United, the learning-disabled airline

the final sentence in this snippet says it all... and, pathetically, it's precisely the same problem united had when it was the biggest airline in the world and making money hand over fist... they staff and equip for the lowest average load factors... why...? can you say M-O-N-E-Y...? and then when traffic picks up, the wheels come off the wagon... the self-serving crowd that is an excuse for a senior management at that sad, has-been airline seems constitutionally unable to learn how to take care of their customers... instead, they have perfected the questionable skill of shooting themselves in the foot - repeatedly and with great vigor...

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the second-biggest U.S. carrier, said it failed to prepare for a deluge of holiday travelers that left customers waiting in subfreezing temperatures at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport last weekend.

"We disappointed our customers by not being prepared, as we should have been, for the extraordinary volume of passengers," Chief Executive Glenn Tilton said in a message to employees Sunday. "We will identify and we will resolve the cause."

The city provided four "warming buses" outside United's O'Hare terminal Saturday for travelers waiting in lines that stretched out the airport doors, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for Chicago's aviation department. Police were sent to help the airline direct the crowds, Abrams said.

[...]

"They may have trimmed their system too low," said Tom Parsons, who monitors fares and service for online travel agent Bestfares.com. "It can't handle it when things go wrong. Everyone is trying to push the system as if it's a perfect day 365 days a year."

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