There’s no more room to squeeze profits out of squeezing passengers’ knees, according to United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz, who told ABC News that “I think we’re nearing a point certainly that we can’t do that anymore.”
Airlines, including United, have been reducing the pitch between seat rows for several years, using the space to add more rows and more passengers. But Munoz said that it’s not just seat space that’s alienating passengers; it’s the whole process of getting to the airport and through security. “Frankly by the time you sit in one of our aircraft and one of our seats, you’re just pissed at the world. And I don’t care what coffee or cookie or smile I give you.”
So what’s next if airlines can’t squeeze any more sardines into the can? Munoz says the airlines will need to start competing on service, with improved WiFi for a start, an area where United has had problems because it has four different suppliers.
Solving some of those problems will probably do more for United than the story it spent the week emphasizing: a change in its aircraft livery. With huge fanfare, United revealed its new look—which needs a caption writer to point out that the word United is bigger and there’s no more gold in the globe on the tail. It will take seven years to repaint the entire fleet—but few passengers will notice.
