(Business 2.0) – We're trying to reestablish the concept that if you pay more, you get more, which is kind of a novelty in our business. After 9/11, our competitors took food off the airplane, they took off pillows and magazines. We've done a pretty good job of giving you more.

Our industry is getting so impersonalized. It's like mass transit. At Continental we combat that by using technology to identify who our best customers are. The top 10 percent of revenue generators in our database are separately identified as "CO*," for "costars." We track them, we recognize them by name. They may be sitting in coach that day, but we give them attention and comp their drinks. Our software will actually tell us that you like Dewar's on the rocks. We put a special tag on your bag that says this is going to be the first bag off the plane.

Customer service starts with employee satisfaction. You can't deliver any kind of service if the employees don't like their work. I was an airplane mechanic, and do you know how much faster I could fix a plane if I really wanted to? Our employees are willing to do more because they enjoy working here.

But no matter whether we kiss your ass or not, if your plane doesn't leave on time, you're not coming back. At the end of the day, we've got to get to the end of the runway and find L.A. If we can't do that, we've got no business. This is real work, real value that we create. It's not about customer-relationship software. A software program can enhance what you do, let you do it more effectively. But you still have to want to start the engines, fly to L.A., and land there.