bocastephen

He is only 25% of the problem - 75% of the problem is in the form of Smisek and Rainey who give him credibility and a seat at the strategy-building table, a place he has absolutely no right to be.

In essence, if you look at the United product of today, it took the shape of Keay's vision down to Smisek's statements on "80% is good enough". Now with somewhat improved inflight meals in F and a very welcome United Club food experience update, are we starting to gradually turn the corner and eschew some of his gibber-gabber nonsense, or are we just playing a quick game of panic-induced "catch-up to Delta" so the brand doesn't fall so far behind, the cost to upgrade would be out of reach? Or possibly UA is seeing a noticeable outflow of Elite customers to competitors?

I like to be optimistic, but with the current leaders and BoD in place, I still need to call this a catch-up game rather than a real turning of a new page.