If it were just the FF program changes, I would agree.

But we've seen these changes, alongside a more open mind this year towards things CO has traditionally shied away from. Things like codeshares or combination tickets with OALs in the past year. If you recall, several years ago, co.com would glady sell you a codeshare. Then they removed them made them tough to make them come up, or in select markets. Now they're starting to relax that a bit, and they're even allowing non-partner OALs to be booked at the site.

Combine that with the fact that CO is now more open to flights that don't follow the traditional hub-and-spoke model (e.g., LAX-HAV flight, some of the new LAX stuff, and there are even rumors of opening a crew base at LAX). CO had historically been a strong hub player, with no focus cities. Now they're looking at things like focus cities.

So what I'm saying is that the direction they're going in is changing. Instead of looking at running the place from an operations perspective, they're looking at it from more of a business perspective. Everything we've seen this year has been far less beancounteresque, if that's a word, with less of a focus on cost control vs. a focus on revenue expansion. Hence the Larry reference.

Long story short, everything I'm smelling regarding the direction CO is moving in is a net positive. Conicidence with Larry's departure? I'm not so sure...