CousinEddie

If things don't turn around soon, it makes you wonder if the next shrink to profitability plan will involve "right sizing" the number of hubs. Down to EWR, ORD, IAH, and SFO perhaps?

What?s Wrong with United Continental? - Stocks To Watch - Barrons.com

intrepidcv11

Outstanding reply in the comment section. We are all paying the price for Gordon's original 274 RJ plan and Glenn's scope buster deals circa '05-'06.

"MAY 2, 2014 3:23 P.M.
Gene wrote:
I think this analysis might be fundamentally flawed… UAL serves about 370 destinations on-metal, not 471. That includes United and United Express, and not partners like Copa, Lufthansa or ANA.

One major problem is the regional network is dominated by high-cost, 50-seat jets which do not have the same revenue potential as competitor 70-seaters with first class cabins and upsell opportunities in-cabin. A customer looking to purchase a first class ticket in many major markets, like Newark-Atlanta, Chicago-Nashville, or Houston-Kansas City is out of luck on United, or limited to a more restrictive schedule of two-cabin jets. Meanwhile, Delta and AA to a lesser extent offer first class service to virtually the entire network. On the whole, mainline flights also have higher completion percentages and on-time performance. It’s just a small part of the troubles plaguing UAL, but for a company that clearly is not generating sufficient revenue relative to its peers, it’s an important consideration to note that UA simply is not an option for a lot of domestic high-revenue flyers.

If Wolfe is arguing that they should be pulling down those fleets, than I agree, but contrarily, I would argue that UA’s mainline fleet is too small for the existing network."

Dave Fitzgerald

So, we get rid of 757's faster than we get new Guppies. Makes sense to me.

tmac3333

As a frequent jumpseater on RJs, this is exactly the problem. Outsourced gate agents who don't give a crap, to cramped 50 seaters that routinely leave with 4 or more open seats for paying passengers, and forget business class, it's worse than steerage class, even to someone who may be connecting to Paris in first class. This is most of our domestic network. Premium airline while minimizing costs, I think that is what we said in the fuel efficiency training. This is premium? I'd hate to see economy.

The 757 vs 737 argument is irrelevant, this is the real battleground, getting the person from Memphis or Atlanta or Wichita to an international or other domestic destination without alienating them, which is exactly what happens on these RJs, and oh yeah, they don't cut costs. Brilliant.

Regularguy

I read a lot of comments about how bad the rjs are, their gate agents and service. My experience has been actual quite good. I have traveled on united's rjs deadheading, jump seating, purchased tickets and pass riding and my experience has been good. The agents were far more helpful than UALs own, the seats were actually less cramped than my normal 737 middle seat and my bags were delivered right to the airplane door.

Now the bad. They have always been late, no food at all, including buy on board, and the flight attendant (just one) are so frazzled from being over worked they really weren't much help. Did I forget to mention the contortions I have to make to use the lav?

Good product? It has its place and at times I'd rather be in an RJ than the middle seat of a 737 or 757 on a 5 hour flight.

tmac3333

50 seat RJ for a 5 hour flight in economy instead of 737 or 757? If they could air refuel, I don't doubt that Smisek would fly them to Europe to cut costs. 50 seat RJs are not a premium product. I would much rather have my bag in the overhead than wet, or wait for 10 minutes watching angry pax fight each other in the jetway for who can be in front of whom to get their carry on.

SpecialTracking

I think you are real close on the hub mix except for one. How much pressure will American apply in ORD and what will be our response?

I'm thinking three hubs and 8000 pilots.

LivinTheDream28

Guess I better start dusting off the resume. Only i dont have to dust it off because im a new hire. At that rate hopefully ill get recalled somewhere around 2024 so I can be the last guy on the list commuting to reserve in EWR. Awesome

Grumble

I wouldn't get so dramatic just yet.

Taking back the RJ flying needs to be the number one item on the next contract.

sleeves

It has been my number one item on every contract...even when I was at the regional level.