So true. The long-abused UAL employees appeared to look forward to new management. Maybe it was just "anyone but Tilton" but clearly there was some hope. Smisek had it completely within his control to capitalize on this hope, treat us with respect, make an honest offer, and instructed his team to move quickly on contracts.

Instead he began by saying we don't need labor for the merger, snobbishly relegated us to the back burner, and followed today's MBA model of slash and burn, Baghdad Bob the media and investors, and collect the millions.

And now he blames us! "He added the airline was now intent on providing better operational performance and consistently good customer service. “And there are people who don’t like that,” he said. “I understand that. What I want is those people to either change or leave.” "

It would be sad if failure had been inevitable but it's worse since it was absolutely not inevitable. A big event like a merger really is a chance to turn the tanker on a dime with respect to employee moral which translates to customer satisfaction. They chose not to.