What would *I* give up?

Let me answer with an appropriate line from a Paul-Simon-ditty:

"The rollercoaster ride we're on
is nearly coming to an end.
I've bought my ticket with my tears.
That's all I'm gonna spend!"

Sorry, guys, but it is all sound and fury, signifying nothing. After following all the discussion here and the press, I have come to the conclusion that the show is over.

Mind you, this comes from a million miler's perspective; I like(d) UA as much as the next guy. However, I am not married to that airline and they are most certainly not married to me!

Right now they are in all-out panic mode, running around with out effective leadership (sorry, Mr. Creighton, but you are already in self-announce pre-retirement and are doing all of us a disfavor by sticking around. Oh, and on your way out, please take Rono and Sara and anyone else you see on your floor with you. And, please, take the stairs and not the elevator. It might be better if you guys left quietly.)

As someone else pointed out elsewhere, UA was on the skids before 9/11 and would have eventually arrived at this junction sooner or later anyway.

The only way out is to install new leadership without ties to the past and with a clean slate. The unions need to go as far as their coownership is concerned and Chapter 11 is inevitable.

It pains me to look at it this way but we are dealing with a cancer-like situation where only radical excisions and heavy chemo promise any chance of success. Will the patient survive the treatment and is they cure perchance worse than the sickness? Who knows.

But, you know what? We are all running around here like whiny, spoiled brats and look like Steve Martin in "The Jerk" when he is about to lose everything (I'm paraphrasing): I don't need anything. I need nothing. Only this SWU. I need nothing but this SWU. And these Godivas. The SWU and the Godivas. And nothing else. Except for the preboarding. But that's it. The SWUs, the Godivas and the Preboarding. You can keep the rest. I don't need it. Just the SWUs, the Godivas and the Preboarding. ... And the E+ seats."

This is, harshly spoken, a business like any other and UA (and all the others), would gladly sell their 1K-MillionMiler-Elite-Mother if it meant that they would sell five more C-Class seats tomorrow.

So, to get back from the rant to the question: What would I give up? Nothing! Because I have nothing to begin with! I, as a very frequent traveller with a certain profile present a potential source of profit to them. They offer me a diversified product with a mix of routing, schedules, fare price, treatment, rebates (miles), etc. So do others. On that basis, I have always made my choice. United's product has, in total, been pretty good. If it deteriorates without compensating adjustments, I am outta here.

Final thought: What is so bad about United going the way of Pan Am? Are there no more flights on the East Coast? Or to Asia? This is the cycle of life. Things come and things go. Which is good. Because if it were differently, we'd still have dinosaurs out there and the Sierra Club would tell us we couldn't shoot them even if they trample everything.

May the wings of United never lose an engine!