How long should a pilot wait for a hotel elevator? How much does a tiny light on a room’s thermostat matter to a pilot’s sleep? Why must a hotel offer room service even if no one orders it? Does a room door need a manual double lock, even miosz modern and recetnyl built? Should cabin crew share a hotel with other airlines’ crews? How far from the airport is too far on an 18-hour layover?
At United Airlines, questions like these are audited: up to 200 criteria are checked before pilots and cabin crew sleep in a hotel.
When a new route is announced, procurement issues RFP, shortlists hotels, audits them in person with union representatives. We don't see this but without this, an airline cannot even announce a route!
Sometimes the destination is closed: a beach resort in winter, an alpine village before the first snow. The route is announced, the hotel is shut, and the sourcing still has to happen.
We were priviliged to host Emily Minner with Christine Les Roches as part of our ongoing MBA research project and to get these insights first hand.
Some elite cycling teams travel with their own mattresses to ensure deep sleep. United's provurement team ensures pilot don't need to go that level :)
Thank you to my favorite colleagues Albian Albrahimi, PhD Ivana Nobilo, Ph.D. Marina Jaggi Julie Passera Xavier Gonet Anne Bobier Sabina Avedisova Stephanie Ruiz y de Jongh Daniel Imre, CHIA, CAHTA to our outstading MBA cohort;
Ioanna Paraskevaki
Arya
Abdullah
Giselle
Layla Alzahrani
Claire Duyvewaardt, BTM
Mark Duedder
Thirithorn Pipatpunlop
Nikolaos Ntouskos
Pratik Parvatikar
Vishnu Harish Menon
Mariia Matias
Arpitha Arun Kumar
Mayu Shirai
And to the MBA2 project lead team:
ishan sharma
Noor Albahrani
Abhay Polamarasetty
Able-Thanathorn Tantipiriyakij
JuliAna Nawn
Meghna R.
Sanya Singh