Scott Kirby’s Post

View profile for Scott Kirby, graphic
Scott Kirby Scott Kirby is an Influencer

CEO at United Airlines

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a live radar map says it even better.   Sometimes, flights are delayed for weather even when there are clear skies at the airport. The reason is usually that departing (or arriving) aircraft would be forced to fly through a line of thunderstorms that are unsafe elsewhere along the flight path. United Airlines is committed to full transparency for our customers. For years, I’ve asked our teams to pretend that I’m on the flight and have called and asked why there’s a delay. I want them to proactively tell customers exactly the same thing that they would tell me. That’s been easy for me to say but really, really difficult to do given the complexity and real-time nature of the flight network. Technology is moving this closer and closer to reality. Our teams are using gen AI to help write the real-time text updates we send customers whose flights have been delayed, and for those customers impacted by weather we’re now including a radar map that shows how it’s affecting flights. We’re the first and only U.S. airline providing these kinds of specific messages and sending them with assistance from gen AI tools. Weather radar maps are an important step in transparency but there’s a lot more to come. We are committed to building the best airline in history for our customers, and while that usually means running a reliable operation, when something does go wrong – including the weather – we want to be open and transparent with you.

  • No alternative text description for this image
Linda Jojo

Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Officer at United Airlines

2w

Usually I brag about how some of our best ideas come from our front line teams and those that are the closest to our customers. But in this case, and at the risk of 😘, bringing radical transparency to our customer communication is one of the first things Scott and I ever discussed. And as much progress as we have made, that conversation has never stopped ! Yep. This map idea got real legs and urgency that time he got diverted to Des Moines on his way to Chicago. Great job by Jason Birnbaum Grant Milstead and their teams for making it a reality in record time.

Travis Lesatz

Professional Pilot, Army Veteran, Servant Leader

2w

I love this idea, sir. I know you said more is to come, but I have one suggestion as a pilot. Would it be possible to give a very basic description of weather minimums in your notifications? Thunderstorms can cause a lot of delays, but it’s not the sole weather event. You could do something along the lines of “Your flight to XYZ is delayed because the clouds are currently at 100 feet, and we need 200 feet to legally and safely land” Obviously, I know UA can do CAT 2 and 3 approaches, but that’s just an idea. Or, “Your flight is delayed to XYZ because of low ceilings. While United can operate in these conditions, low visibility operations place higher demands on airports and air traffic control. Thusly, your flight has been delayed to help alleviate some of that demand” Or something along those lines. Again, I know UA can shoot approaches to low, but you could use AI to offer a quick rudimentary explanation. You could also pull the METAR and use the ceilings/visibility as variables to plug into your notifications.

Shree Deshpande

Global Strategy, Business Development, Marketing, Technology Scouting and Commercialization | Electronic Materials & Specialty Chemicals

2w

I am #Premier1K on United. I just came back from a business trip to EU and since I got back on Sat. June 29 Swiss and United have still not found my bag……after talking to both Swiss and United several times…..no one still know where the bag is…..what good is the technology?

Mark W.

Interim General Counsel at Axiom Space

2w

FlightAware is an outstanding tool. I was a user for a decade before I worked there, and remain one still. Very nice implicit acknowledgement from United.

We like the transparency on flight delays as well as the updates on the status of our flight. But it would be great to know when United will begin working on getting back to some decent meals on long haul flights? As a #Premier1k, who has moved to a city that is a hub for Delta, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep justifying the multiple United connections and higher flight prices when Delta is in my back yard and offers many lower priced and direct flights. The final challenge is after a few connections to get on a long flight (either paid or upgraded to business or first) and be apologetically offered a meal by flight attendants who can’t even recommend the most palatable meal of 3 choices. Some have even admitted that they don’t eat the meals. All passengers understand that profit is the ultimate motive,but when first or business class meals are no better than a processed frozen entree even if you’re hungry on an international flight,you have to rethink your decision to brand loyalty. Is the business model to encourage purchasing a United Club membership and eat in the club prior to boarding?That is coincidentally? an option on the meal selection menu.United can do better. Continental had it right!

Oscar Gustavo Pozzoli, LPTA, Vodder-CLT, NLN Expert Clinician

Omnitherapy Center, LLC & 1018 Broad Street Associates, LLC

2w

There are 40,000 Uruguayans in the Tri-state area and God knows how many Brazilians. There are stadium tickets left for the quarterfinals Copa America game (Uruguay vs Brazil) in Las Vegas coming up this Saturday, but NO FLIGHTS reasonably priced. Can you authorize a few planes from the NY area to Vegas between now and Saturday morning? I GUARANTEE YOU WILL SELL OUT WITHIN A FEW HOURS!!! It’s upsetting that the airline industry does not see the value of international soccer matches within the USA…. I would be shocked to hear back from any of your executives… Thank you PS: let me know ASAP if you decide to add a few planes to Vegas…

Chris Somogyi

Technology Innovation Leader

2w

It might be a broader public service to help acquaint the flying public to what aviation entails at the detail level. It's still kind of a miracle to move millions of people around a whole planet on essentially pressurized rockets with tens of thousands of mechanical parts that need to work in synchrony, reliably, and be guided through dense traffic, bad weather, and bureaucracy.

Marion Mahn

retired at Ore & Chemical

4d

I wish people would not get so uptight about delays, better to land late than not at all ! Furthermore, I think that by delaying flights even more and communicating with arrival airports and later departures, a lot of fuel and money could be saved by shortening the arrival patterns. 😁

Like
Reply
Joe T.

"Likes" get comments-only accepting invitations to those with 500+ connections-Mutual value needs to be present for all connections-both of us must Benefit from this Connection

2w

All airlines should start to do this so they are on the side of consumer (who pays them)-was flying out of LaGuardia years ago-took a van(rideshare) to airport from Westchester, NY-when arriving at the Airport the airline said flight was canceled without any notice to me(weather related somewhere else)-1st time with weather perfectly clear in NYC area but....not nice somewhere else-most Airlines are pretty crappy I have found(travel more now)-really try to fly only Delta and Southwest-they treat "customers" well -United has done a good job as well lol

See more comments

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics