Bob Crandall quote from latest Aviation Week Magazine article

[Texx]

A little history for you kids...

He invented the B Scale, frequent flier program, and the divide and conquer style of leadership.

The man is a snake.

No, the man was management. What did you expect him to do.

 

[Publishers]

Regardless of what you guys think, he was perhaps the most innovative management person in US airline history. He, Herb Kelleher, and Gordon Bethune were excellent managers who guided their carriers through some tough times.
B scale saved the airline against people like Braniff which would have buried him. The frequent flyer program, what he did in yield management, and other things he did made American the name it is today.
Even most of his pilots and employees would say, he is a bastard but thank God he is our bastard. He correctly predicted what would happen to the airline business after deregulation.
Those who knock what he did are ignorant of the industry they are in.

 

[HalinTexas]

Braniff was never in any condition to bury anyone. They were messed up before dereg. really took effect.

 

[Cobra17]

Regardless of what you guys think, he was perhaps the most innovative management person in US airline history. He, Herb Kelleher, and Gordon Bethune were excellent managers who guided their carriers through some tough times.

I would submit that it is an insult to Kelleher to put him in the same category as Bob Crandall. Crandall certainly did care about and do a lot of great things for AA, but much of it was at the expense of his employees, not because he was concerned about them.

...things he did made American the name it is today. ...

What name is that? I haven't heard too many praises from employees or customers lately.

That is not a knock against any of the employees. On the contrary, I sympathize with them and their plight against a greedy mgmt team without a sound business model.