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Strategic options, business idea Being labeled as one of the worst airlines in America by many angered and unsatisfied customers, to rebound the trust of its customers and to remedial the already worsening situation, there are numerous things within various categories that this company will have to immediately re-evaluate and alter its current policies to fit in with the demands of its consumers.
To further look into the on-going problems and how they should be modified for a more productive result, the two categories namely customer service ND technical issues should be centered as the core of United Airlines’ functionality and only with the right strategic changes within these fields could the developing progress and survivability of the company be guaranteed to be in a better shape. 1. Customer Service First off, it is undeniably true to say that customer service is what disappoints and enrages customers the most when it comes to talk about the quality of United Airlines’ overall service.
Mentioning a few of its itchiest issues in this matter, as some of the most complained problems coming from customers of United Airlines’ service mentioned by the Transportation Department air travel report card by the end of 2012, United Airlines is currently holding the most number of delays (punctual flights only take up 77. 2% of all flights); highest rate of lost or mishandled baggage of any mainline carrier (3. 50/1000) and finally, it bumped the most number of passengers, higher than any other mainland airlines.
Approximately, every month, United Airlines suffer more than 300 complaints from its customers to the government, more than twice the amount of grievance comparing to its nearest competitor (Elliot, 2014). With al the mentioned facts and numbers above, a change in its customer service should be one of the most crucial priorities that United Airlines must consider right now to retain and improve its worsening prestige.
Before its merging with Continental Airlines, Continental Airlines was rated as a high-quality airline with their excellent services for customers and thus, their customer loyalty was considered high when comparing with other companies, but all that changed after the two Airlines merged into one, as the current United Airlines got rid of the way Continental treated their customers, resulting in a tremendous drop in its user satisfaction.
Because of that, what United Airlines should do right now is to re-adapt the Continental way of conducting their service toward customers as it is frequently heard from countless number of people of how they missed the professional and stable Continental Airlines’ service with its better flight crew; food; plane and overall service toward its users. With it being said, renovating the entire flight crew; on-ground and in-flight service should be concentrated by United Airlines based on feedbacks and demand of its customers. . Technical issues Along with its miserable service, technical issues also play a major part in further deteriorating the quality of United Airlines in customers’ eyes. Notorious for delaying flights, malfunctioning ticketing system, old and unreliable airplanes, United Airlines’ Ill Strategy Formulation Strategic Options Business By Unknownher02014 technical department is there to blame for having a poor performance on various facets of its business, causing major drawbacks to the entire company.
Merging with Continental Airlines since April, 2008, despite United Airlines’ claim for its takeover ND adoption of Continentals computer & processing systems for an improved performance, as of February, 2014, system malfunction still caused several delayed flights, creating unwanted troubles to both the carrier and its customers (Martin, 2012).
Apart from the flight-directing system, the ticketing system still lays within itself a lot of unsolved incompetence; the latest reported incident about this matter was also on February, 2014 as the company’s flight agents had to hand-write tickets to its consumers due to an inoperable reservation system (Patella, 2014). Also, the United planes are still complained by customers for being out-dated models; broken and not having a spacious interior.
Answering to this matter, United Airlines came up with promises about airplanes upgrades without a specified date; they even fixed broken items inside their planes using duct tape and numerous temporal remedies (Matt, 2012). In order to get over this prolonging issues, the considerable strategic option for this should be an inside-out renovation in the computer system for increased reliability and immediate updates in their properties (e. G. : planes).
With executive managers still making excuses that problems are still caused from the on- going adaptation process of the technical system from Continental even though it has been around 6 years since the merger, this proves that time is also a deciding factor in reclaiming their prestige as United Airlines is not operating with a timely manner. With it, the strategic options for the technical part should be accompanied with speed with exact dates and time to regain consumers’ trust.
Business idea Among the offered solutions of how United Airlines could use to remedy the situation, he options regarding the enhancement within the customer service section should be the highest priority. With that being said, as mentioned earlier in this part, what United Airlines need to do right now is to re-adapt the way Continental airlines conduct their work and attitude toward the customers.
Taking a closer look into this, the most important factor that most likely determines whether or not a client would use a service again is their first impression with the company, and that should be the manner of its employees. Back in the Continental era, according to many reviews and ports, consumers were very pleased with the service provided from its attendants, from the small gestures like a smile or the Joy of serving its customers to the clearly- shown devotion of the entire staff from Continental is what shaped the airline once loved by everyone.
Instead, what we get now are Just attendants trying to get their job done blatantly, behaving stony heartedly toward customers, or worse, not even a smile through the whole flight. So, renovating the flight crew with better mannerism and professionalism like that of the old Continentals is one of the many things that United Airlines should be fulfilled as soon as possible.
Move on to the next point, advancement in handling customer feedbacks should be taken care of; as reflected by too many people that they have to make their calls through several departments to reach what they want, instead of complex procedures and arduous process customers have to deal with when submitting their feedback to the company, establishing a direct and simple line to the officers in charge of the company should have been done a long time ago.
Along with it, interactions on social network should e considered more seriously as United Airlines never responds to customers on their Twitter site (Matt, 2012). Moreover, in-flight services should be enriched; United Airlines is currently lagging behind its competitors when it comes to this matter as they do not include Wi-If in all of their flights; bad quality meals, not varied entertainment programs and inconvenient interiors, resulted in very boring flights as claimed by its users (Matt, 2012).
Another note-worthy point is the baggage-handling issue of United Airlines, in 2010, this airline was made notorious for this due to the ease involving a musician’s broken guitar after using United service and they refused for a refund; enraged with this, the musician named Dave Carroll decided to make a music video about this and it went viral as many people experienced the same case about their lost/damaged luggage (Matt, 2012). To ensure this to never happen again, United Airline had better establish a refunding policy and improve their luggage transportation system for improved quality and trust from its consumers.
Last but not least on this topic, leaving a long-lasting positive impression o customers is always what all companies strive for to gain an upper hand in the business they are doing, and the way United Airlines implements their policies toward their users is totally not right. Sooner or later, if they fail to execute an effective strategic change in their customer service,