Taking the Ted out of United

The NY Times (and loads of other sources) reported yesterday that United Airlines is slashing staff - 1,100 - and gaz-guzzling airplanes, the Ted unit, in an effort to stabilize the company.

The airline industry has been in a tail-spin (pardon the pun) since 9-11 and has never fully recovered. Ever increasing gas prices are killing chances at profit margins on all flights and airlines are being forced to pass more and more costs on to the end customer.

Part of this confuses me however. United's effort on the cuts is to save costs but also improve the customer experience. Money quote -

"The decision to dramatically reduce our capacity profile, particularly in the domestic marketplace, while over time eliminating a fleet type, is a significant step leading to a more effective and efficient fleet for United in the years ahead, while improving our customer experience and reliability."

I will give them the operating efficiency point on an older fleet of planes, but unless they were spewing fumes back into the cabin I'm not sure how this will improve customer experience.

1,100 job cuts is the size of cut that means all levels of staff from the top down - including front line workers. As I've stated before it is often staff on the front lines who have the largest impact on customer experience. With reduced staffing levels and increasingly agitated customers (delays, delays, delays) I don't see any improvement coming - I see the opposite.

United must cut costs to maintain their business and they should retire inefficient equipment. They should also remember that their customers are facing greater stresses, pressures and pain ($) with flying in general and that the experience of their travel has the greatest impact on their relationship with the airline.