Originally Posted by EWR764

Scott Kirby has been the de facto CEO for quite some time now; certainly, he's been at the strategic helm of the ship since he walked in the door, so this should come as a surprise to no one. Oscar's charge was to "clean up" the Smisek mess, get a flight attendant deal done and finish the merger. I think he succeeded beyond expectation in that regard. Second, while we bellyache about cheap service cuts and degradation of the passenger experience, United's financial performance over the past 3 years is primarily attributable to Scott Kirby's strategic initiatives (which were quite unpopular on Wall Street when first conceived), and so I think it's to Oscar's credit that he recognized his own limitations vis-a-vis airline industry experience and let Kirby run with such a controversial plan.