It will be interesting to see if there is a lag in rebuilding United's brand image between them actually running a better operation, and people accepting that they are better.

The Smisek era marketing culture was built on the Mencken precept that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.

But the new regime will need to bank on that intelligence for customers to see that there is a real improvement and re-calibrate their travel preferences accordingly.

Of course, this assumes a static competitive landscape which is never true in aviation. DL or WN only have to raise their game a bit to keep ahead of UA at this point.