customers who are unable to arrive in time are met with a closed gate, unable to board their flight, which is waiting on the tarmac. To decrease these incidents, the team developed a data-driven solution called the ConnectionSaver. 

This piece of software plots the passenger’s arrival time, distance to the gate, their destination and other attributes that predicts the customer’s arrival time at the gate. United employees on board the plane are informed about the delayed passenger and can decide to hold the departure of the plane. An important part of the roll-out has relied on gaining trust from the employees in the technology as they would be making critical business decisions.

This system of gate management, ticketing and baggage management had to be aligned to allow employees to take ownership of the situation, Birnhaum points out. The new system would not solely rely on system performance. United Airlines has been making strong progress to optimize its software suite which can be a crucial link between smooth operations and a positive customer experience. 

Fly the Friendly Skies comeback

Fly the Friendly Skies was once the famous slogan at United Airlines. But little of that friendliness was to be found during flight 3411, symbolizing all that was wrong with the airline that had been on a strict path to profitability since its financial struggles during the 2000s. Revenue maximization had come first, instead of the passenger experience. This has led to the climax in April 2017, that sent shock waves throughout the general public, symbolizing all that was wrong with the over-optimized, rigid, procedures and protocols at US carriers. It’s a miracle United can retell the tale. 

In June 2023, Oscar Munoz, who had retired as CEO from United Airlines, recalled the impact the incident had on the organization and how easily news could spread through social media. In the interview with Airways Magazine, Munoz acknowledged the fallout of flight 3411, turned into a social media debacle, serving as a learning experience, not only for itself, but also for the industry as a whole. Munoz commented that staying quiet is not an option during moments of crisis. A leader has to step, choosing what is right and represents, being prepared to take ownership of the situation. A lesson United Airlines has learned the hard way.