Kriby in Costa Rica
It has now emerged that it was not only Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian who jetted away while his carrier was suffering a meltdown but also United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby. Should we join the chorus of outrage over their conduct or is this simply faux outrage?
United Airlines And Delta Air Lines CEO Jet Away During Meltdowns
While Delta was still in the midst of a meltdown in which thousands of flights were delayed or canceled, Bastian jetted off to Paris with his girlfriend. While United has been spared much negative press because it recovered far more quickly, it also suffered a two-day meltdown in which a double-digit number of flights were canceled or delayed. On Saturday–in the midst of United’s own mini-meltdown–Kriby and his family flew from Denver (DEN) to Liberia, Costa Rica (LIB).
Pictures posted on LinkedIn show Kirby posing for photos with ground staff in Liberia.
United defends Kirby’s travel:
By Saturday morning, our technology was stable and our operation was recovering. The speed of our recovery is a testament to our strong teams and leaders in digital technology and operations. As we shared on Monday, Scott was able to see our operation first-hand in Denver on Saturday and stayed in close contact with our other senior leaders throughout our recovery.
Delta also defends Bastian’s travel:
Ed delayed this long-planned business trip until he was confident the airline was firmly on the path to recovery. As of Wednesday morning, Delta’s operations were returning to normal. Ed remains fully engaged with senior operations leaders.
At least it was a business trip for Bastian?
Does It Matter?
Many are outraged that these leaders would disappear in the midst of disaster. That is a fair point. For better or for worse, optics matter and a CEO showing up at an airport and helping where necessary, even with small things like tagging bags, can make a huge difference in public perception and boost employee morale.
But you could also make the case that both Kirby and Batian left only after their respective carriers began to gain control over their operation. No, things were not back to normal (and still are not for Delta), but the process for bringing smooth operations back was clearly identified and being executed…the behind-the-scenes frantic chaos was over.
In that sense, I’m not so offended that both leaders chose to keep prior travel commitments and while staying behind may have been “better” I just find it hard to get outraged over this.
True leadership is not photo ops during crises but learning from these crises so as not to repeat them. In that sense, both Kirby and especially Bastian have some soul-searching to do.
CONCLUSION
As the figurehead for each airline, the CEO plays an essential role. But I find it hard to be upset that these men did not cancel their travel plans when their carriers were clearly on the path to recovery. We get offended by so much today and I just don’t see a reason to be upset at the leaders…at least for the travel.
We should continue to demand accountability, but such accountability need not force the CEOs to stay on the ground.