United CEO says board was too isolated to see airline’s slide

United Airlines’ board was too isolated in recent years, allowing the carrier to fall behind rivals since its 2010 merger, said CE Oscar Munoz, who shouldered some of the responsibility himself. “As board members, we only meet infrequently and are not as engaged with the front line, necessarily,” he said. “The first thing I did as CEO was I left this board room” and visited employees at United. While directors don’t meet often, they carry “some of the blame” for not being more observant, said Munoz, who was named CEO in September. Better operational insight might have prompted the board to insist on fixing a buggy reservations system that resulted in grounded flights or to solve technical issues that prevented employees from being paid on time, he said. Munoz accepted criticism for his own oversight since 2004, first as a board member of Continental Airlines and then of United. A few investors and employees criticized the board’s lack of oversight as shareholders re-elected 14 directors. Half have joined the board since March, following a shakeup in which two large investors put forth their own candidates.<br/>