I mean what percentage of UA's profits are directly due to Vasu's horrific strategy at AA? It's not an insignificant portion. There may not be any individual who did more for UA's current success than Vasu Raja.
Sure, Kirby has improved the airline in a multitude of areas to make it holistically better, but Vasu sent hordes of high value passengers running from AA into the arms of UA & DL.

Maybe throwing him a 6 month bone on some project separate from the airline is UA's way of saying thanks for the cash.