Boasting Bigness, United Comes Up Small

The “new United” flies to more places than ever, according to a mailer I received over the weekend.

The only problem is: I don’t want to fly to any of them on United.

Since its merger with Continental, I’ve had poor experiences on both major carriers, and my wife has had worse.

Everyone knows United breaks guitars, but Continental once bumped me for a concert cello that rode home in my comfy bulkhead seat rather than the cargo hold.

So when I read about how United is growing to serve me better, all I think is “I’d rather fly any other airline than yours.”

“Big” is far from big with consumers any more. Yet companies continue to trumpet bigger/better boasts rather than finding ways to make our individual experiences better.

If United is listening, they might want to start by calling not-so-frequent flyers like me something other than “non-elite.”