Speaking as a guest on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" segment, Odland, a former CEO of Office Depot Inc ODP, said that the core issue is United's employees need to treat customers with their best judgment — not "by the books."
So Many Voices
Adding to the difficulty is the fact that United was formed through a merger with Continental and Republic Airlines (United Express lines), which means the company has "three different versions of people involved."
"In a social media environment where everybody has a camera we are on stage every day," Odland emphasized. "And every customer facing person needs to be trained in that regard."
Odland believes Munoz is a good person, but he still needs to apologize to investors and the earliest he can do so is during Monday's post-earnings conference call.
Bottom line, Odland believes Munoz will indeed "take accountability." The fact remains, however, that getting through the horrible event and erasing the negative perception among consumers isn't a one month or even one-year effort.
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