Crandall to AA pilots:
 

I'm afraid poor bob has been absent to long. To craft a long diatribe that's supposed to convince the pilots of AA to follow a management team that has elected to bring in 2 former cronies of Frank Lorenzo strictly for the purpose of grounding the unions and especially the pilots into irrelevancy is waste of time. Bob, while a competent airline manager, was also extremely anti-union and believed in a foundation where management does what it wishes and unions should give them virtual free reign. That philosophy was honed to a fine edge by his successor who broke the employees in half in 2003 while attempting to keep grotesque rewards for management for doing so, quiet.

That guy was bounced, but the beat goes on. I'm sorry bob, but the end of line of running roughshod over at least the pilots is here......at least voluntarily. I'm sure bob has some type of contractual agreement since his departure that prevents Him from criticizing future managements in exchange for the lifetime perks and bennies they pay him since his departure. I only wish the hardworking employees of American Airlines would have been treated 1/10 as well since then while they grind and claw forward only maximizing the personal wealth of the elite, but getting ever less reward both financially and emotionally for the privilege.

Wow, what a self agrandizing letter. Of course a former CEO would posit that management has all the answers and the employees are simlpy to fall in line, be greatful to have a job and not make waves. It is exactly that type of logic that has made AA the company it is today versus the the other very successful airline also headquarted in Dallas. It is a good thing that Herb Kellerher did not learn from Mr. Crandall, but on the other hand maybe Herb learned alot from the likes of Crandall, Farris and Lorenzo and then went the the other when he started his airline.

Well, actually...HE was the founder and CEO of his airline BEFORE any of them, including Crandall, took the reigns of their respective airlines. He ALWAYS knew how to run an airline.

Perfect description.

Crandall's displayed arrogance is stunning. Sure is easy to tell other people that they are too expensive, isn't it, Bob?

I love how he disregarded the pilot's actual letter and concerns and just went on an attack on the pilots and other employee groups. Classy, Bob.

Well, I'll give him credit for one thing. At least his letter attempts to bring everyone into the fold. Not a single letter I have seen from management makes me feel like I am part of the company. "Things are gonna be hard and unpredictable. Give us more money."

Really
 

You guys think crandall actually sat down and wrote that garbage? That has ghost writer all over it. Just saying.......:D

C'mon, everybody knows BC is an airline genius!

610 of us were furloughed in '93-'94 when he decided to park 25 DC-10s, then turned around and leased some to Hawaiian so they could compete with AA on the west coast-HNL routes. Brilliant!

Chief Pilot Cecil Ewell brought the fuloughed pilots in to Centreport for an overnight conference and pep talk. He told the story of being in a meeting with BC and noticed he had a leather belt with "Bob" engraved on it. So he asked him if that was there so that when Bob pulled his head out of his ass, he'd know who he was!

Cecil said what the hell, if he fired me I'd just go back to the line and fly to Paris. They don't make em like that anymore.

Race to the bottom.

Cecil was a class act... a lot of bad things happened on his watch that absolutely were not his fault. Good Chiefs like him are exceptionally rare.

How much of Crandall's Retirement Money was flushed in the Bankruptcy?

Is he still drawing any money from AA??

Perhaps if some of his money went down the toilet too, he might have a different perspective?

But, what did you expect a life long CEO to say?

It's ALWAYS Labor's Fault.

Always.

Managment is always right!

Now....get back to WORK!

Crandall's letter has had no impact on the situation and is already forgotton. :cool:

Crandall brought the B scale. That was the beginning of the downfall of our profession.

No, the beginning was pilots accepting the b scale.

"Well, I'll give him credit for one thing. At least his letter attempts to bring everyone into the fold."


That's too funny. Crandall as the Great Peace Maker.

Agree 100%.

Actually Crandall wasn't all that original with his B-scale. It was the UAL pilots that agreed with their CEO Farris to cut pay and benefits for new hires with the understanding Farris would buy new airplanes and grow the airline, more than a year before Crandall came along.. Farris failed to do as he said and UAL paid for it with the strike in 1985. So you see Crandall was not such an inovator and is by no means the airline genious so many, led by himself, think him to be and if you look further you will find that the management teams that have destroyed AA learned at Crandall's knee. Yes, even though to many it is sacriledge, the demise of American Airlines began with Robert L. Crandall.

For those who weren't around during the Crandall era, this article from 20 years ago may be interesting:

The Airline Mess - Businessweek

Appreciate a lot of your posts Tom, and thank you for your reminder about Crandall. Apparently he has forgotten:

Circumstances have changed, but in Crandall's world management is always the victim. I do not agree.

At American the Company had billions and has operationally earned many more millions while in bankruptcy. Who's the real villain? Billionaire entities which will not pay their bills, or the employees who worked for their earnings, but who are not not getting paid?

I'll see that B-scale and raise you one "Blue Skies" contract.

Crandall's desire to impose B-scales was in direct response to UAL Pilots signing their Blue Skies contract almost a year earlier - THE most concessionary contract ever to have hit the airline pilot profession to date.

Agreed about APA accepting B-scales - it eroded the profession that much further.

Edit: Night Hawk 6, just saw your post - spot on.

Somebody post Crandall off youtube discussing "cost-cutting". It's about a 3 minute video and if you have not seen it, it says it all.

Well.......not EVERYONE is included in that. ;)