The new United confused their loyal customers when they made too many drastic changes in too short a time frame. The changes made by the company could all be misinterpreted as bad news to the customers – reduced baggage allowance, a new passenger information system and a merger. Passengers loyal to the airline and passengers who had booked their flights long in advance would have been hit multiple times with the bad news about the airline. United President and CEO Jeff Smisek had the right idea when he described ‘people’ as the company’s most important asset (The Biggest Airline Merger In History Yields Big Changes", 2011). Smisek then went on to list the new rewards his employees are receiving after the merger. The end pay off will come in the form of increased quality of customer service (The Biggest Airline Merger In History Yields Big Changes", 2011).
Union’s new customer service goals should be to leverage their greater resources to increase customer satisfaction while increasing their profit margins. The larger scope of resources provides Union with the opportunity to cut costs and improve customer service quality and amenities. The merger gave the airline more plains, human resources and amenities to work with. Since the merger, the company should focus their attention on increasing customer satisfaction and then on their financial performance. The increased scope of the airline will create greater profits with every cost saving endeavor. During the merger the airlines increased their combined revenues by 42 %. The fiscal year ending December 2010 the merged airlines reported revenues of over twenty-three billion dollars U.S. (DATAMONITOR, 2011).As the changes from the merger settle the staff members can begin gaining experience in the new procedures and protocol leading to more confidence in their positions. The airline needs to focus on regaining the loyalty of their customers and the revenue boost and reduced costs will happen in time.
Works Cited
"DATAMONITOR:United Continental Holdings, Inc. (Formerly UAL Corporation)." UAL Corporation SWOT Analysis (2011): 1-10. Entrepreneurial Studies Source. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
"The Biggest Airline Merger In History Yields Big Changes." Forbes.Com (2011): 2. Business Source Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
Michele, Norris. "United, Continental Announce Plans To Merge." All Things Considered (NPR) (2010): Canadian Reference Centre. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
