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?
00:39:30 · John Collison, Scott Kirby, Ben Thompson
[00:39:30] S1: What are some big things they've hated? [00:39:31] S0: The aircraft investment. They, you know, they don't say don't invest in technology but they want your CASM X, which is your cost per available seat mile, be low. And the only way you can, like, we can't control, like, airport fees are going up and like, you know, union contracts are what they are and like, The only way you can cut the budget is to not invest for the future. And like, we're going to invest for the future. And in the long run, it works out. And like other CEOs, like I'll hear other CEOs complain about, Oh, Wall Street is short term. And and what I say to them is like, Yes, they are. Like, stop complaining about it. That is what it is. But what you should do is invest for the long term, do the right thing. But by the way, if it doesn't work, you ought to lose your job and you ought to be comfortable with that. You get paid a lot of money, like make the big bet. If it works, great, shareholders will like it. But if it doesn't work, you deserve to get fired. And if you're not willing to take that risk, then stop complaining about it. [00:40:29] S1: Yeah, yeah, yes. [00:40:30] S2: We have more gamblers as as CEOs. [00:40:32] S0: More gamblers. [00:40:32] S2: I mean, it's... Everyone in tech loves... Or I think a lot of people in tech love airlines. It's super interesting. Yeah. But the actual job... Like, how many employees does United have? [00:40:41] S0: 120,000.
00:40:41 · Scott Kirby, Ben Thompson
[00:40:41] S0: 120,000. [00:40:42] S2: 120,000, which a wide range of skills and abilities. Some are on the ramp, some are doing route planning. How do you, in all this experience, like what is the key to managing that and getting people excited? You're dealing with unions, all these [00:40:56] S0: I sorts of think being the CEO of almost any company, but certainly for me, is really ninety nine percent one thing, create the right culture. I was in LA yesterday and I told the whole team what I just told you guys, like the first hub that's going get all Starlink, you're gonna get a lot of people that are coming across the terminal, which is where Delta is, across the roadway there to United. They're gonna try us that are loyalists to another very good airline. Your mission is make sure they know United is the best airline in Los Angeles. And they're all like, Yeah, we can do it. It's fun. People want to win. It's I
00:40:56 · Scott Kirby, John Collison
[00:40:56] S0: I sorts of think being the CEO of almost any company, but certainly for me, is really ninety nine percent one thing, create the right culture. I was in LA yesterday and I told the whole team what I just told you guys, like the first hub that's going get all Starlink, you're gonna get a lot of people that are coming across the terminal, which is where Delta is, across the roadway there to United. They're gonna try us that are loyalists to another very good airline. Your mission is make sure they know United is the best airline in Los Angeles. And they're all like, Yeah, we can do it. It's fun. People want to win. It's I [00:41:33] S1: want to come back to Wall Street. So, you know, you talked about investor perception. Historically, airlines were the canonical example of a bad business. You know, famous Buffett line of, you know, a farsighted capitalist would have shot down overwrite And as Kitty the fact that airlines had cumulatively lost money until 1992, I think, like the entire industry since Kitty Hawk had lost money on an aggregate basis. That is no longer true. It seems to have really changed. Yeah. And now airlines are more robustly profitable. Think Berkshire owned at least some airlines stocks for a while recently. What has changed? Has the structure changed? Presumably you think yes. And what has changed such that airlines are no longer the poster child Yeah, for