They justify it because they are truly getting paid to keep the labor costs down. This isn't about running an airline its about running money and expenses. These CEO's could run McDonalds about as well as they would run the airlines without knowing anything about Hamburgers. Its all about keeping costs down and that is what they are getting paid for. They will tell you its nothing personal, and it isn't. So we need to stop letting them guilt trip us into thinking that if we stand our ground the airline will die and families across the world will starve because of it.