00:34:11 · Scott Kirby, John Collison
[00:34:11] S0: It's a competitive hub but it also, like, it's also the kind of aircraft that fly there. So, our only aircraft that are still a challenge, we have to get Boeing over the finish line on some of the certification work on the 787s. Oh, so We will get there, but, we will get there, but if you've got a market like San Francisco that has a lot of 787s, it's gonna take longer because we... Boeing is slower. [00:34:36] S1: Was the CapEx or OpEx more painful in the economic model as you looked at it? [00:34:42] S0: The numbers aren't that big. [00:34:44] S1: Oh, really? Well, I mean... But then like, why is Delta's strategy rational or do you think it's like completely mistaken?
00:34:44 · John Collison, Scott Kirby, Ben Thompson
[00:34:44] S1: Oh, really? Well, I mean... But then like, why is Delta's strategy rational or do you think it's like completely mistaken? [00:34:50] S0: It was a mistake. Okay. I think at all airlines, even the ones that kind of, if you watch the other airlines that picked it after United had done it, they're sort of stepping into it gradually. That's just the way we've always done it in airlines. Know, everything is slow. Like do an aircraft, remodification takes eight years. Like just like, that's the way we've done it. I mean, so I think it's just the way everyone has done it. And if you're thinking that this is like an eight year project, okay, I'm a year behind on starting, but that's not that big deal. You know, United will be at 12%. You know, we'll be a year behind. Like it's not going to be enough to matter. Like it's a, you can, in a traditional way of looking at it, it can feel rational. I don't think people, we even didn't appreciate how big it was. It's not as big, but then we put the pedal to the metal and SpaceX supported us and going Is this gonna be the [00:35:37] S2: biggest differentiator of all time? [00:35:38] S0: I think it is. I think it's the biggest competitive advantage and it's temporary. Everybody eventually is going to have high speed, low earth orbit internet connectivity. It's gonna be a must have. [00:35:50] S1: But to the speed
00:35:50 · John Collison, Scott Kirby, Ben Thompson
[00:35:50] S1: But to the speed [00:35:50] S0: moment But of we are gonna have a few years of being the only airline that has it at scale and that's our mission is I think we're gonna convince customers that United is the best airline and we're gonna get customers to switch their loyalty to United, get our credit card, switch their loyalty to United. Not because of Starlink. They're going to try us for Starlink and they're going to stay because all the other technology and everything else is better. And the technology in particular is so much better than technology and it's accelerating because we're out there at Techstack and because we're like our gap is getting wider and wider with our technology every day. [00:36:23] S1: You have a two to three year window to woo customers. Exactly. [00:36:26] S0: Yeah. That's exactly right. [00:36:28] S1: What do think of Elon's strategy of requiring airlines to make it free? [00:36:31] S0: We were gonna make it free anyway, so, you know. Free was gonna be... Although, in fairness, free is not the value proposition. Fast is the value proposition. And the truth is like on... I've flown all three of my big competitors who have it free on the legacy systems and it's terrible. I've flown them each two or three times in the last year. No, was... It's terrible because there's not enough... It's physics. Exactly. There's not enough bandwidth to make it free. Was [00:36:56] S2: reason sad, we talked they started making it free. Yeah. Because I'm like, is gonna make my experience
00:36:56 · Ben Thompson, Scott Kirby
[00:36:56] S2: reason sad, we talked they started making it free. Yeah. Because I'm like, is gonna make my experience [00:36:59] S0: worse. It makes it unusable for almost everyone. Free was never the value proposition. Fast is the value proposition. Yes. And there's only one option for fast historically. That is the only option. You can call it the other fast and free, but it's not. It's like dial up Internet. Yes. Yes. It's slower dial [00:37:13] S2: up Internet. So you mentioned that in the long run, everyone will start weak. The technology stack [00:37:17] S0: Or or maybe Amazon, but they'll have lower levels [00:37:19] S2: of Right. How do you think about in the long run where... A reason people prefer say the Asian airlines versus the American airlines is they feel like the soft bits are Do you need to circle back around to that in the long I
00:37:19 · Ben Thompson, Scott Kirby, John Collison
[00:37:19] S2: of Right. How do you think about in the long run where... A reason people prefer say the Asian airlines versus the American airlines is they feel like the soft bits are Do you need to circle back around to that in the long I [00:37:31] S0: want us to be the best at everything. And I acknowledge that the Asian airlines are really... Asian and Middle East carriers are really good at service and product. Now, it does help that they're quasi state entities and subsidized, so we can't do it and lose money. If you get ahead, like you start to have exponential benefits, you can go faster and do more things. I think being in the lead and never being complacent, we're just gonna, we're gonna have to keep reinventing things and doing stuff to make it great for customers. I think we'll have a big lead and when you have a big lead too, we'll have the resources to invest. You know, like everyone else is like mired in these, you know, hitting the Wall Street number for next quarter. And the only way to do that is to cut your investments, you know. Like they get mired in the short termism and they don't invest. And like our constraint on investing in technology is how much can we manage. It is not money. [00:38:27] S1: You've talked about, yeah, airlines being run by operations people where taking cheese out of the pizza is What the only has given you more social permission with your investors, with your board to do things like the bigger aircraft order during COVID? We're gonna do Starlink. It feels like you have taken bigger swings. [00:38:47] S0: Yeah.
00:38:47 · Scott Kirby, John Collison
[00:38:47] S0: Yeah. [00:38:47] S1: Is that just you've seen the future better, or do you somehow have more permission to take big swings? [00:38:53] S0: I think we're better at seeing the future. I we talked, I don't know if we talked about it here, but I think reading as much as I do, you know, talked about the two, like I think people that do that connect dots can see the things in the tails better than others. It can spot the opportunity where other people don't. I have a great board who's been supportive. I spend a ton of time communicating with the board and keeping them involved. We talk about what's going on. I have a lot of support from them for doing that. From the external perspective, Wall Street almost always hates the big things we do. Like, and I don't care. [00:39:30] S1: What are some big things they've hated?