President Trump has taken to Twitter this morning to give Boeing some advice for what they should do with the 737 MAX, given the current fiasco (along with Tweets about immigration, Mueller, etc.):
What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1117736685721223168
An interesting statement no doubt, especially given that it’s not like the Boeing 737 MAX was a truly new concept. Rather it was created as an evolution of the 737, the most popular passenger jet ever built.
I guess we’ll see if Dennis Boeing & Co. take advice from POTUS!
I mean, maybe it’s not terrible advice. Fix the plane, call it a Boeing 636 MEGA (or MAGA?), put the cockpit in the back of the plane to throw people off, and everyone will just forget the plane ever existed!
You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Trump is a great president who is after our good. There is no reason to be making fun of him. #MAGA2020
I am another one who will never vote for the President, and think the day he leaves office should be declared a national holiday, but indeed think rebranding of the 737 MAX should (and will) happen. Lucky never said that he wouldn't allow controversial topics or strong opinions. He did say he was through with trolls who bring bigotry to the forum every time they post. Such can stoke their ego with their own blog and attract what followers they can.
None of the points he saying are wrong, but do they really need to be said? No doubt that Boeing is using all available resources to quickly and safely fix the issue, and is utilizing internal and external Crisis Management resources to figure out the PR mess.
And re-branding a plane isn't just a minor undertaking. The C-Series has officially been the A220 for almost a year and a half, many systems still refer to...
None of the points he saying are wrong, but do they really need to be said? No doubt that Boeing is using all available resources to quickly and safely fix the issue, and is utilizing internal and external Crisis Management resources to figure out the PR mess.
And re-branding a plane isn't just a minor undertaking. The C-Series has officially been the A220 for almost a year and a half, many systems still refer to it as the C-Series (look at an A220 flight on an OTA, or even under the nose of a newly delivered Delta A220).
@Jake hahahhaa right? I'm still waiting on allllllll those people that claimed they would leave the US if Trump won to actually leave.... #hypocrites :)
Ben, you can trash talk the President all you want, but at the end of the day, he's actually right in what he said. Boeing should fix the damn problem, and renaming a product who's name has been tarnished by the media will help fix the public's negative perception about the MAX name.
He might not be your favorite person but he is a successful billionaire and POTUS. What he said makes sense, simple as that. ;)
Pro-Trump = banned
Anti-Trump = all good
Crystal clear bias. Keep it up and we'll be stuck with him for another term...this is the kind of behavior that brought him to us in the first place.
In addition to the DC-10 -> MD-11 rebranding @Jake mentioned, there is of course the ValuJet -> AirTran rebranding that was definitely about dissociating themselves from a fatal air crash. Outside of aviation there are plenty of examples of rebranding because a name became toxic. e.g. Andersen Consulting -> Accenture, Phillip Morris -> Altria, and multiple NY buildings that have removed Trump from their names.
The Max should be fixed. There will be a huge need for planes to fly out all the people who claim they will leave the country if Donald wins again in 2020.
@Ben L. - you are the new Debit. YOUR race bating comments have no place here. Go away with your racist buddies.
Regardless of what you think of POTUS, rebranding - aka no branding - IS the right move. It just becomes another 737 with whatever you want to call it... 737-901, 737-9B... whatever. Max is toast.
The *resident 45 is an idiot, nothing new to see here. RIP Debit.
The 737 shook its stigma before. In the early 1990's, the 737-200 was crashing for no reason or no understood reason. Then Eastwind's 737 almost crashed but didn't so they examined it and found rudder problems.
That was after United crashed in Colorado Springs and US Air crashed in Pittsburgh.
Time for a clean sheet single-aisle design, like they should have done in the first place. You know, so they can get the weight and balance right, and be done with the low-to-ground profile, originally designed to accommodate air stairs, which hasn’t been needed in decades. Oh and while you’re at it, how about make the fuselage 6” wider to accommodate 18”-wide Y seats.
I'm going to concur with what Jakes says. Everyone (well, MANY people) are so preoccupied with The Donald that they aren't listening to what he's saying. Boeing does need to get the MAX fixes right. And yes, a rebrand might be a good thing. The "MAX" name is jinxed now, and will be for the foreseeable future. Rebranding the plane in some manner might be a good thing for Boeing. I can tell you right...
I'm going to concur with what Jakes says. Everyone (well, MANY people) are so preoccupied with The Donald that they aren't listening to what he's saying. Boeing does need to get the MAX fixes right. And yes, a rebrand might be a good thing. The "MAX" name is jinxed now, and will be for the foreseeable future. Rebranding the plane in some manner might be a good thing for Boeing. I can tell you right now that while the flying public usually doesn't know one plane type from another, they know the name, "MAX." And yes, some responses to the plane may appear more hysterical than others, but in the eyes of many the plane is currently unsafe, a point which the groundings seem to reinforce. Calling it something else may hale ameliorate the type's currnt poor reputation.
This situation with the grounding of the 737 MAX is not unprecedented. In the 1950 both the British-built Comet and the American-built Electra were grounded after each of the airliner types suffered three fatal crashes. Both the Comet and the Electra eventually returned to service but neither ever shook the stigma of their disasters.
I think people should actually focus on the tweet rather then the person tweeting it, because it actually raises some valid points IMO. There are a lot of people who were scared to go on the 737 max after the two crashes (before it was grounded) and when it gets fixed I think people will still be scared to go on it and avoid it. Everyone here is pretty much an avgeek or whatever (myself...
I think people should actually focus on the tweet rather then the person tweeting it, because it actually raises some valid points IMO. There are a lot of people who were scared to go on the 737 max after the two crashes (before it was grounded) and when it gets fixed I think people will still be scared to go on it and avoid it. Everyone here is pretty much an avgeek or whatever (myself included) so it wouldn’t make any difference to us but the majority of flying public aren’t avgeeks and mostly likely will make a difference to them knowing they’re “not” on the same plane which has had a lot of negative publicity once it gets fixed. Reminds me very much of DC-10/MD-11 and is more likely what is being referred to.
Or call it the Super 7, Super 8, Super 9, as in Boeing 737 Super 8.
If they didn't want to call the revised Boeing 737 MAX 10 the 737-1300 then start from 737-2000 to 737-2300
When I heard this, I thought it was very wacky coming from a President. "Coming from a President" is the key phrase. I thought of the same idea a few weeks ago.
My idea was this. Some new features and a new name, Boeing 737-1000, -1100, -1200
How else can we all sh*t on Trump on a travel blog? Did anyone miss any comment we didn’t cover on a TRAVEL blog about the POTUS.
Dennis Boeing! *cackles*
At this point, I think we're well past rebranding the MAX being a viable option. The name is so seared into the public consciousness now that even my generally clueless relatives are now aware that there are different variants of the 737 and that the MAX one is "the not good one". Granted, they've also only just recently discovered that their beloved Southwest Airlines has an all-737 fleet and the freakouts...
Dennis Boeing! *cackles*
At this point, I think we're well past rebranding the MAX being a viable option. The name is so seared into the public consciousness now that even my generally clueless relatives are now aware that there are different variants of the 737 and that the MAX one is "the not good one". Granted, they've also only just recently discovered that their beloved Southwest Airlines has an all-737 fleet and the freakouts have been a hoot. Do we know when the planes will be allowed to fly again? And do we think passengers will go out of their way to avoid flying on the MAX, even after the software patches?
Good to know that debit is banned. He is an irredeemable bigot and never added anything useful to the discussion.
This is what happens when @Lucky wants to police politics but yet bring up the subject himself. The public asked for Debit.
You officially let Debit became a martyr.
Now back to POTUS, he does make a good point in rebranding but I'm afraid this is too big of a deal that would slip by easily. What Boeing should do is redesign the nose area and call it something without 737 or MAX (7A7-8 maybe?)
This is what happens when @Lucky wants to police politics but yet bring up the subject himself. The public asked for Debit.
You officially let Debit became a martyr.
Now back to POTUS, he does make a good point in rebranding but I'm afraid this is too big of a deal that would slip by easily. What Boeing should do is redesign the nose area and call it something without 737 or MAX (7A7-8 maybe?)
Fun fact, from the outside and just the fuselage (only the tube part) it's very hard to tell difference between 707, 727, 737, 757. So I'd imagine the new 7A7 on the outside will be just that same tube from the 60s.
737 9.
Then end it and get on with the 797 as a replacement for both the 73 and 75 families.
God I miss Debit at this point already
I am sure many can't just look at this from a business perspective without being political, but there is some merit to this. Of course, they won't abandon the 737 brand but the MAX might be a good name to go away. Many average people who are not avgeeks like many of us may have never heard the name MAX or Next Gen or any other version of the 737. I know people who can't...
I am sure many can't just look at this from a business perspective without being political, but there is some merit to this. Of course, they won't abandon the 737 brand but the MAX might be a good name to go away. Many average people who are not avgeeks like many of us may have never heard the name MAX or Next Gen or any other version of the 737. I know people who can't even tell me what plane they are flying on when I ask! But given the negative publicity on the MAX, that name may be tarnished so rebranding that variant might be a horrible idea.
Should rebrand as 737 FE
Just like Samsung Galaxy Note 7 became Note FE
Any fatal product should be called FE
"Additional great features." I can see him doodling on his notepad all the ideas..."Gold fixtures in the bathrooms!"
The world is coming apart at the seams and he is playing armchair CEO. SMH.
Lol, and who are the people that call the commentary on this blog "too conservative?"
Considering the source of the tweet, shouldn't this post have appeared 15 days ago:
If we're to comment with civility, maybe the articles on the blog should also have some worthy content? This may be aviation news, but then again so is a lot of other rubbish content out there.
I came here for the comments.
Where are the new guidelines? They should apply to several posts above. Not that the initial article was particularly interesting to begin with... I am not much more in love with DT than many but President bashing really has nothing to do in OMAAT and the article is incitement for it. You're slipping, Ben.
This being said, rebranding is not a bad idea now that MAX is widely understood to be for "Maximum Casualties"...
" I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX" the problem is trump's version of FIX is
a) tell the world how bad the competition is
b) create a new problem
c) throw in a distraction (add something new that is irrelevant but make it seem like god send)
d) give another name so it not what it really is
that's how to Trump FIX a problem ...
MAX was bad even without nose diving incident. MAX=maximum density? What is good about that?
MAX= Maximum profit? I think current 737-MAX customers would argue about that having their MAX fleet grounded.
At least NEO=new engine option.
We will see whether
" If it is MAX Boeing we are not going"
will take off.
As a disclaimer: I did fly 737-MAX in the past.
He is right. Boeing needs to FIX the real problem instead of writing a few extra lines of software and giving an extra control light for free.
I actually don't think it's terrible advice. If a passenger who doesn't fly often see's that their reservation says "737 MAX" on it, they might remember this current ban and be hesitant to fly on it, even if the issue gets completely resolved. However, if their reservation instead says "737 X" or something, they probably wouldn't even make the connection.
This might be the first Trump tweet I’m the history of Trump tweets that I’m not only not repulsed by, but even modestly agree with. I wish his self awareness around his lack of expertise in this area were more broadly applied in his other ideas.
He does have a point on the branding side - I would be surprised if boeing didnt think about renaming the 737 max.... the "max" brand has become a bit toxic...
Just wondering why Trump comments on such a topic....
What about other models of the 737? The general public doesn't want to get on ANY plane that is a 737.
I was on a Delta 737-900 the other day and the pilot and FAs deliberately avoided calling it a 737. The model was never mentioned.
I dislike Trump as much as the next guy, but please don't post every idiotic thing he says thats remotely travel related.
There are plenty of other places I can go to read about his verbal diarrhea.
Whomever the idiot was that came up with making safety features optional on that plane should suffer.
Wonder what Debit would've said - had he not been banned.
Hey it's no worse than all the other armchair experts on blogs and forums offering up their amateur advice!
"What do I know about branding, maybe nothing" --> point accepted.
"(but I did become President!)" --> irrelevant.
"but if I were Boeing" --> you are not.
"I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX" --> no, really; they're already working on it!
"add some additional great features & REBRAND the plane with a new name" --> this should do it! Razzle-dazzle worked on your supporters, it will work on smart people...
"What do I know about branding, maybe nothing" --> point accepted.
"(but I did become President!)" --> irrelevant.
"but if I were Boeing" --> you are not.
"I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX" --> no, really; they're already working on it!
"add some additional great features & REBRAND the plane with a new name" --> this should do it! Razzle-dazzle worked on your supporters, it will work on smart people who are capable of applying cold, hard logic to sales pitches.
It's not just the passengers.
The pilot's don't like it and the way Boeing tried to fool them...
You cannot put lipstick on just one lip of a flying pig GT
I wouldn't be surprised if our white supremacist president suggests renaming the black box to a different color. And just wait til he learns the box is actually the same color he is.
Thanks for sharing the comments disclosure yesterday ;)
737ND (nosedive)
He'll buy a couple of 636s for sure
I wonder if Boeing will start to market a disguise to obscure the scallops behind the engines. I imagine without that clue, most people couldn't tell the difference by looking.
737UC would be the proper name
UnComfortable
I believe most airlines have already removed any "MAX" advertisement from the planes.
"I’m just here for the comments."
Tambien!
Hm now I realize it might look as if I was replying to @DB. I wasn't. I was commenting on topic, as I faithfully do ;-)
New lipstick
Different lipstick
We listened
I’m just here for the comments.