Well here's my thoughts on this....after trying to right the good ship NWA for 3 years Richard decided he didn't have the stomach/ability to do what needed to be done to save the company and left (ie he couldn't get ugly when things needed to get ugly), Doug said he could/would do whatever it took to fix things and basically said "BRING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!".....remember though this wasn't all Doug's fault - Richard had tried to get unions to open their contract for 3 years so there's enough blame for all sides in this story....from a paying PAX's point of view though I think Doug did ok - he continued and infact improved Richard's focus on the PAX...just think back...when did things get really really good for us Elites? The airline was near the top of every ranking out there for performance and our beloved WP kept getting improved....unfortunately DL has always ranked near the bottom of these very same rankings and they've become brainwashed into thinking cuts are "best in class"....now with all of this rambling what did LK do doing these same times? He held a steady hand on the ships wheel and held course during one of the worse storms in our nations history, were there minor course corrections sure but there weren't the major heading changes that US/UA/DL have all seen over the past 5-10 years...he kept CO the CO I knew 10 years ago, if someone asks me about my recent experiences and how they compared to when I left I'd say there's more soft focus today on the pax....to me that's what earns my loyalty

Soc

PS nah - wont start this same type of discussion over in the DL forums....theirs too many Koolaid drinkers out there that believe the world is all right as long as there's widgets painted everywhere (afterall didn't know you widgets will solve world peace?)