What the AA CEO LEARNED FROM HERB KELLEHER.

[eolesen]

Couldn't agree more.
I bet that Kirby move was the start of AA having non-compete disclosures introduced into their contracts. SWA has them and has had them for years. Non-compete for 5 years minimum. This is why Kirby could do it. And your right, he is using his knowledge of AA's weak points to successfully out do AA currently.
Another thing to think about, but slightly off this subject is, by the time AA gets their JCBA's in place UA will be getting ready to do another one for their mechanics too.

I don't think so. There's at least a dozen people in high-level positions who followed Kirby and Andrew Nocella, who was over scheduling at AA and US.

Since Kirby came onboard at UA, I can honestly say my classic AA airplane models no longer get looked down on. Now everyone asks if I knew Kirby or Nocella...

 

[swamt]

The ONLY President, CEO and Chairman That Knew W T F he was Doing was 'Uncle Bobby" Crandall., which I imagine 1/2 of today's AAers NEVER Worked For. Crandall Understood Herb, and vis versa.
Both drank and smoked like fiends !

They also played a ton of golf together as well...

 

[wings396]

I thought it was dumb when AA picked Isom over Kirby, but they really proved their stupidity when they didn't stop Kirby from going to UA.

In retrospect, that's probably going to work out to be one of the biggest management blunders I can think of from deregulation... Kirby has been able to use AA's weaknesses to UA's advantage, and their earnings & stock price show it.

You can put US Air getting rid of Bethune at the time of the PI merger right up there next to this.

 

[cltrat]

Stupidity is what this management does best ,well that and lie

 

[Rogallo]

 

[cltrat]

You’re exactly right Rogalla the board needs to wake up and take action

 

[Rogallo]

But it's the good 'ole boy club?

 

[1AA]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniel...ck-but-that-doesnt-mean-parkers-in-the-clear/

 

[eolesen]

Dan Reed's a close second to Terry Maxon in terms of astuteness. The Startlegram lost a great reporter when he left.

Parker and five of his top lieutenants at the airline disclosed earlier this month that they’d collectively bought an additional $2.37 million worth of American’s shares on the open market.

Duh. It's priced so low right now even I'd consider buying it if I didn't work for a competitor or get stock as variable comp......

 

[Talos]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniel...ck-but-that-doesnt-mean-parkers-in-the-clear/

Good article and spot on. When Crandall was here the industry didn't make near the money it makes now. Scary to think how much AA would make had he still been here. One thing for sure, a bad operation would not be tolerated as it is now.

 

[CremaDiLimone]

why didn't forbes come here for fodder? the company did.

the posters that talk about operational issues...potential solutions, attempting to help the company.....well, they must be bitter laa employees. ignore them.

the angry contractual posts, the company reads them and staples them to the bottom of their motion? those are the posts worth paying attention to??

what i remember about crandall...he was also stingy. was sneaky and not so generous in regards to the 1995 contract. the company knew the economy was turning, but argued 3-4 years backwards, the gulf war and recession. i can distinctly remember aa threatening to move the ord hub to mci. go for it, mci didn't have the infrastructure and kansas city is not chicago and i knew it was an empty threat. but, it was a threat, none the less.

i do know that crandall wouldn't stand for the sloppy MRO work and those responsible, would have been escorted out of HQ. the recent overhead bin nonsense went away due to the 737-max groundings.

we also wouldn't be wishy-washy with premium passengers vs. volume of passengers...hard for our current leaders to let go of their LLC philosophies.

 

[Art at ISP]

Was Bethune similar to Herb

In a nutshell, yes.
Herb and Gordon always believed in 1-2-3:

1- Make sure the employees are happy and give them the tools they need to make customers happy.
2- Make sure the customers are happy (see #1), and they will keep coming back.
3-By default the shareholders will be happy, as the operation will be a success.

What D0uggie doesn't realize is that it does not work the other way around.......

He is ruining what was a perfectly good airline.

My BEST to you all......

 

[1AA]

In a nutshell, yes.
Herb and Gordon always believed in 1-2-3:

1- Make sure the employees are happy and give them the tools they need to make customers happy.
2- Make sure the customers are happy (see #1), and they will keep coming back.
3-By default the shareholders will be happy, as the operation will be a success.

What D0uggie doesn't realize is that it does not work the other way around.......

He is ruining what was a perfectly good airline.

My BEST to you all......

That's their short term plan to maximize profits for themselves.
Long term they know they wont be here. They will grab their golden Parachutes and collect their bonuses until the company goes broke and back into BK. The employees get it in the end when it's all over.

 

[swamt]

AA turned into too big of a company for Parker to run and handle. He's not the man for that big of a job. Question is, who is and who will be?

 

[1AA]

AA turned into too big of a company for Parker to run and handle. He's not the man for that big of a job. Question is, who is and who will be?

Agree. His two famous quotes so far are we will never lose money again and the grounding of the 737 MAX is political. The MAX grounding might threaten the first quote. Facts show the MAX grounding is not political but rather fact that it has a major design flaw.