Interesting Article about AA PR failures.

[MiAAmi]

http://www.aviationplanning.com/asrc1.htm

 

[L1011Ret]

Interesting how AA comes off as the resentful, avenging bully. But we know they will say those were just "business" decisions. Sometimes coincidence is just not believeable.

 

[eolesen]

While there's some shreds of truth to his criticism of AA's ability to handle PR, you need to take anything Mike Boyd says with a serious grain of salt.

He's a former Braniff management employee, and still carries a fairly hefty grudge against AA to this day.

 

[CruelSummer]

Definitely not a love letter to AA! I don't think that it is surprising that AA is scared by the possibility of Wright going away...many airlines, AA included, are suffering financially, and the thought of taking another hit, especially against as successful an airline as SWA is at the moment, can't be welcome...

Interesting that the article focuses much more on the errors it thinks AA has made while supporting Wright, but doesn't criticize it for supporting it... Seems like it insinuates that a better argument could be made by AA for Wright?

 

[goingboeing]

Definitely not a love letter to AA! I don't think that it is surprising that AA is scared by the possibility of Wright going away...many airlines, AA included, are suffering financially, and the thought of taking another hit, especially against as successful an airline as SWA is at the moment, can't be welcome...

Interesting that the article focuses much more on the errors it thinks AA has made while supporting Wright, but doesn't criticize it for supporting it... Seems like it insinuates that a better argument could be made by AA for Wright?

AA did not get to the size that it is by being "scared" of any airline or any admendment!If you really think that AA is "suffering" financially look at what the AMR stock has done in the last 2 weeks.

 

[CruelSummer]

AA did not get to the size that it is by being "scared" of any airline or any admendment!If you really think that AA is "suffering" financially look at what the AMR stock has done in the last 2 weeks.

I think all of the airlines (SWA excluded) have taken a hit across the last few years...a recent upswing stockwise doesn't mean that they aren't. I agree that AA couldn't have gotten where it is by being scared, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make sense for it to be scared about what the future could hold. If Wright goes away, it'll be a big blow for AA and DFW...they should be concerned!

 

[L1011Ret]

AA has a way of being dramatic, they act like hysterics predicting horrible outcomes if they do not get their way. A close relative to this childish drama is the chicken little syndrome. If we don't get our way with the Wright Amendment the sky will fall.
bbbbbbb

 

[Bob Owens]

AA has a way of being dramatic, they act like hysterics predicting horrible outcomes if they do not get their way. A close relative to this childish drama is the chicken little syndrome. If we don't get our way with the Wright Amendment the sky will fall.
bbbbbbb

Well its worked very well for them in the past, especially with their unions (it also doesnt hurt when you illegally pay off the union officials).

 

[TWU informer]

While there's some shreds of truth to his criticism of AA's ability to handle PR, you need to take anything Mike Boyd says with a serious grain of salt.

He's a former Braniff management employee, and still carries a fairly hefty grudge against AA to this day.

He is a former AA Fleet Service Clerk.

Why does he hold the AA grudge? Be more specific about your allegations.

Suggestion for AA: open the windows, let in some fresh air, and maybe some fresh thinking, too. American appears to be operating from a position of fear and weakness, instead of being the dominant carrier in the region - a position that Wright repeal won't change, but AA itself could be in the process of scuttling.

This statement coincides with my opinion of our current leadership.

Crandall was strong, concise, and inventive.

Arpey appears weak, non-directional, and a follower not a leader.

 

[eolesen]

He is a former AA Fleet Service Clerk.

Why does he hold the AA grudge?

Got me, but perhaps he is like a lot of former BN employees who still blame AA for Braniff self-destructing, instead of holding Harding Lawrence and the rest of Braniff's upper management team responsible for a series of planning errors which eventually killed the carrier.

Without starting a new tangent of discussion here, in 1980, the year before AA started to grow DFW as a hub, BN's annual report stated that "the Company may be unable to continue as a going concern." That's accountant-speak for "the Company is almost insolvent and on the verge of bankruptcy."

If you look at their financial statements from 1977 forward (ironically, the year Boyd joined them...), they were already at the brink of disaster. That's a full two years before AA moved its headquarters to DFW, and two years before deregulation.

But again, I admit that I'm making an assumption of where Boyd's contempt for AA lies.

And yes, he was a FSC at LGA in the early 70's, but left before the Crandall era, B scale and deregulation, so I seriously doubt it's related to anything that happened while he was employed at AA.

 

[formeraa]

Got me, but perhaps he is like a lot of former BN employees who still blame AA for Braniff self-destructing, instead of holding Harding Lawrence and the rest of Braniff's upper management team responsible for a series of planning errors which eventually killed the carrier.

Without starting a new tangent of discussion here, in 1980, the year before AA started to grow DFW as a hub, BN's annual report stated that "the Company may be unable to continue as a going concern." That's accountant-speak for "the Company is almost insolvent and on the verge of bankruptcy."

If you look at their financial statements from 1977 forward (ironically, the year Boyd joined them...), they were already at the brink of disaster. That's a full two years before AA moved its headquarters to DFW, and two years before deregulation.

Boyd's anger is totally misplaced. AA didn't kill Braniff; Braniff killed Braniff. AA was trying to avoid being a secondary casualty.

Let's see what BN did: opened 27 new stations on one day, strayed away from DFW and opened a hub at MCI, etc., etc.

 

[Man of the People]

Boyd's anger is totally misplaced. AA didn't kill Braniff; Braniff killed Braniff. AA was trying to avoid being a secondary casualty.

Let's see what BN did: opened 27 new stations on one day, strayed away from DFW and opened a hub at MCI, etc., etc.

Another satisfied customer!

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< Well the jury is still out on the Wright Amendment, so if aa did, or didn't, make mistakes is really not revalent at this point in time! 😉