Someone made a lot of money. It was down 4% at some point.
United Airlines just lost $800M in value
11–20 of 39 posts
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#12View from the outside is at every fork in the road they chose the more aggressive practice that makes them look super terrible. The question is will people stop flying united or will this just be a business as usual blip?
> will people stop flying united
Considering how few options there are for air travel in the US, probably not.
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#13>"The man, who had been seated on the plane, was then asked to leave because the flight had been overbooked."
According to the BBC new story yesterday the reason they needed 4 people who were seated to leave is that they needed to make room for 4 off-duty United employees, which makes this even more outrageous(if that's even possible.)[1][2]
And the United/Continental merger was somehow supposed to benefit the consumer. This video feels like a metaphor for air travel in the United States.
I don't mean to trivialize the trauma this unfortunate person must have experienced, this really make me angry. It's hard to "vote with your feet" with these awful airlines as there's not much choice any more within the US. The race to the bottom continues these carriers or maybe this video is the conclusion.
I think what shocked me(and saddened)me the most is how un-shocking this behavior is given how awful these carrier and the air travel experience has become within the US.
[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39554421
[2] https://twitter.com/JayseDavid/status/851223662976004096
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#14Not enough. Keep going down. I am praying for some extreme form of bankruptcy where heads roll. I also hope (and am eager to contribute to the legal fund) the passenger sues both United, and the airport security organization for many, many millions of dollars. I feel like many of us American flyers have Stockholm syndrome about our the dire situation of our domestic airline industry. We constantly pay regular prices…
Could it be competitive pressure in the US airline market? Margins are low, and have been since deregulation back in the '70s. And if people are consistently buying the cheapest tickets available, it's not too surprising service is nose-diving.
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#15So? It's still above its YTD low of $65.28 from March, and it's 31% up (!!) from the same time last year. It would be just as accurate to say "United Airlines gained $6.9 Billion in value since last year," but of course that wouldn't give people the satisfaction of saying "Hah! Take that, United!"
Still, tanking 800M in 5 days is not great. I doubt the United board is saying.."SO".
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#16People will still go for the cheapest base ticket price. For all the outrage, nothing has changed.
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#17Not enough. Keep going down. I am praying for some extreme form of bankruptcy where heads roll. I also hope (and am eager to contribute to the legal fund) the passenger sues both United, and the airport security organization for many, many millions of dollars. I feel like many of us American flyers have Stockholm syndrome about our the dire situation of our domestic airline industry. We constantly pay regular prices…
Could it be competitive pressure in the US airline market? Margins are low, and have been since deregulation back in the '70s. And if people are consistently buying the cheapest tickets available, it's not too surprising service is nose-diving.
I'm not so sure. I'd actually say the issue is not enough competition. Airlines have been consolidating a lot, and apart from the same 2-3 airlines that people generally seem to really like (Virgin & Alaska that now merged, JetBlue, and perhaps Southwest).
Spirit is trying to create a no-frills airline.
But the huge ones like United/Continental/Delta seem to be focusing all their innovative energy on how to creatively charge people more for fewer services.
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#18Time to buy shares I guess? In a few month we will be back to normal.
I bought some, with a tight stop in case I'm wrong. I don't think it'll even take a few months. I'd be willing to bet it's back to normal by EOW. That prediction depends greatly on how much stock you put in the saying "gaps always get filled".
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#19Not enough. Keep going down. I am praying for some extreme form of bankruptcy where heads roll. I also hope (and am eager to contribute to the legal fund) the passenger sues both United, and the airport security organization for many, many millions of dollars. I feel like many of us American flyers have Stockholm syndrome about our the dire situation of our domestic airline industry. We constantly pay regular prices…
Could it be competitive pressure in the US airline market? Margins are low, and have been since deregulation back in the '70s. And if people are consistently buying the cheapest tickets available, it's not too surprising service is nose-diving.
I think its the US airline unions. Not all unions are good or bad, but it seems to me that when people are unionized they become more hostile towards their employer and eventually their customers. By their very existence, unions form an us vs them mentality that seems hard to break. Unions then need to reinforce their value to their members by always having a fight over something.
I've had great flight attendants on US airlines, but some talk to customers in a way that I can't imagine even McDonald's employees getting away with. Why does United put up with surly flight attendants when McDonald's doesn't put up with surly staff? I think it's probably the unions.
I also think customers don't care very much. Customers want cheap more than anything else. But I've flown many low cost carriers around the world, but no flight attendants are quite as nasty as some of the ones at US major carriers.
Re: United Airlines just lost $800M in value
#20Today they're trying to assault the passengers character. There may sadly be a place for that if and when they get into court but whomever is giving them this advice to do it now is plainly wrong. It's becoming clearer today that the incident is not just the actions of an individual gate agent but the entire company's culture is toxic.
>Today they're trying to assault the passengers character.
Well that makes this even more sickening. Link?