Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies

Munoz’s competent debut reflects on his tenure as the CEO of United Airlines from 2015 to 2020. He describes how he smoothed over lingering resentments from United’s 2010 merger with Continental Airlines, which left both sides feeling they had to adjust their operations more than the other. “Listen, learn, and only then try to lead,” he advises, detailing how his conversations with the company’s employees revealed that executives were undermining good service in the name of cost-cutting. Ramp workers, for example, complained that personnel cuts had left them unable to efficiently load and unload luggage, which Munoz fixed by rehiring those who had been laid off. He also digs into how he negotiated with union leaders on new labor contracts for flight crews, which had been operating from pre-merger agreements that prevented the two companies’ crews from working on the same plane as late as 2018. Elsewhere, Munoz discusses learning to own up to bad PR and fighting off a proxy battle to install Continental’s former CEO as chairman of United’s board. The stories offer an intimate look at what it’s like to run a large corporation, and Munoz’s praise of his former employees makes a strong case that workers are central to a company’s success. This solid memoir delivers the goods. (May)