Common management principle: all change is good, shakes up attitudes, makes a fresh start, even if it's repackaging it's not just repackaging. They want to drop some of the negative associations of the old name as they expand internationally. They want their employees to feel they are working for a changed airline. May work, may not. I'll give them a chance.

In recent years I've had some perfectly good experiences with them. Many of the people who abuse them have either never flown them or it's been at least 5-10 years. At this point they're no worse than AA or UA, and in many ways better (they serve food, they'll give you a hotel room if there's a weather disruption, etc.).