CEO Tom Foolery
 

Dinner Conversation Led To Federal Corruption Probe

Bloomberg News (4/28, Kocieniewski, Voreacos) reports on the events that transpired during a dinner between United Airlines CEO Jeffery Smisek and Port Authority Chairman David Samson that was originally set to discuss “funding for several projects” but took a turn when Samson proposed that United revive its flight between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina that would eventually become known as “the chairman’s flight.” Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey is currently investigating “whether United employees made improper attempts to influence Samson at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.” Bloomberg reports that “documents reviewed by Bloomberg News indicate there may have been a direct link between the request for the Columbia flight and the Port Authority’s process of approving projects involving the airport” which “raise the possibility of bribery or extortion, according to legal experts who reviewed the information in the documents.” :eek:

Who is this Mr. Foolery and when does his tenure begin? I think he'll be a breath of fresh air.

FWIW this is still not as bad as Crandall who was CEO of American calling up the CEO of Braniff to "invite him to match American's higher proposed fares", which Braniff didn't do, but instead turned him over to the feds.

I would prefer Crandall. Or Mr. Foolery.

The Dinner Proposal That Led United Into Corruption Probe - Bloomberg Business

The full article.

It sound like United's trying to adopt the Southwest approach to doing business with public officials.

Which one is the leak? (from the article):
At the Novita dinner described by people involved in the investigation, Samson was joined by Bill Baroni, the Port Authority deputy director. Smisek was accompanied by Nene Foxhall, United’s executive vice president of communications and government affairs, and Mark Anderson, the airline’s senior vice president of corporate and government affairs.

Smisek also brought along a key ally: Fox, a former Port Authority executive who was then working as a paid lobbyist for United.

Doing favors for the Port Authority in order to get a PATH extension which is of course being completely bungled? Wow fire that SOB rt now. I too want Jeffery gone, but after living in Hudson County for a decade I'm not gonna flag him for dealing with Tony Soprano's crew.