The tragedy of all of this is that Smisek had the chance of a lifetime, to create a first-class global airline - to inspire and empower his employees, galvanize and incentivize both United's and Continental's best customers to the point where they would not want to fly on anything other than the new United.
Such arrogance and narcissism will be his hubris - it all started at "over-entitled elites" and it has been downhill ever since. Watching him do an interview on
CNN, Smisek talks with such a condescending tone, MARCH 2011:
SMISEK: Well, I think they [other airlines] fear us and they should. The fact is, not only are we the largest, but we will be the leading airline. I mean we're very focused on customer service and that's why I'm so focused on the culture of the new company.
When we're done with this integration in about 18 months, and when we've got that all behind us, we are going to be a potent competitive force. And they are very scared of us and they should be..
Smisek said the above statement to CNN's Richard Quest. Smisek refers to being focused on "customer service" and the "culture". This was TWO YEARS and some months ago and look what him and his team have done.