Don Carty Has No Shame!!!!

[LXApilot]

Airline Management

Another classic example of Inept and Misguided management. Just because someone has a bean counting degree from Harvard or Yale dosen't mean that they can run an airline. Read the books "hard landing", "turbulent skies" and "flying the line" if you have any ideas that the airlines ever gained anything from managements self-centered and mis-informed decisions. With the salaries paid to upper management- they have no liable stake in the company. If Carty can't be trusted with $1500, then how can he be trusted with the $1.8 billion he is asking for from the hourly wage earners on the front lines? If the employees are serious about their company take some accountability - don't sit back and let there be 1 driver and 100,000 passengers at AMR! When Carty drives the airline into the ground this summer don't sit back and say 'it wasn't our fault- it's they and them out there-' you've got to communicate with your management and be innovative and enthusiastic about your jobs. Most first class passengers flying on major airlines are return travelers who have lucrative and long standing accounts with those airlines- that's the bread and butter- and Carty (your public figurehead and spokesmen) just explained to them the regard and value that the struggling airline places on their business. A two hour delay in a business persons schedule might mean a misconnect, a missed business meeting, and a long time before they choose to spend money for a first class ticket on AA in the future. I am a HUGE supporter of the major airlines (especially the big 3) and want to see those birds dominating the skies all over the world- but until misguided management actually has a stake in the company, real understanding and relationship with the employees, and an understanding of what todays travellers demand from a full-service airline, how can we expect to see those airlines (UAL, USA and AAL) return to profitability? After all, the book "hard landing"
clearly states that Herb Kelleher flies UAL and AAL first-class from DFW to his business meetings in the United States. And he pays full fare for those tickets!

 

[CatYaaak]

Let's not miss the point here. The point isn't whether or not pax were bumped, or whether Crandall would have done the same thing. The point is that Enron Don p!ssed away AMR money ($1500 to buy off three pax) so he and his family could go on a weekend getaway.

..And as the walls are falling down around us, he burns AMR money to buy off paying customers so he can take his family to Mexico.

I thought the oversale was completed by the time he and his family arrived, and he wasn't even aware of it. If that's true, then your accusations have no merit.

It sounds like your problem has more to do with the fact that he took a little trip with his family. They probably don't see him very much these days.

 

[gopherflight]

It was in bad taste what Carty did, if in fact he was responsible for the pax getting bumped. But at least he's not pissing away thousands more to fly his family to PVR on a private jet or a fractional carrier.

 

[CFI'er]

Olive Saver

I read an article about the airlines and cost cutting. AA’s Crandall was criticized for eliminating 2 olives per salad which saved the airline $500,000 a year. It seems like airline management is always look at through a magnifying glass and critiqued for every thing they do.

 

[njcapt]

It was in bad taste what Carty did, if in fact he was responsible for the pax getting bumped. But at least he's not pissing away thousands more to fly his family to PVR on a private jet or a fractional carrier.

Uhhh... if he chartered an aircraft to take his family to PVR he would have been SPENDING HIS OWN MONEY (which I assume he has plenty of). In this case he - apparently - flagrantly misused the revenue bumping process to waste company funds and take his family on vacation. Bad taste is far down the list of grievances over this situation. The fact that he thought this would go un-noticed by the rank and file highlights his cluelessness.

 

[justApilot]

CFI'er............... I read an article about the airlines and cost cutting. AA’s Crandall was criticized for eliminating 2 olives per salad which saved the airline $500,000 a year. It seems like airline management is always look at through a magnifying glass and critiqued for every thing they do.


CFI'er....this is actually urban legend

 

[mackinhoes]

Back to the top for this thread.

The point I was trying to make (and which LXApilot elaborated on) is that it is very bad leadership and PR to do what Carty did. $1500 isn't the point. Carty can waste that on a business suit he might only wear one time. Dude has tons of dough and could very easily avoid the appearance of insensitivity to AMR's situation by buying tickets on some other airline, on a charter or fractional jet. He can afford it! I don't begrudge the guy taking a weekend trip with the wife and kid.

It just plain looks bad to publicly pee away any company money.