So, I'm putting my kid on a plane to London, with three bags--'cuz he's moving there for a year to spend a gap year.
We step up to the United Airlines counter, knowing there will be a surcharge for the extra bag, but knowing that all bags are well under the weight limit. The website quotes extra bags at $125.
'That will be two hundred dollars please.'
What? I ask--nowhere does it quote $200 for one extra bag.
Oh, comes the reply, we do that by destination, and you have to call us to get a quote...
I hand over the card for my haircut, and grimly say, 'Well, at least he's not taking a guitar...'
The chirpy response: 'Oh you saw that video? We now use it as a training video!'
Words fail. They just fail.
They never made the guitar destruction right, never learned anything from the experience. But they do view the video for training, created at someone else's expense.
What do you think the odds are that I ever, ever, ever spend another penny voluntarily with United Airlines?
But, as a zombie company, it will never be allowed to fail, and join Braniff, Eastern and so many others on the ash-heap of business history.
Showing posts with label United Airlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Airlines. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
United Breaks Guitars Part Deux
Dave Carroll continues his musical saga with United Airlines.
It's truly a 'Lemonade from Lemons' sort of story, and in the Bigger Scheme of Things, Mr. Carroll may well look back upon his guitar's destruction as the best thing that ever happened to him.
Of course, there's a lesson or two to be drawn here.
1. A creative, imaginative, and humorous response to a stupid situation such as this is usually quite effective. Great writing, and the audio is slickly produced. The video keeps a 'home-made' flavor, well-done within a small budget. (His mom provided catering services!) Great product does not necessarily cost a fortune to create, if the creator has the chops.
2. United Airlines is willing to sustain hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least!!) of lost goodwill before it will quietly make certain this passenger's complaint is addressed. That's because they know that they can always go to Timmy Geithner and BHO, 'cuz They're Just Too Big To Fail, and they'll be the recipients of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars(or dollars borrowed in the name of the taxpayer, at least), when top line revenues go seriously south in the coming months.
3. What if the CEO of United, instead, were to (a)call Mr. Carroll up, apologize, and quietly write a check (out of his own pocket) to the luthier of his choosing, and (b) fly to Toronto, take him to dinner, apologize again, and negotiate a deal with him to produce quirky folk-songy ads for United Airlines?
Maybe United could brew some lemonade for themselves out of this embarrasment.
It's truly a 'Lemonade from Lemons' sort of story, and in the Bigger Scheme of Things, Mr. Carroll may well look back upon his guitar's destruction as the best thing that ever happened to him.
Of course, there's a lesson or two to be drawn here.
1. A creative, imaginative, and humorous response to a stupid situation such as this is usually quite effective. Great writing, and the audio is slickly produced. The video keeps a 'home-made' flavor, well-done within a small budget. (His mom provided catering services!) Great product does not necessarily cost a fortune to create, if the creator has the chops.
2. United Airlines is willing to sustain hundreds of thousands of dollars (at least!!) of lost goodwill before it will quietly make certain this passenger's complaint is addressed. That's because they know that they can always go to Timmy Geithner and BHO, 'cuz They're Just Too Big To Fail, and they'll be the recipients of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars(or dollars borrowed in the name of the taxpayer, at least), when top line revenues go seriously south in the coming months.
3. What if the CEO of United, instead, were to (a)call Mr. Carroll up, apologize, and quietly write a check (out of his own pocket) to the luthier of his choosing, and (b) fly to Toronto, take him to dinner, apologize again, and negotiate a deal with him to produce quirky folk-songy ads for United Airlines?
Maybe United could brew some lemonade for themselves out of this embarrasment.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Welcome to the Future, Bailout Nation
Watching the Open this morning, and Tom Watson is inspiring! More on all that another time.
While surfing during ads, ran into the story on CBS about United Breaks Guitars.
It's one man's poetical revenge, posted on YouTube, on United Airlines, who negligently destroyed a prized guitar, and offered NO (that means ZERO) compensation.
With over three million views, and growing, this is a public relations disaster for United.
However, since it is one the growing number of zombie firms bailed out (during the Bush Administration), it can be confidently predicted that:
1. No one will be fired as a result of this humiliation.
2. The shareholders will not demand a change in management, even though it is patently incompetent.
3. When United bleeds more red ink(because the customers stay away in droves), Tim Geithner, with his $700 billion credit card, will send more money its way. After all, it's too big to fail, and it has a unionized work-force, whose votes need to be bought, and it's based in Chicago (now, who else do we know in Washington from Chicago?).
What this means, also, is that the 29-year-old lower-middle-management employees, who shake their heads in frustration at the stupidity of their employers at United, will not likely have the chance to create the next (functional!) incarnation of an airline, because Uncle Sam, Cousin Timmy, and Godfather Barack won't let United go under, as it should.
This is our future in Bailout America. The future is now, actually, since Flying Guitars are actually a common occurrence, and there are few victims of airline negligence and stupidity with the resources to push back with such imagination.
The airlines(and banks, and auto companies, and insurers, etc.) know this, and they know they have unlimited access to Federal largesse.
November 2010 is now fifteen months away. It's our first big opportunity to push back.
While surfing during ads, ran into the story on CBS about United Breaks Guitars.
It's one man's poetical revenge, posted on YouTube, on United Airlines, who negligently destroyed a prized guitar, and offered NO (that means ZERO) compensation.
With over three million views, and growing, this is a public relations disaster for United.
However, since it is one the growing number of zombie firms bailed out (during the Bush Administration), it can be confidently predicted that:
1. No one will be fired as a result of this humiliation.
2. The shareholders will not demand a change in management, even though it is patently incompetent.
3. When United bleeds more red ink(because the customers stay away in droves), Tim Geithner, with his $700 billion credit card, will send more money its way. After all, it's too big to fail, and it has a unionized work-force, whose votes need to be bought, and it's based in Chicago (now, who else do we know in Washington from Chicago?).
What this means, also, is that the 29-year-old lower-middle-management employees, who shake their heads in frustration at the stupidity of their employers at United, will not likely have the chance to create the next (functional!) incarnation of an airline, because Uncle Sam, Cousin Timmy, and Godfather Barack won't let United go under, as it should.
This is our future in Bailout America. The future is now, actually, since Flying Guitars are actually a common occurrence, and there are few victims of airline negligence and stupidity with the resources to push back with such imagination.
The airlines(and banks, and auto companies, and insurers, etc.) know this, and they know they have unlimited access to Federal largesse.
November 2010 is now fifteen months away. It's our first big opportunity to push back.
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