United Airlines believes its competitors are “generations behind” and will never catch up, even if they begin investing in the customer experience.

United Argues Competitors Are “Generations Behind” During Q1 Earnings Calls

I always enjoy listening to the quarterly earnings calls, during which United’s C-Suite members take turns discussing various aspects of the business, then take questions from Wall Street analysts and the media.

This week, United discussed is 2025 Q1 results, which I covered here, in which United reported its best Q1 profit since 2019, slightly surpassed Delta Air Lines in terms of profitability, and offered a bifurcated profit estimate for the full year based on whether the United States economy entered recession.

> Read More: United Airlines’ Tale Of Two Profit Forecasts

One recurring theme in the earnings calls was the concept of brand loyalty, which I discussed here. United believes that customers are “sticky” and its varied fare product (ranging for basic economy to Polaris business class) and onboard investments draw people to United rather than to a carrier that may be slightly less expensive.

United CEO Scott Kirby has said,  “But the real game in airlines is to win brand loyal customers. What I mean by brand loyal, these are people that fly a lot. They’re typically not out price shopping on every flight.” And per Kirby, what makes them loyal is the comfort and ease of the entire flight experience:

“Well, the schedule matters, but the schedule in most of those cases is equal between one or two airlines. So then their choice comes down to whose frequent flyer program do I like, whose club programs do I like, whose service do I like better, whose airplanes do I like better, I want to be on an airplane that has seatback entertainment, do I care about the Wi-Fi.

“All of those things go into the mix. And the important point about those customers is that they are sticky. Once they decide to switch to an airline, they tend to stay there for decades or beyond. They get the credit card, they tend to stay.”

> Read More: United Airlines CEO Thinks Customers Are “Sticky”

But United is not alone in investing in its product. During the call, an analyst asked, “How do you think about maintaining that brand loyalty leadership over a multi-year period if we’re seeing some of the other airlines also investing in some of the same capabilities?”

Andrew Nocella, United’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, answered the question:

“The only other thing I’ll add is the investments we’ve made, we’ve made over a really long period of time. Like it takes years to build these clubs. It takes years to refit the aircraft, with the appropriate LOPA’s, to invest in the Wi Fi technology. And while, it’s, I guess, a bit flatter in that others are trying to copy us, they are generations behind, in my opinion. And will never catch us. And we will continue to run as fast or faster to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

“Generations behind” is a strong statement, and I’m not sure I buy it. For example, American Airlines could theoretically make Wi-Fi free overnight and eclipse United, which is gradually introducing free Starlink Wi-Fi across its fleet. The bandwidth may not be able to handle it, but there are mechanisms like capping speeds that AA could use to more reasonably distribute the bandwidth.

American Airlines could also greatly improve its catering with just a couple of months of lead time…it just needs to properly budget for it.

But in terms of seatback screens? Nocella is correct. That would take years. Aircraft deliveries? Nocella is correct again…AA’s path to growth has been stymied not only by mismanagement but by aircraft delivery delays. New clubs? That’s also a multi-year project for every hub.

United sees Delta as its equal and everyone else as competition that has fallen behind. Is AA “generations” behind? I’d say it is a generation behind, not multiple generations. And I do think it can catch up…once Untied Next (the interior update program) is complete, what further onboard innovation will there be? United Next is, in a sense, just catching up with Delta, but once there are new seats, seatback screens, and modern plugs and lighting, there’s not much else to be done.

CONCLUSION

United thinks its competition, which I interpret as American Airlines, is “generations behind” and that even if it did improve, United will continue to improve such that the gap cannot be closed. I’m not sure that is correct, but I’m also not sure AA has the desire to try to mimic Delta and United as it tries to emerge from its malaise of stagnant growth. Yes, AA will have to compete on price for now…an approach that has not been working…but it is offering a better onboard product akin to United and Delta is not generations away at AA…more like years.