I'll do a general reply first, then individual ones.

First, yes, it was a slow day.

Second, this is, in essence, just a thought experiment. But from time to time I like to exercise my mind and my imagination with them and, this time, it was UAL I chose as the subject.

Third, is it a fool's errand? It might very well be. I don't know what UA's CASM is now (probably around 10 cents), and expanding routes and restoring service and clubs will raise it, even with the half cent I will save by dumping the pensions. So how much does RASM need to rise? 10%? 20%? More? How much in hard dollars? My goal is to try and get $50-100 more per average fare, but I don't know if that will be enough.

Fourth, it did not go as in-depth as it should be or I would like it to be. What about United Cargo? Can I make more money there? And why outsource my maintenance teams if I can land more contracts from other carriers and the USAF to service their planes, too, making a cost center into a profit center?

Fifth, yes I would like some more service from SEA, but note the only new route I would definitely like to launch is SEA-LHR, with the plane starting in DEN. And UA875 now starts in DEN, instead of SEA, before it heads to NRT. Everything else I noted probably would not work, so while I'd like to have it, I don't expect to launch it. But SEA still gets a 777 to NRT daily for a reason (whatever that may be) instead of sending us all down to SFO. We also have non-stop service to LHR, TPE, ICN, AMS, CPH and would have had it to FRA if not for PDX bribing LH. We also have not become a TED route, and still see a good deal of 757 and even 767/777 service to the other UA hubs, which means we have decent O&D traffic. And unlike ORD and SFO, we don't have weather (fog, snow, thunderstorm) problems and within a few years we will have three runways and the latest in IFE landing and take-off. And we have 16 gates available for UA planes.

Anyway...

If my only choice is to reduce costs then, as a few have kindly noted, I either need a large bonus or a golden parachute because UA will not survive. I can never get my costs down to those of WN. Even if I pay my FAs 25% less then WN pays theirs, the fact that I have two or three times as many means my total labor costs will always be higher. Same with pilots. Unless I pay my 747 pilots the same as my 737 pilots (and even then), I have more planes. Even if I paid my small-gauge (737/Airbus) less then WN, paid my mid-gauge (757/767) pilots 50% more and my large-gauge (747/777) 100% more, I'd still probably be paying out more then WN. Then take an airline like B6, which pays a much smaller staff then mine less then I pay mine, and it gets even worse.

One thing I want to do, however, is improve the efficiency of my staff. Right now, my FAs do not get paid except when the door is closed. So in a nine-hour work day, they might only be getting paid for six or seven of them. I can only turn around a plane so fast, and improving catering might very well increase that (though it is pretty quick to offload and reload the carts). I'd like to work on scheduling (especially with things like de-peaking a hub), to have those FAs working eight hours during that shift - more money for them and less FAs I need, so their wages go up and my costs go down. Same with having gate agents man the Customer Service counters when not working a flight and "boarding agents" roving around from jetway to jetway to handle loading the planes.

Anyway, so while cutting costs is important, it is not the sole answer. So my goal is to try and raise revenues. I do not want to restore service to pre-2002 levels while charging 2005 prices. Yet I understand that my ability to charge pre-2001 fares is dead and buried with a stake through it's heart (at least until the next economic bubble hits).

But if my service is just as lackluster as my competitors, I can't reasonably expect a premium. Mileage Plus and an international route network take me only so far. First Class seems to be a powerful weapon to keep people flying my airline, but if they only do so at fares that lose me money, well...

I need an incentive to get people to pay more to fly me - not a vast amount more, because it just won't happen, but I'm hoping $50-100 will help me and won't be too onerous if I improve my product a bit. Most of my frequent flyers have been so for many, many years. They remember what it was like in the mid to late 1990s when my service was much better. My plan hopes that they will pay enough for it to make it worth my while. Also, by reducing fees and making more fares more flexible (right now it's pretty much Y and B with everything else the same fare, you just pay more for it the later you book), I am hoping to get people to spend $25-50 more for a higher fare, even if they are not sure they need the flexibility because, if they do, it's a better value then buying the cheaper fare and having to pay a $50-100 change fee.