After more than a decade at United Airlines, Chief Customer Officer Linda Jojo made her retirement official this month. During her tenure, she played a key role in strengthening the company’s tech foundation, delivering solutions that connected customers and employees, and positioning technology as a key driver of growth.
In a recent interview, Jojo recalled three distinct phases of her career at United: before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Each phase not only shaped the company’s strategy but also highlighted technology’s evolution from a largely back-office function to a central part of the company’s present and future.
Laying the foundation for change
When Jojo got the call about the United CIO job in 2014, she had no plans to work at an airline. News headlines often highlighted massive tech failures, and the always-on complexities of commercial air travel made large-scale tech overhauls particularly challenging.
At the time she was CIO for Canadian telecom company Rogers Communications, where she spent time thinking about how to put WiFi inside sports stadiums, enable 5G connectivity and use mobile phones to create new experiences. Jojo saw a chance to apply similar concepts at United, where accessing corporate systems was often a desk-bound activity. “We really could change the game with mobile tech for these mobile workers,” she said.
She joined United as CIO at the end of 2014. A week into her role, she approved the decision to equip flight attendants with iPhone 6s. There was broad internal support for the move, but her decision to back the investment made a bigger point about the strategic ways technology could empower customers and employees.
“The tone I set early on was, ‘what is the benefit we’re going to have? What are we going to change or improve for customers?’”
Jojo continued to establish the technology organization’s credibility and worked with teams across the organization to help them get more comfortable with the tech. Her team also led a major modernization initiative that included a new software stack and architecture, as well as upgrades to the airline’s mobile app.
To drive speed, the team also embraced a product-driven mindset and new ways of working that allowed the team to pivot as market demands changed. For example, teams could test new features directly with customers on the mobile app and make adjustments based on real-time user data.
In 2017, Jojo was named Executive Vice President of Technology and Chief Digital Officer, taking over the company’s e-commerce, mobile app and commercial web platforms.
Much of the work in the following years reflected the commitment to empower customers and front-line employees with technology. The flight deck went paperless, and technology operations teams received iPads. In 2019, the company launched ConnectionSaver, combining data from across the company’s customer and operational systems to determine whether the airline could hold a flight for a connecting passenger.
An existential threat
In early 2020, United’s leadership met to celebrate one of the company’s best years yet and discuss the next phase of growth. The pandemic had different plans.
“Literally two weeks later there was no one on our airplanes,” Jojo said. “There were days with more pilots than customers. It became an existential threat.”
In response, United’s leadership team focused on preserving the core business. They reevaluated supplier relationships, monitored cash flow, and ensured the company remained financially viable. Once the initial panic subsided, Jojo and her team recognized that fewer customers in the air presented United with a rare opportunity to take risks on the technology side without significant operational disruption.
“We realized this was the time we could cut over some really complicated systems and do it in the middle of the day when everyone was wide awake and it wasn’t going to be news.”
Through late 2020 and into 2021, the team took advantage of the quieter period to implement significant internal changes, make critical infrastructure upgrades and test new technologies. The credibility Jojo established early in her tenure was key to gaining support during a financially difficult time, she said. She prioritized implementing changes in small chunks and created off-ramps that would allow the team to halt projects if necessary. “If it didn’t work, we wouldn’t be out millions of dollars.”
Creating a customer-focused future
In 2022, Jojo was named Chief Customer Officer, overseeing call centers, digital technology and customer solutions. As traffic began to pick up after the worst of the pandemic had passed, so did the customer- and employee-focused technology initiatives, including an app that gives flight attendants more insight into a customer’s experience with the airline and an interactive map that makes it easier for families with young children to find seats next to each other.
By 2023, two thirds of United passengers used the mobile app to manage day-of travel, and the company recorded its best fourth-quarter customer satisfaction score in its history.
Jojo announced her retirement plans in September. David Kinzelman, SVP of global airport operations, stepped into the role in October.
Looking ahead, Jojo expressed an interest in driving innovation by fostering inclusive cultures. “You need diversity of thought, but if you’re not allowing that thought to survive and thrive, you won’t see its potential.” One activity: expanding the pipeline for women in STEM fields through her role on the board of trustees at her alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jojo’s retirement coincides with broader industry discussions on the role of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in improving efficiency and customer engagement. At United, recent initiatives include using generative AI to provide more information about flight delays and giving fliers the option to share Apple AirTag information to to track down lost luggage.
“The days of wondering whether the technology leader belongs at the table are over,” she said. “Tech has become the new language of business.”