Class, what you have suggested above - for the most part - seems to fit within the environment that United can control. To complement or affirm what you suggested, UAL could offer roomier seats with more legroom, good customer service, meals on flights, Netflix, free wine, free/paid Internet, entertainment centers, triva games, and free baggage, etc.
1. Yet, many of these cost money -- something in short supply at United and other airlines, although the airlines have done much better, financially, the past few years. Don't expect that to last with fuel prices being volatile - prices for fuel will surely head north again.
Is it possible that United is unable to offer a differentiator?
Why would your instructor suggest that?
2.Tropicana's re-packaging of its orange juice was a DISASTER. It cost them $22M in just three months in lost sales -- customers couldn't "find" the packaging they were seeking and, instead, purchased a competitive brand.
Here's a short 150-second video that also talks to why the repackaging effort failed. Tropicana New Packaging Failure Reflect on what it shares. How close to your personal thinking did this gentlemen focus? Or, did he take you into new areas of thinking that you may not have considered? Watch the video that follows this one...
Any other packaging failures out there that your research has uncovered? While you are researching this, what would you suggest that a company FIRST consider doing before they 'modernize' their product packaging?