kazman:

I agree its all about money, but its a lot more complicated than you indicate.

Continental has alot of customers that are stuck with continental, as an example the folks that fly EWR-CLE every week. They arent going to switch to united and connect in chicago, and CO knows that. They are the captive audience. Then there are the marginal customers, these are the people that might switch. If you lose them, you've lost revenue, even if the captive's pay more, it's those marginal seats that almost go right to the bottom line.

Yes, Continental is in business to make money, and Gordon should be focused on that. But he's focused on alot more than that.

They do lots of things that don't directly go to the bottom line, some of it is called good will. Often times good will in the long run will outweigh revenue in the short run.

Continental's handling of the entire EUA has not generated much good will, in fact quite the opposite.