Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the case of the Colgan saab flying, this is how is works.

Colgan operates as if they are an independent airline assuming all costs with the flying and the aircraft fly under the Colgan livery. Colgan then creates a basic code-share agreement with mainline United and US Airways. Us Airways and United use their code share to help sell tickets on the Colgan flights and thus United and US airways get a cut of the profits that Colgan makes from the code-share flights. This is different from what you would call Fee-for-departure or outsourced flying right? And, wouldn't this be a more respectable business model from a pilot perspective?