CEO Scott Kirby Calls United ‘The Best Airline in History’ — Here’s Who Really Deserves the Title

CEO Scott Kirby has declared United Airlines “the best airline in the history of aviation.” He led with this in his Veteran’s Day message to employees, a video filmed at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

As CEO is isn’t just the airline’s chief strategist. He’s their chief cheerleader (as well as panderer in chief). But is United Airlines plausibly the best airline – in the history of the world?

I don’t think anyone would dispute that they’ve made great strides since passenger David Dao was dragged off one of their planes and bloodied eight years ago.

And United’s globe-spanning network (especially Pacific and “thin” transatlatnic routes) is a draw. Their mobile app is good! But Newark operations, service, food and a hard product that’s mid at best makes them pretty good for a U.S. carrier though hardly the best ‘U.S.’ airline ever let alone among the best airlines in the world.

• Newark remains a pain point. It combines New York airspace with runways poorly configured for weather-stressed operations. Summer and air traffic control cascade into mass delays, tarmac holds, and cancellations. And this is their transatlantic gateway, with the bulk of unique destinations across the Pond.

  

• Inconsistent fleet. New A321neos and Boeing MAX 8/9s with “Signature” interiors have large overhead bins, Bluetooth, and seatback screens. Older narrowbodies are still mid-retrofit, so you can draw the short straw on seatback entertainment and USB power.

• Weak business class seat. They promise new delivery Boeing 787-9s with a business class suite that should be competitive with world standard, but their current Polaris product – which debuted 9 years ago – was even then an also-ran.

  The seat was approved under notoriously budget-tight and passenger-unfriendly CEO Jeff Smisek, and the selling point is that they could achieve lie flat, direct aisle access without giving up any seats in the same space footprint in the cabin as their six-abreast ancient Diamond business class. The goal wasn’t even a competitive seat even then – it was just to stop lucrative customers from actively avoiding United business class.

  

  

• Food. Most frequent flyers with experience across airlines rate United’s food as worse than American’s, let alone being comparable to Air France or Singapore Airlines.

  

  

• MileagePlus devaluations. United removed award charts before the pandemic, pushed big partner award price hikes throughout the pandemic and even last year. They’ve largely withdrawn access to business class awards from partner airlines. Upgrades for 1K members are hardly a thing, and PlusPoints rarely clear. Now frequent flyers are nervous about Kirby’s plan to double MileagePlus profits by 2030.

• Wi-Fi variability: United has some of the best wifi, in the Starlink they’re rolling out (regionals first) and also some of the worst. Overall wifi isn’t as bad as Southwest, but still lags Delta and American – though they should eventually surpass both once Starlink becomes ubiquitous.

• United Club capacity they overflow at hubs (especially outside of Denver), they tightened one-time pass rules (3-hour window, less sharing) and raised prices, yet still deny access to co-brand cardmembers with passes much of the time. And this crowding happens even with food that still lags Delta’s. Meanwhile Polaris lounges can overflow, and food quality there has declined, even with access rules tighter than American’s for its business class lounge product.

  

• Basic Economy is harsher than peers: Domestic basic economy bans full-size carry-ons in the cabin (gate-check fee if you try). They used to make basic economy passengers wait to see an agent for check-in even without checked bags.

• Reliability doesn’t approach Delta’s or Alaska’s, or often even Spirit’s and Southwest’s. It’s better than American’s and JetBlue’s but generally just industry-average.

United Airlines has some great crews, but it’s variable, and on average worse than Delta but better than American. Their flight attendants haven’t seen a raise in five years, while the value of their wages has been eroded over 20% by inflation.

There are good things about United. There are areas where it continues to lag. Overall they’ve been improving, but from a low base when Oscar Munoz and later Scott Kirby took over. They aren’t as good an airline as Delta. They don’t have as good a loyalty program as American. They don’t have employees as friendly and cheerful as Southwest’s.

But in the history of the world?

• Pan American World Airways (post-World War II through mid-1970s) defined the modern global airline; 707 and 747 launch partner; worldwide branding, standardized international operations, and literally created mass long-haul jet travel.

  
  Pan Am Boeing 747 Operated Flight 73, credit: aussieairliners.org via Wikimedia Commons

• Singapore Airlines (1980-Present) service benchmark for nearly half a century with consistent safety, premium-cabin innovation and a disciplined balance of brand and profitability.

  

• Southwest Airlines (1970s through late 2010s) The most influential low-cost carrier model: point-to-point simplicity, turn-time discipline, relentless cost control, and decades of industry-leading profitability that rewired fares and network planning. Their turn time discipline was unmatched in the 1970s; their fuel hedging in the 2000s remarkable; and their four-decades of consistent profitability unmatched.

  

• American Airlines (1960s – mid-90s) The industry’s biggest “ideas factory” of SABRE, modern yield management, and AAdvantage (which reshaped global airline economics and consumer behavior), and whose executives went on to pioneering roles at other airlines. Even Kirby is a former President of American Airlines! Here’s legendary CEO Bob Crandall’s tribute to retiring Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher:

• Emirates (1985-Present) Rewrote global traffic flows via Dubai mega-hub; pushed the premium arms race (A380 at scale, onboard showers/bar) into the mainstream.

  

I’d add honorable mention for Qantas (Rain Man reasons) and KLM (historic continuity). United has good business class bedding, and a great route network (though Turkish is certainly more connected!). They just aren’t as good as the best world airlines at their peak times.

Who do you think deserves the title of best airline in the history of the world? Is it today’s United Airlines?