The thing about Gordon Bethune was that he knew the proper order of priorities, which became known unofficially as "The Bethune Doctrine". It worked beautifully for him then, and with a little tweaking it could work again, in any business not just an airline.

The priorities are as follows:

1. Happy Employees--empower and encourage employees to do whatever is necessary to make sure things operate smoothly and that customers are happy. Difficult but not impossible even in today's market. Enable, don't restrict. Happy Employees by default yield....

2. Happy Customers--retaining your existing customers costs about 10% as much as gaining new ones. Loyal customers mean they fly more often, will choose your airline more often even if you're priced a little higher, and they recommend the airline to their colleagues and friends. Happy customers spend more money, and do so more often, which by default will lead to........

3. Happy Investors--the added profits and operational efficiencies gained through 1 and 2 above, combined with adde revenues will improve the bottom line, thereby making the investors happy.

The problem today with guys like Smisek and Parker is that they focus on #3, and all but disregard 1&2. It doesn't work that way. They seem to take pride in pissing off their employees, which makes them less inclined to even care about a customer's issues. IMHO, United can LEAST afford this right now, when they are so far into the red.

Gordon had it right. Apparently only Richard Anderson is listening of the 3 remaining legacy CEO's....

To the OP, I suggest you try reading Gordon's book, "From Worst to First".....it explains a lot, in detail. Although the issues in the early '90s were different than they are today, the basic principles still apply.