Capt. Blonsick on AMR

[Doug Taylor]

Enron Airlines
By J.S. Blonsick

AMR CEO Don Carty finally ripped the veil off of the airline management's
dirtiest little secret. After all the years of blaming workers for the ills of
the airline industry, the real culprit has been exposed. Greedy, arrogant and
out of touch executives. After all, who decides to configure airplane seating
along the lines of canned sardines, or overschedule take-off and landing slots
that overtax the air traffic control system, or gouge business travelers on
fares, or skimp on security costs at the expense of 3,000 lives lost on
September 11th? It certainly wasn't airline pilots, flight attendants, ramp
workers or mechanics who made such decisions.

While airline executives have long blamed labor as the cause of the airlines
industry's problems - usually during federally proscribed contract negotiations
- the truth is that employees face the same greedy, arrogant and out of touch
attitudes from management at the bargaining table while trying to engage in
good faith bargaining. Is it any wonder that employee frustration with their
airline management's lies, deceit and manipulations leads to labor unrest? Look
to AMR's long history of dysfunctional labor-management relations to see the
real story behind Carty's final faux pas. Carty merely carried on the
long-practiced employee hostile traditions of former CEO Robert Crandall.

The decisions made by airline executives like Carty have bankrupted their
companies more so than the costs of labor. Questionable stock buy back
programs, mergers and acquisitions, as well as specific operational practices
all have squandered billions upon billions of now sorely needed dollars. A
recent airline management lobby effort to force binding arbitration upon
airline employees assumes that both parties will act responsibly and bring
their "last best" offer to the process. Don Carty's actions reveal why
employees distrust that such a system could ever deliver a proposal that would
fairly balance the interests and needs of employees with greedy executives
looking to feather their own financial nests at the expense of their workers.
How do they know what the true "last best" offer really is if they cannot trust
their CEO to tell the truth?


Perhaps newly fired yet still flush with "golden parachute" cash Mr. Carty
should form a start-up carrier - maybe Enron Airlines would be an appropriate
name.

[ready2fly]

Amen to THIS:

[ QUOTE ]
After all, who decides to configure airplane seating
along the lines of canned sardines, or overschedule take-off and landing slots
that overtax the air traffic control system, or gouge business travelers on
fares, or skimp on security costs at the expense of 3,000 lives lost on
September 11th? It certainly wasn't airline pilots, flight attendants, ramp
workers or mechanics who made such decisions.

[/ QUOTE ]

!!!!!!!

[I_Money]

Although I do not agree with the way Mr. Carty conducted business, that article is nothing more then socialist rubbish! How on earth was 9/11/01 airline executives fault? Are airline executives also international diplomats and are they responsible for our foreign policy and international relations?

[sbav8r]

[ QUOTE ]
How on earth was 9/11/01 airline executives fault?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
skimp on security costs at the expense of 3,000 lives lost on
September 11th?

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree this is quite a stretch. I hate it when people try to use the tragic events of 9/11 as an association tool for their arguments that are unrelated.

[MarineNav]

He forgot to mention the members of the board, preferred stock holders, union leaders, bureaucratic / inefficient airport systems (fee schedules), outrageous litigation settlements against the airlines, over capacity, the free market, inflexible customers, etc. In other words, there's plenty of blame to go around.

[Doug Taylor]

[ QUOTE ]
Although I do not agree with the way Mr. Carty conducted business, that article is nothing more then socialist rubbish! How on earth was 9/11/01 airline executives fault? Are airline executives also international diplomats and are they responsible for our foreign policy and international relations?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we've been begging for stronger cockpit doors for decades, checked baggage screening since the 1970's and many airlines and our federal government screwed up royally in the weeks leading up to 9-11.

I remember when we were departing Montreal back in late August 2001 where we had the GSC (Ground Security Coordinator) come on the aircraft and say that we were going to be a little late because we were doing some extra security screening because of a terrorist threat from "bin Laden" including positive ID-ticket checks and some other stuff.

Of course the captain and I laughed because last we knew about Osama was he was that weird guy that Clinton attempted to bomb during the Lewinsky hearings. Ya know, what's some goon in a tent in east Africa going to do to a jet? Remember the whole "Wag the Dog" days?

When I talked to Kristie the morning of 9/11, I think after I got my composure my first sentence was "That's what the f'ing Canadians were so verklempt about last month?" and a bunch of expletives followed.

[I_Money]

Doug - I think it is awfully unfair to point finger at senior airline executives over the events of 9/11. None of us believe OBL and his Afghan posse was capable of that, and I am sure the executives were not privy to any intelligence beforehand. There were many points were this tragedy could have been prevented, however claiming that these executives were negligent and responsible is going far to far IMHO.

[Mike Lewis]

[ QUOTE ]
Doug - I think it is awfully unfair to point finger at senior airline executives over the events of 9/11. None of us believe OBL and his Afghan posse was capable of that, and I am sure the executives were not privy to any intelligence beforehand. There were many points were this tragedy could have been prevented, however claiming that these executives were negligent and responsible is going far to far IMHO.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think the executives were completely responsible, but I don't think they were completely free of responsibilities, either. One of the problems was that airlines were always trying to be on time, no matter what, so they would quickly get people through security to make their flights. THAT is one of the problems: pressuring airlines to be on time NO MATTER WHAT. That is one of the post-Sept 11th things that I think is good; if someone thinks something fishy is going on, and they want to delay the flight, by all means, I as a passenger agree that we'll go as late as it takes to ensure we get there safely.