We have significant work to be done. We have old, antiquated systems. Remember the 8-track tape player? Think of that as our core system, and we're living in a world where everybody has an iPhone.
We are dedicated to setting the standard for customer service among U.S. airlines, as we elevate the experience our customers have with us from booking to baggage claim.
Let's be honest: the implementation of the United and Continental merger has been rocky for customers and employees.
At the end of the day, the differential, I believe, on the airline space has got to be about the product and the service that you provide. And again, I can't express that enough. That comes from people. It is a people business, and my primary focus is to get our 84,000-plus people back aligned, back engaged, and back focused on our customer.
Our employees and competitors thought we were docile. We want to be defiantly disruptive. I don't mean necessarily by launching price wars but by being the best at the basics - having the best customer service, the best on-time performance, the best coffee - in a thoughtful, not a testosterone-laced, way.
When LeBron James shows up at your doorstep, you're going to let him practice with your team if not join the team.
In the telecommunications, consumer products, and railway businesses, there are very real consequences if you don't meet the consumer's needs and desires. There are also substantive rewards for doing so, and especially for exceeding customer expectations.
Getting people where they want to go, reliably and happily, can make or break their ability to succeed in a work endeavor or to hug a family member at an important moment.
It is a free world. It is a dynamic of our new day and age: technology is everywhere.
As board members, we only meet infrequently and are not as engaged with the front line, necessarily. The first thing I did as CEO was I left this board room.
I'm told by our internal surveys that we take of customers - by customers themselves directly and by a very large group of our employees - that there's a new spirit at United.
We will not only be more flexible when it comes to price, we'll also be more efficient operationally by forgoing pre-assigned seating, priority boarding, upgrading the option for last-minute changes.
There are no more holes in my management lineup.
We are deeply sorry for the loss of anything - from your luggage to, of course, a loved pet.
I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way. I want you to know that we take full responsibility, and we will work to make it right. It's never too late to do the right thing.
It's a new era with regard to social media. It's just something that we have to adapt to and accept.
We are not going to put a law enforcement official onto a plane to take them off... to remove a booked, paid, seated passenger. We can't do that.
To get our passengers where they want to go safely and happily requires thousands of us working together with a shared purpose of supporting each other in serving our customers.
We are market based and have to differentiate our product in many ways; pricing isn't the only one.
The airline industry has been closely watching, monitoring, exactly what the rail industry has done.
