I was Captain of a CRJ700 with a First Class section. Had the best crew EVER. Cool! F/O had the habit of printing out the pax list. He said we had an Al Haynes onboard. Cool! THEE Al Haynes? Don't know, wouldn't recognize him if I saw him. Okay, I saw him speak about the incident, I'll go use the aft lab and see if it's THEE Al Haynes. It was. Cool! Sitting quietly in the back,very under the radar. A very quite, reserved, dignified presence. Checked with FA1 and found we had ONE empty seat in First. I offered it to Captain Haynes and he accepted, and very humbly. Cool! Told both FA's to treat him like a king. Theydid! Cool! They called up front midway through the flight and Captain Haynes had asked if there was something he could do for me! Too old to start over I didn't need to ask for a recommendation to United. Asked that he autograph my copy of the release. Granted! Totally Cool! and a prized possession.