This is moving off topic a little, but ATPMBA makes an interesting point about increasing the use of conference calls. The company I work for has increasingly rationalised its national operations into a more global set up, and the initial result was managers on planes most of the time. However a combination of a tougher business climate, an increasingly stressful air travel environment (ie extra security/time taken to get through airports now) and the rapidly improving video/audio conferencing facilities available mean that travel is avoided much more nowadays. For the company this saves a lot of money on airfares/travel time; for the airlines it could be a culture change for many of their erstwhile customers that is irreversible. Not good news for United I suspect.