We have a tendency in this country to tear down others instead of building ourselves up.
This is especially true in business and politics where the competitive edge often knows no limit.
Instead of discussing our accomplishments, we sometimes focus on the failures of the challenger. Instead of lauding what we do or have done, we often spend more time on what our rivals haven't.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby recently joined that unfortunate club.
Instead of using the opportunity of a third quarter earnings update to pump up the airline’s Basic Economy offering on its own merit, the airline boss used it to compare itself to low-cost carriers.
"For my entire 30-year career, the airline industry has gone through cycles, and we are in one now…but all of those cycles have ended with the lowest margin airlines forced to make adjustments – which will lead to better results for United," he wrote in a recent LinkedIn post.
"The adjustments are an inevitable economic reality, and I expect it to happen again by 2024. What’s different this time, however, is that the lowest margin airlines are the so-called low-cost carriers, and that’s where I think the changes are going to occur."
"I mean charging people $99 at the gate and paying your employees a commission to take their purses away crossed the line," Kirby added on a call with analysts.
The question is why?
United not only occupies space as one of the country’s top airlines but one of the world’s most reliable carriers. It should not have to lower itself by being the bully on the playground.
At the end of the day, some customers relish the same simplicity in the low-cost airlines that the United CEO chastised them for. No frills. No amenities. Just get on and fly to your destination.
United is in no danger from the low-cost carriers.
Unless Kirby is smart like a fox and is setting the stage now for any future problems and steering people away from the no-frills airlines. But from the outside, it looks like a case of one of the Big Four airlines flexing its muscles when it already has a strength advantage.
Or maybe this is a case of comparative advertising run amok.
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