the biggest factor of what Gordon drove was that he was an operations guy. He fully understood what the operation needed and needed to be. Any company will have different results when you have a bean counter versus an operational guy.

Dont get me wrong, both are needed, but in an industry that is driven based on operational interaction between its customers, more often than not, I'd lean towards the operational guy.

In addition, Gordon helped lead a fleet that had commonality. You always knew what you were gettin gwhen you walked on a CO plane. Nowadays, even though I know the fleet inside and out, I have no idea what service or amenities I'm going to get on board. Its a cluster F.

Sex, scotch and speed...
 

Gordon worked hard and played hard. I remember reading this article sitting in the KLM club at AMS before boarding a Continental flight and thinking OMG he has done it again: http://www.theguardian.com/business/...eindustry.mbas

Good, bad, or indifferent; Gordon had a larger than life personality which inspired Continental employees and instilled loyalty in the brand.


SunLover

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CO was not anywhere near a third bankruptcy...if UA was so great, they shouldn't have let themselves get punched in the nose and have their lunch money stolen by a "glorified regional airline".

Say what you want about Smisek, but some of the complaints made by the OP are quite disingenuous and wreak of a snotty/snooty kid who was told 'no' for the first time ever. Fortunately, the thread has turned out to be an all-time backfire.

Gordon had unfair advantages? Waahhhhhhhhhhh

Gordon Bethune was a great CEO (Although I personally preferred Bob Crandall over at AA). The one area where he was unarguably wrong was when he said this quote:

" Since 1978 the record pretty well shows that no start-up airline . . . has really been successful, so the odds of JetBlue having long-term success are remote. I'm not going to say it can't happen because stranger things have happened, but I personally believe P.T. Barnum was, in that respect, correct."

While Jetblue isn't the best airline in the World, i'd say they are currently attracting customers better than United, nor are they in danger of closing up shop...

It is kinda funny, and it agree with you. Bethune was an amazing CEO, and he taught Kellner well. Smisek cares more for the stock market than the average customer, but times would have changed whether it was Smiesk or Billy Bob as CEO.

Yes, without any reservations. I cannot tell you the number of times that he talked to me on flights, in the clubs or on the concourse as he 'inspected" the troops and operations. Even though I was just some lowly schlep, he was not above me. As any outstanding leader will do, he led by example..he would do what needed to be done, be it fix a toilet or meet with the U.S. president! My grandfather told me once as he beat my a**, "Boy, don't you every forget where you came from!" ......and Gordon Bethune exemplified that!^

What would "long term" be considered. Sprit has been around since 1980, as long as JetBlue keeps its labour costs in check and doesn't have any more major melt downs it is filling a niche that has been slowly evaporating.

No one thought that the major carriers would go under, but here we are in a world without PanAm, TWA, Eastern, or Braniff. One of the big three will eventually go under, the way that UA is running things, they'll probably be the first (unless WN's cost structure goes out of control, which with rising costs they really do need to keep an eye on it.) It is not an award that they should be pleased with winning.

It does not matter that CO got cash from Air Canada and David Bonderman, you are not giving Gordon Bethune sufficient credit for the turnaround at CO. And you are confused about the historical events in the proper sequence. Let me enlighten the readers as to why Bethune deserves the credit.

I was a long-time frequent flyer on CO from the dark days of bankruptcies under Frank Lorenzo, during the days of Bethune's leadership '94-'2004, and through the merger with UA. I experienced the changes and knew personally many CO employees who shared their perspectives with me.

Hollis Harris was a great leader who was not given sufficient time at CO. He had been President of Delta from '87-'90 before becoming President and CEO at CO. His goal to support the pilots and staff at CO met resistance from others in power during CO's second bankruptcy, so after about a year, he and CO mutually decided for him to leave. He went on to become CEO at Air Canada where he led the remarkable turnaround there.

Meanwhile, Robert Ferguson took over as CEO of CO. He began a venture called "Continental Lite", which offered refurbished planes flying routes with cheap fares, trying to copy Southwest. Ferguson was at the helm in 1992 when Air Canada and Bonderman's investor group infused $450 million cash into CO, and also took a major stake in the company. CO showed modest growth. Ferguson began making some improvements in the OnePass frequent flyer program.

Gordon Bethune was hired by CO as Chief Operations Officer in early 1994. He was a trained pilot who had come from Boeing, where he was a VP. He was a genuine "people person" who got along well with other CO employees. He stressed customer satisfaction, loyalty to customers, loyalty to employees, and empowerment of employees, actively seeking their input for ideas and rewarding them for their contributions. Bethune became CEO in Nov. '94 when the Board did not see progress from "Continental Lite". People felt great about working for CO and it was rated as one of the top 100 companies for which to work.

Also under Bethune, CO service improved, the food on the planes improved, the FF program offered new enhancements to reward customer loyalty, especially in the Elite Program, and the bottom line greatly improved. CO with Bethune won JD Powers awards in many areas for several years in a row. As noted in the title of Bethune's book, CO went from "Worst to First". As a FFer, I certainly noticed the improvements and almost always had great flights. The employees were empowered to solve problems on the spot.

The current UA management could learn a lot from Bethune's approach. However, it seems the current UA management is going in the opposite direction, slashing benefits for FFers instead of enhancing them and demoralizing employees by not empowering them.

It seems like more FFers are threatening to leave UA. Whether they do and UA management FINALLY listens remains to be seen.

Clean, safe reliable transportation....Those were the days. I used to enjoy flying and went out of my way to fly them. Cheers to Mr. Bethune.

He was a whole heck of a lot better then Smisek & Tilton that's for sure.

Bethune's leadership style and record are certainly topics worthy of debate, as one can conceivably argue that his success in turning around CO came during a period of unprecedented prosperity in the industry. On the other hand, you can say that Bethune's direct, no-nonsense nature was, among other things, directly responsible for positioning the carrier to take advantage of an upswing in the industry and prevent Continental from folding in the mid-late 1990s.

What is not up for debate is the superstar status he enjoyed (and still does) with his employees and the level of trust he built with the rank-and-file. That was no easy feat and is sharply contrasted by the substantially more hostile employee-management dynamic of today's United.

I disagree with the notion that merely because Smisek is on Bethune's "coaching tree", so to speak, the trainwreck that has been the Smisek regime somehow diminishes Bethune's record at CO. I can't get behind that one. Maybe Bethune would not be able to replicate his success of 1994-2000 in 2014 and beyond, but there is no question he was the right man at the right time for Continental, and I can't imagine anyone else doing much better under similar circumstances.

Bolding above mine

Slight correction, Bethune was CEO until 2004. Larry Kellner CEO 2004-2010. Smisek, an attorney, took over as CEO in 2010. I do not think he paid any attention to what Bethune exemplified. UA has greatly declined under Smisek. I think if Bethune were running UA now, he would succeed at bringing together various groups of people from the 2 merged corporate cultures because he could bring out the best in others.

I was a CO flyer from about 1998-2004 (before swapping to NW due to Int'l travel pickup), and had the opportunity to meet and speak with him after a talk at the Cleveland City Club, circa~2003. Whatever else you can say about the man, he was one of those straight-shooting CEOs that would tell you exactly what he was going to do and do it. Even if that was to do something negative, he'd tell you why, and then go right ahead and do it anyhow...

This was post-9/11 downturn, and CO was still racking up awards with JDPower, Fortune and others in many years following. He ran the airline with integrity, and in the end, there's not much more you can ask from a CEO.

Compare and contrast to the current crew... even if put in the same position, facing the same choices, and making many of the same changes, I have absolutely no question that Bethune would have handled the communications and approach better, and relations with both labor and customers would be far, far different than they are today.

I started flying CO regularly in 1995 when I think Bethune had just begun his turn around Go Forward Plan. I can recall nothing but pleasant experiences and it just got better in the late 90's and early 2000's when CO began replacing its aging fleet with newer 777s, 764s, 752s, 762s, and NG737s to the point where I clearly remember the average age of the aircraft was around three or four years old. Employee morale was at its all time high, and I remember here on GUM when CO/CS was clearly an employer by choice! It took them a while though to introduce flat bed seating in BusinessFirst (late 2009 into 2010 IIRC), but BusinessFirst was just a great product all around, especially on those DC-10's into and out of HNL.

I realize Bethune was CEO until 2004, but the pinnacle of his success at CO was arguably through 2000. The 2001-2004 timeframe was an incredibly tumultuous period during which CO shrank about 25% and required significant non-BK restructuring of the business. Of course, the downturn was mostly due to exogenous factors, not poor management.

The 'attorneys make bad managers' narrative is way overblown, IMO. Some of the best CEOs in any industry, including the airline business, are trained as lawyers. To wit, Richard Anderson got his start as an attorney under Frank Lorenzo at Continental back in 1987.