United CEO Apologizes for Flying Private While Customers Were Stranded
United’s operations control center is in Denver. If I were the CEO and the airline is melting down that is the place I would want to be. I have not been in UAL’s OCC but have spent time in another running an airline of similar size. The amount of information available in the OCC can’t be duplicated remotely. United was very close to needing to perform a complete shut down and reset. That’s a CEO call and requires every bit of info available.
I don't know where the CEO flew into Denver from, but when he found out things were going into meltdown, he wanted to get there ASAP. Both to see what needed to be done to straighten things out, and how to insure it doesn't happen again. Hands on management (not micro-management) is always preferable (especially when the proverbial stuff is hitting the fan).
So he had two choices - wait hours for the next available United flight to Denver (which, due to the meltdown, could well be delayed or cancelled), probably bump a paying customer in the process. Or fly private and get the as soon as physically possible.
Optics might say the former, but doing his job means the latter.
Are you saying that when the going gets tough at United, the CEO has to take charge personally?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
Sometimes there is no substitute for being there.
Are you saying that when the going gets tough at United, the CEO has to take charge personally?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
Why even have a CEO if he's going to go completely hand-off when things go south?
Would you want a president or Prime Minister who - when the country was in crisis - went on vacation and told his higher ups to just "handle it"?
Are you saying that when the going gets tough at United, the CEO has to take charge personally?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
Doesn't he have a whole bunch of very experienced upper management to handle the situation?
So Kirby is either a control freak or United has incompetent management. Which is it?
I was amazed the first time I went into a major airlines OCC. Everything was displayed from the status of catering to flight attendant and pilot reserve availability at every crew base to everything in between including direct access to the FAA and ground stops. Individual gate availability and scheduling could be pulled up instantly. All your subordinates are within earshot to get updates and input.
The CEO is not there for day to day management no matter how bad it gets. Here is what a CEO does,
The Chief Executive Officer provides leadership for all aspects of the company's operations with an emphasis on long-term goals, growth, profit, and return on investment.
Leadership is policy and direction the company is taking in the future. He has never been an OCC manager so what on earth could he possibly do that can't be done from wherever he was before?
The Chief Executive Officer provides leadership for all aspects of the company's operations with an emphasis on long-term goals, growth, profit, and return on investment.
Leadership is policy and direction the company is taking in the future. He has never been an OCC manager so what on earth could he possibly do that can't be done from wherever he was before?
Thread Starter
Leadership is policy and direction the company is taking in the future.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Within AM radio broadcast range of downtown Chicago
Age: 71
Posts: 846
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The thread has led this SLF/attorney to change my view, to some extent, of Kirby's situation and his response to it. With the line having suffered a significant operational setback from what started as summertime weather problems, Mr. Kirby landed in a no-win situation. On one hand, the CEO of so major a corporate entity must be aware of the lightning-fast "optics" problems that characterize the social media age. But on the other hand, pretty clearly the Ops Center people weren't waiting around for him to show up with a whistle on a lanyard and a clipboard. So the "optics" can be nonsense really, but in the arenas in which they play out, that is beside the point.
No matter what he said about flying home on a bizjet, those looking for criticism would pounce. Maybe that's why he took a shot at the FAA, as a preemptive try at diversion. If he went to Denver to show the company flag in Operations, what would that say about how the Ops Center was functioning up to that point? In any event, and I'm not trying to recast Mr. Kirby as a second iteration of the late Richard Ferris, the facts of this situation do seem to feed quite nicely into the MEC's bargaining position.
Maybe somewhat related . . . I recall hearing from a veteran American captain an anecdote about Robert Crandall, then CEO of the airline, visiting the flight deck. I asked the captain, did Mr.Crandall engage in conversation about the avionics, or the weather, or the aircraft's overall quality from the aviator's viewpoint? No, the captain told me ...... he wanted to know about skiing and snow conditions at some of their mutually favorite places.
Last edited by WillowRun 6-3; 5th Jul 2023 at 13:07.
Buttonpusher
BFSGrad makes a good point. 
601 is correct, and the 'optics' bit from social media will go away in a week when the "ooh shiney!" mob get something else to kvetch about.
As to the comments about what they do and don't teach MBAs ... man, that ax can be ground for a long time for a lot of reasons.
601 is correct, and the 'optics' bit from social media will go away in a week when the "ooh shiney!" mob get something else to kvetch about.
As to the comments about what they do and don't teach MBAs ... man, that ax can be ground for a long time for a lot of reasons.
Perhaps the CEO had business to do with the new simulator training centre being built in Denver, due for completion end of this year. Their training centre is said to be the worlds largest airline owned, why wouldn't he have reason to visit? Social media? Forget it, you can get an argument that black is really white, or vice versa.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Within AM radio broadcast range of downtown Chicago
Age: 71
Posts: 846
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Incidentally, United in prior years - circa 1982-83 - had some sort of operations group located on the basement level of the Terminal 2 building at Chicago O'Hare. It was on the side of that building closest to the old "D" Concourse, which got demolished to make way for United's new Terminal 1 and its "B" and "C" Concourses. I happen to know this because the office of the airport advertising manager was located also in that basement, but on the side closest to the "rotunda" building. Never saw a CEO down there, however.
