Case Study: United Attempts to Crack the Non-Business Market

Background of Case

United Airlines is owned by the UAL Corporation and was incorporated on the 30th of

December 1968. United Airlines is one of the top 3 largest airlines in the United States of

America. They were able to serve more than 3,000 flights a day and accommodate more than 200

domestic and international destinations. One of the things that have helped the business, is that

they used a hub and spoke method for their passengers wherein they operate on crucial locations

namely in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. With that, having different

destinations made them possible to allow the company to provide many different airports and

terminals that its customers can use and also helps to streamline flight schedules and saves the

company millions of dollars every year.

In addition, United Airlines offers different types of aircraft to different types of passengers such

as first-class, business class, coach seating class, and a dedicated and professional staff including

gate personnel, pilots, flight attendants, and baggage handlers. They have served multiple flights

to single destinations throughout each day; different types of aircraft that offer first-class,

business class, and coach seating classes; and a dedicated and professional staff including gate

personnel, pilots, flight attendants, and baggage handlers. United also benefits from the lower

price sensitivity of its business travelers.

Despite all the success, they had a problem on handling and marketing their non-business market

who is the individual who travels with no business purposes. They only focused on business
travelers wherein they can earn more profit. Moreover, business managers play a big

responsibility in this kind of dilemma. Managers should be responsible and have enough

knowledge to handle a situation as United Airline had. They experienced a crisis management

even though they were able to utilize a lot of daily passengers.

Viewpoint

There are a lot of competitors in the airline industry. With that being said, every individual has

different attributes and preferences when it comes to satisfying their needs and wants when it

comes to the service they prefer. United Airlines should treat each and every passenger equally

even without looking at their position as an individual for instance, from being a businessman or

not.

Time Context

The United Airlines was observed by conducting a survey specifically a multi-attribute matrix

which describes the five useful pieces of information with reference to the particular problem

they had which is the unfair treatment of non-business travelers. Managers were given a task to

answer the five questions listed in the multi-attribute matrix. Furthermore, United Airline was

identified of having a gap filled in the marketing of its non-business flight in order to increase

their client in class.