All eyes have been on airlines recently as problems with antiquated air traffic control systems have led to mass delays and cancellations—particularly at Newark Liberty International Airport.
“I don’t really like that, but you ought to book,” Kirby said. “This is short-term painful for us at Newark, but it’s long-term better because the FAA is going to do what they do at JFK, LaGuardia, which is manage the number of flights to be equal to the capacity of the airport.”
But just because United flights might be cheaper temporarily doesn’t knock them down to a budget airline. In fact, Kirby during the same interview dissed low-cost airlines, calling them a “crappy model” that was designed to “screw the customer.”
“It was like, trick people, get them to buy, and get them to come, and then charge them a whole bunch of fees that they aren’t expecting,” Kirby said. “Their problem is they got big enough that they needed repeat customers. They don’t get them.”
The model “is dead,” he added.
But budget airlines don’t see it that way.
“With the New Frontier, we offer a free carry-on bag, free changes, and free seat assignments in our economy product,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle told Fortune. “He must be referring to other carriers.”
Some consumers also consider JetBlue to be a budget airline, and coincidentally, Kirby’s interview with WSJ happened to be on the same day United announced a partnership with JetBlue.
And budget airlines are far from the only offenders when it comes to tacking on extra fees and charges. Consumer advocates have long criticized the “unbundling” by which airlines, including United, have started charging to check bags, eat on the flight, and other amenities that used to be part of the ticket price.
United Airlines didn’t respond to Fortune’s request for comment about whether Kirby’s assertions about budget airlines conflicted with their JetBlue partnership.
Kirby insisted during his WSJ interview, though, JetBlue isn’t the typical budget airline model.
“JetBlue is not that at all,” Kirby said, calling the airline a poster child for customer satisfaction. He used the example of how JetBlue first put live televisions in its aircrafts. Kirby admittedly thought it was a gimmick at first, he said, but when he saw more than 20 people on his JetBlue flight watching TV, he changed his mind.
He thought, “holy cow, they got this right, and it was literally a turning point for me,” Kirby said. “JetBlue is founded in trying to be a better airline for customers. The budget airlines were founded in trying to have the absolute bare bones lowest cost. They may both be startups, [but have] two polar-opposite business models.”
