United Airlines Reviews in Chicago, IL Area

Pros

Travel benefits and the ability to move within the company and learn the entire business.

Cons

Impact of fuel prices, and the overall economy that impacts our jobs - this is in the airline industry in general and not specific to just United.

Pros

-Flight benefits (when you can actually get on a flight as most flights are full)

Cons

-Lots of layoffs as result of the merger
-Employees given only 2 weeks vacation for their first 5 years!
-Free flight benefits are all on standby basis so its very stressful and you are unlikely to get to places you want to go. Many people have had to buy a full price ticket just to get home. If you have a family, don't even think about trying this.
-Half of the Mileage Plus division has quit in the last year alone!
-Managers in Mileage Plus are terrible and have no interest in developing or retaining employees

Pros

Great work/life balance
Good benefits, including free flights (on standby)
Airline industry is fun
Flight operations are solid

Cons

E-commerce is not a focus of the company
Product management takes orders from other groups, does not drive strategy
United website is built poorly and has low customer satisfaction, and no effort has been made to fix it
Continental site is outdated and will be the platform for the new joint site
Major growing pains merging the two companies
Culture is hierarchical and old-school
Management is unapproachable and does nothing with feedback from staff
Social media barely exists
Merchandising rules the online strategy, user experience is the last priority

Advice to Senior Management

The e-commerce group needs to lead, instead of just taking orders. Also, customer experience needs to be a focus, not just more and more add-ons - consider how merchandising is cannibalizing ticket sales.

Pros

Flight benefits were nice
Tough to fly standy due to full flights
New CEO can change morale by putting Continental management in place
Eliminate cut-throat United Airlines management

Cons

Employees fearful and not respected
Heavy internal politics
Turf wars among management teams. All about control, not results
Enormous egos among management
Top heavy management. More VPs, Managing Directors and Directors than frontline managers.
Inconsistent strategy.
Lack of resources to due job due to layoffs of frontline employees (while management ranks have grown)
Initiate programs for the sake of change/resume-builders
Lack of shared goals across divisions paralyzes efforts
Sweat shop. Long hours, low reward
Worst employee morale of any company in Chicago

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees with respect. Walk the walk, don't talk the talk. It's as basic as it gets. Happy employees make happy customers (see Southwest Airlines). Jeff CEO can hopefully bring about the positive environment at Continental.

Pros

Good benefits for travelling, good work life balance

Cons

Less opportunities for advancement, career growth

Pros

The airline industry is very interesting.
There are many challenging projects to apply IT solutions for.
Free flights.
Decent people.

Cons

Many years of being unprofitable have taken a toll on management talent and resources.
Consistent profitability is difficult due to price of oil.

Advice to Senior Management

Retention of quality management talent should be a top priority. Bonuses should be larger and pushed further down the levels.

Pros

free flights, location, ability to move to move to different departments

Cons

OK on career advancement, little professional development, below average feedback, average middle management capabilities, very little information exchange across divisions

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees more, they have some good suggestions. Also, invest more in career development opportunities. Bring in more people that are change-oriented

Pros

every person is very committed to helping United succeed

Cons

Many people here are unsure of their future after the merger

Pros

If you love travel and want to work in chicago, this is the best company.

Cons

Pay package is not so great, but you can compensate with travel (in first class)

Pros

The regular workers are more supportive than management

Cons

Management very hard on its people

Advice to Senior Management

Please let the folks you hired do their job