What It Means for United That CEO Munoz Doubles as Chief Apology Officer
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Under Oscar Munoz, United Airlines has a knack for getting itself in the news with viral stories. But operationally and financially, the airline is doing OK, and sophisticated investors aren't calling for him to leave. He may get more time to fix what ails United.
Almost a year ago, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz joined three other senior airline executives for a panel discussion about the art of the apology. In the modern, social-media driven world, they agreed, airlines may have as little as 15 minutes to say they're sorry — whether they're at fault or not.
Munoz apparently took the advice seriously. With United embroiled in two new viral incidents, both involving dogs — one died in an overhead compartment after being ordered stowed there by a flight attendant, the other mistakenly sent to Japan rather than Kansas — Munoz has been on something of an apology tour. On Wednesday, Munoz told a group of Chicago executives, "We got it wrong last week.”
As happens almost every time a United issue makes the news, some are asking whether Munoz will survive this round of apologies, or whether the board of directors might try to bring in another leader. While the dog issues likely won't force a CEO switch, the board could use the situation to reevaluate the carrier's priorities and make a change. Then again, it may not bother, perhaps calculating he hasn't had enough time to repair problems he was hired to fix.
"I am very sensitive to the fact that someone's dog died," said Mark Drusch, a former executive at Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines and a vice president at ICF, a consulting firm. "That's horrible, but that's not going to bring somebody down by itself. It comes down to, what is United's board focused on? If they think United's lost dog is
