Poor service could be culprit for United's woes Since United's bankruptcy filing last week, pundits have looked at every angle in explaining the airline's financial demise, from reduced corporate travel to a faulty business model. But, there could be a much simpler explanation, according to The Wall Street Journal's Scott McCartney. "One often-overlooked reason for the carrier's downfall may be that, for years, United hasn't been a particularly good airline," he said in his column, 'The Middle Seat.' He notes that in an industry where "size is supposed to be everything," United was unable to use its massive route network to lure customers and ride out the slowdown in the travel industry. Perhaps more telling is the airline's performance rankings over the past 15 years. Since the U.S. Department of Transportation began publishing on-time statistics in 1987, United has cumulatively ranked last among the nine major airlines, McCartney notes. And for the past five years, United has been either last or next-to-last in baggage handling. United led the industry in customer complaints in both 2000 and 2001. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT News) http://www.tntmirror.com/ (TnT News) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************