Question

Review the following factors for two competitors of United Airlines:

Global Expansion

Advertising

Product/Service Quality

Discuss if you believe they are rated high, medium, or low and detail why for each.

Answer 1

ANSWER:

The two competitors of United Airlines considered for the review of the following factors are:

a.) Southwest Airlines

b.) Delta Air Lines

Factors	United Airlines	Competitors
Southwest Airlines	Delta Air Lines
Global Expansion	The Chicago-based Star Alliance carrier will add three new destinations in Africa — Accra, Ghana (ACC); Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB); and Lagos, Nigeria (LOS) — amid a seven-route expansion that begins later this year and continues into 2021.United will be the second U.S. carrier serving Accra, Johannesburg and Lagos after Delta Air Lines. By adding new daily nonstop flights between Newark/New York and Johannesburg in spring 2021, the airline will operate more flights to South Africa than any other U.S. carrier, and will offer the only roundtrip, nonstop service from the United States to Johannesburg by a U.S carrier. In August, United Airlines announced a 23 route expansion between the midwest and northeast and Florida.	In early 2020, the carrier added service to Hilo, Hawaii, and Cozumel, Mexico for a total of 103 airports served. Southwest has announced several new destinations to its route map: Palm Springs International Airport and Miami International Airport beginning Nov. 15, 2020; seasonal service to Yampa Valley Regional Airport (Steamboat Springs) and Montrose Regional Airport (Telluride and Crested Butte) beginning Dec. 19, 2020; and planned service in first half 2021 to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Houston’s George Bush intercontinental Airport, Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia, and Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in Mississippi. Southwest is leveraging additional airports in cornerstone cities where its Customer base in large, along with adding easier access to popular leisure-oriented destinations from across our domestic-focused network.	Between the U.S. and China, Delta is working closely with governments in both countries to increase service in response to high demand. In summer 2021, Delta hopes to operate daily service between Shanghai and Detroit, Seattle and Los Angeles, plus daily service connecting Sea-Tac with Beijing’s new Daxing Airport, subject to government approval. Beginning in December 2020, Delta plans to add up to four-times weekly services between Haneda and Honolulu (HNL).
Advertising	United Airlines is out with a simple but powerful new coronavirus ad that truly makes us want to fly. The ad offer a series of metaphors linking different treasures of nature to different parts of our home. Imagery is beautiful, words are limited, and of course Rhapsody in Blue gently plays in the background. The ad ends with a simple phrase: “Can’t wait to have you back.”	Southwest Airlines is rolling out its second campaign of the pandemic, another sign that the Dallas-based airline is going against the grain of an industry that’s faced pandemic-induced decimation. The leading low-cost US airline used Facebook flight ads for prospecting to increase bookings and ticket sales	When the first state-of-art Delta Airbus A350 was delivered back in 2017, the airline rolled out more than a dozen of articles translated to multiple languages on their official news hub, describing the passengers’ benefits of the newest aircraft in them. Today their news hub focus is on COVID-19 preventive measures being undertaken to make flying safe, with one particular article describing all their sanitizing efforts before every single flight.
Product/Service Quality	United Airlines is Certified as a 3-Star Airline for the quality of its airport and onboard product and staff service. Product rating includes seats, amenities, food & beverages, IFE, cleanliness etc, and service rating is for both cabin staff and ground staff.	It places customer service at the forefront of its mission and company culture. On a more practical level, it works to provide customers with an experience that fulfills their needs and makes it easy for them to accomplish their goals with the company. The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit." It dedicates its company decisions to fulfilling that mission, with Southwest's customer service earning a 33.9% "excellent" rating, and only 3.3% said its service was "poor."	Delta has taken the top spot in the latest Airline Quality Rating (AQR), helping to bolster the airline’s position as the industry leader in performance and customer satisfaction among U.S. airlines.Delta’s top ranking comes on the heels of a number of other recent accolades, including earning the top spot in The Points Guy’s 2019 list of the best and worst US airlines, FlightGlobal’s Most On-Time Airline and Best U.S. Airline by the Wall Street Journal.