If you think relationships with passengers and airline employees are becoming increasingly contentious, former American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall says don’t expect detente anytime soon.
There’s always been friction, but it’s been aggravated by airline cost-cutting pressures and unrealistic expectations by passengers, Crandall said in an interview Wednesday evening.
“We had a big campaign at one time: ‘You Are American Airlines,’ with campaign buttons trying to make the point to the flight attendant or the agent that, ‘Unless you do your job properly, people are not going to think well of the company.’
“Does that always work? No,” said Crandall, who at 81, lives with his wife, Jan, in Florida and Massachusetts and keeps busy doing “a lot of this and that.” By that he means serving as chairman and a director of Celestica Inc. and working with several companies including Gogo.Passengers feel they’re getting short shrift, Crandall said, but their frugality is largely to blame.
“Customers have insisted that the one thing that’s more valuable than anything else is the cheapest possible ticket. Well, if you want the cheapest possible ticket, you’re gonna have the smallest possible seat and the least possible facilities, because that’s how I get my costs down,” said Crandall, who still thinks like a CEO.
It’s time for the major carriers to get real, too, he said.
“The big airlines, in their own interests, should simply decline to compete with the very lowball guys who want to carry people for $29. They should say, ‘To hell with that. Go ride with them.’ But there’s only so much business you can afford not to take,” he said.
“So as long as the customer continues to prove by his or her own actions that they’re always going to buy the cheapest ticket, they’re always going to get a crappy service. That’s the way it is. Nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Gotta love a guy who doesn’t mince words.
There’s always been friction, but it’s been aggravated by airline cost-cutting pressures and unrealistic expectations by passengers, Crandall said in an interview Wednesday evening.
“We had a big campaign at one time: ‘You Are American Airlines,’ with campaign buttons trying to make the point to the flight attendant or the agent that, ‘Unless you do your job properly, people are not going to think well of the company.’
“Does that always work? No,” said Crandall, who at 81, lives with his wife, Jan, in Florida and Massachusetts and keeps busy doing “a lot of this and that.” By that he means serving as chairman and a director of Celestica Inc. and working with several companies including Gogo.Passengers feel they’re getting short shrift, Crandall said, but their frugality is largely to blame.
“Customers have insisted that the one thing that’s more valuable than anything else is the cheapest possible ticket. Well, if you want the cheapest possible ticket, you’re gonna have the smallest possible seat and the least possible facilities, because that’s how I get my costs down,” said Crandall, who still thinks like a CEO.
Bob Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines, left, and Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines converse at the SMU Cox School of Business Crum Auditorium, photographed on Wednesday, October 25, 2017.
(Louis DeLuca - Staff Photographer / The Dallas Morning News)
It’s time for the major carriers to get real, too, he said.
“The big airlines, in their own interests, should simply decline to compete with the very lowball guys who want to carry people for $29. They should say, ‘To hell with that. Go ride with them.’ But there’s only so much business you can afford not to take,” he said.
“So as long as the customer continues to prove by his or her own actions that they’re always going to buy the cheapest ticket, they’re always going to get a crappy service. That’s the way it is. Nothing’s going to be done about it.”
Gotta love a guy who doesn’t mince words.
(Cheryl Hall - The Dallas Morning News)
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