As we all know, loyalty programs are a major profit center for airlines nowadays, and make up a key part of the commercial strategy. While the “big three” carriers are already generating billions of dollars in (high margin) revenue from these programs annually, they still see a lot of upside.
Along those lines, United Airlines has just announced some major changes to its MileagePlus leadership, and there’s a lot to unpack here!
United hires Jarad Fisher and Vasu Raja (sort of)
United Airlines has announced that Jarad Fisher will become the new President of MileagePlus. Fisher previously worked at Apple, and at Delta before that. Here’s how United Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella describes this hire in an email to employees:
I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve hired Jarad Fisher as our new Vice President and President of MileagePlus. Jarad is a world-class builder of consumer platforms. At Apple, he created the vision and built the team that delivered Apple Card, widely considered the most successful credit card launch in history. Jarad returns to the airline industry after a pivotal tenure at Delta, where he redefined their Amex partnership and launched award-winning programs that their loyalty program members loved. His career is defined by a “roll up your sleeves” approach to innovation. He co-founded Travelguru.com, India’s first major travel portal, and worked with the TSA during its infancy to design passenger security standards still in use today.
MileagePlus CEO Richard Nunn and MileagePlus President Luc Bondar will be departing the airline in the coming weeks, and have clearly been kicked out of their roles. Nunn joined United in 2023 from outside the airline industry, while Bondar is a longtime United executive, and has been President of MileagePlus since 2017.
Now, here’s where this gets even more interesting. In 2024, United launched Kinective Media, essentially a media network that’s an extension of MileagePlus. The idea is that MileagePlus has a big membership base, so how can that best be monetized beyond credit cards?
Well, United is hiring former American Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja as a temporary consultant, to oversee Kinective Media. Here’s how Nocella describes this to employees:
During this leadership transition, the Kinective Media team will temporarily report to a consultant: former American Airlines executive, Vasu Raja. For the next six months, Vasu will work to further build our technology stack, refine our data sources, and advance our targeted marketing capabilities. This is a short-term assignment for Vasu and he will also report directly to me.
As a reminder, Raja was fired from American, and was the architect of the strategy that… well, put American into the mess that it’s in right now (which doesn’t excuse American CEO Robert Isom for going along with it, but…).
My take on these MileagePlus management changes
The new President of MileagePlus, Jarad Fisher, seems like a really good hire. As we know, United is trying to turn MileagePlus into a combination of a loyalty program (with credit cards being a large revenue driver), plus a media company, so you can’t beat someone who has experience with both Apple and Delta, and in particular, with the card partnerships at both companies.
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe Fisher is the guy who turned SkyMiles into SkyPesos, so I’d view him as the guy who developed the smart strategy that made people brand loyal, rather than leading the race to the bottom.
So, why are Nunn and Bondar being pushed out? My understanding is that Nunn wasn’t particularly well liked or viewed as being terribly competent. He seemed like a strange hire in the first place, since he had no airline experience, and it seemed United was too focused on his media experience, and didn’t put enough thought into his lack of airline or loyalty program experience.
Bondar was well liked, though I suspect he’s collateral damage in all of this, given that Fisher is also at the President level, which is where Bondar was.
But the most interesting part of this announcement is that United is hiring Vasu Raja as a consultant. Raja was pushed out at American in 2024, as he was the architect of American’s “cut business travel and fly to El Paso” strategy, which backfired horribly.
So to see United now hiring Raja as a consultant for six months overseeing… a technology stack, refining data sources, and advancing targeted marketing capabilities… that’s… ummm… special? I’m not saying he’s not capable of that, but I think there’s an obvious ulterior motive here.
I have a lot of respect for United CEO Scott Kirby, the direction he has taken United, and his determination to make United increasingly profitable. However, there’s simply no denying that the guy has an axe to grind with American, given that the whole reason he went to United in the first place was because former CEO Doug Parker reportedly told him he wouldn’t become the next CEO.
I would be willing to bet just about anything that that a major motivation in hiring Raju as a consultant is to essentially “rub salt in the wound” of American. The message here is clear — Kirby wants to make the point that Raja wasn’t the problem at American, just to spite the airline.
Bottom line
Major management changes are coming to United MileagePlus. MileagePlus CEO Richard Nunn and President Luc Bondar are leaving the airline, and Jarad Fisher will take over as President. Fisher seems like a great hire, as he comes from Apple, and Delta before that.
Perhaps the most interesting development, though, is that United is hiring former American Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja as a consultant for its media network. There’s no way that’s not at least partly motivated by Kirby’s desire to prove a point to American.
What do you make of these MileagePlus leadership changes?
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