Summary: Flying High With United Airlines

Flying High with United Airlines
BUS150-97077 Introduction to Marketing
Megan Bousquet
ID #: C02623091
For: Professor Lockwood
3/1/2017
Spring Semester Session A
Due: March 5, 2017

MEMO
To: CEO of United Airlines
From: Megan Bousquet, Marketing Consultant
Date: 03/01/2017
Subject: New Marketing Campaign
Introduction
My name is Megan Bousquet and I am a hired marketing consultant for United Airlines. I have done my research into how customers feel about this company and what they feel the pros and cons are. United Airlines has many pros and cons as many other airlines and I am here to report my findings and then make a recommendation for a new marketing campaign. I will be focusing on the positives I have found through my research and briefly

touching on the negatives to see if we can fix some of those too.
Discussion
I conducted my research by reading through 200+ customer reviews on consumeraffairs.com and airlinequality.com otherwise known as Skytrax. I noted down the positives and negatives and kept track of which ones were the most common. While in this process I made sure to keep in mind with some of the negative reviews that the airline can’t always control, plane delays. The overall scores on the websites for United Airlines were 1.3 out of 5 and 4 out of 10, respectively.
Let’s start off with the pros and cons I have found. The most common pros I have found are no fuel surcharges, ease of earning United Miles, no fees for changing dates for flights, easy and multiple stopover options, and an easy to use website and app. The most common negatives found are premium cabin prices are too high, “over the top” fees, the new basic economy ticket luggage policy, high cancellation fees, and rude/inattentive customer service on flights and over the phone.
I don’t want to focus too much on the negatives because we really need to highlight the positives of United Airlines, but something I think that needs to get a little attention is the customer service. Many of your customers have complained predominantly about the service that they have received when calling the United Airlines hotline number. To be more specific some of the complaints were not getting through to an agent when calling the number 3 different times, rude attitudes when asked questions, and the representatives not understanding English. The United Airlines motto is “Fly the friendly skies” and I believe that the customer service department needs improvement in order to live up to that motto. In order for the customer to feel satisfied they need empathy, assurance, reliability, and responsiveness. I know that currently many of your call centers are located outside of the United States. My suggestion would be to give your call center representatives some training in cross-culture communication.
Now let’s focus on the positives.

What is United Airlines doing right? One of the biggest positives people are talking about is the ease of use of your website and app. I have personally used both, and I can agree both are fantastic. I think some of the features we can highlight on the website and app are check-in, flight status, gate information, airport maps, and ability to buy tickets on both. In their reviews customers who commented on the app and website said it was very handy to have the information for their flights right at their fingertips especially while running a tight schedule. Most airlines have an app or website but they aren’t as convenient or easy to use as United’s and that is why we need to highlight it in the new

campaign.
Another huge positive customers were buzzing about is how easy it is to earn miles with United. Most airlines, such as Delta and American, you can’t earn miles on certain flights and you can max out at a certain number. United’s policy on earning miles is pretty simple and easy to do. For frequent flyers this could be a major selling point. If you have someone constantly flying, such as traveling business salesmen, it makes sense to fly with united to earn miles and get some free flights. It a win-win because United is getting more business and the customer is getting satisfaction from earning miles. By using United Miles as marketing strategy we can hit the target market of Businessmen. According to Investopedia, “Business travelers account for 12 percent of passengers but are typically twice as profitable for airlines.” (Investopedia)
Two more positives that go hand in hand are stopovers and no fees for changing the date on a flight. A stopover is the ability to take a layover and turn it into part of the trip by extending it a day or more and then continuing to your destination. According to the reviews, United’s stopover function is the easiest to use compared to the other major airlines. This comes in handy mostly for vacationers. Instead of having to book several different trips, the customer can book all of the flights in one trip. Along with stopovers, the target market of vacationers would be very happy to know that united doesn’t charge a fee for needing to change a date of their flight. This makes the flyers schedule able to be flexible without the worries of incurring major fees.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while United does have many positives and negatives we can focus and promote the positives while working to make our negatives better. I believe by making our target market vacationers and business people and highlighting some of the awesome features people don’t always know about, we have a fair chance at bringing back old customers and bringing in new ones too. Our marketing strategy is to focus on the companies positives.
Recommendation
The marketing strategy I have formulated is to highlight on our most positive features.

Our most positive features include the website and app, stopovers, no fees on date changes, and United Miles. I think the most efficient ways of implementing this strategy is through TV commercials and preroll video ads. I would call this marketing campaign. “Flying High with United Airlines”. My vision for the advertisement is several different clips of united employees stating the following. “United Airlines is the airline you want to fly with weather you are on vacation or on business. Log on to our easy to website or app available on all smartphones. Our easy to use app can be used to track flights and your United Miles. Earning miles is easy to do, fly with United Airlines and rack up miles to take a nice relaxing vacation to Paris. With our stopover function you can even stop in Rome for a few days too. Want to extend your vacation? We can do that too. There are no fees for changing the dates of your flight! Let us take care of you and come fly the friendly

skies!”
I believe this marketing strategy will be successful because it highlights the companies positives that people might not know about and it reaches the target markets of vacationers and business people. We will monitor the implemented strategy closely through ticket sales and click-through rates on the preroll ads.
Thank you for the consideration of my marketing recommendation. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing your decision.
Signed,
Megan Bousquet, Marketing Consultant
Works Cited
Investopedia. (n.d.). Answer 041315. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041315/how-much-revenue-airline-industry-comes-business-travelers-compared-leisure-travelers.asp
Larounis, J. (n.d.). United-Airlines. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from theforwardcabin: http://theforwardcabin.com/award-booking/united-airlines/
Multiple. (n.d.). United. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from Consumer Affairs: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/united.html
Multiple. (n.d.). United Airlines. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from Airline Quality: http://www.airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/united-airlines/