One Other Thing

There is always one other thing when you write a blog. I was just reminded when I was visiting one of the aviation BBSes that I frequent. In my blog entry “There You Go Again”, one of the writers of the Wall Street Journal editorial I discussed was Robert W. Crandall.

Someone else made the same bad assumption that I had made, that Robert Crandall was Bob Crandall, the ex-CEO of American Airlines. Not so.

Robert W. Crandall of the Brookings Institution “focuses on telecommunications regulatory policy. “

Robert Lloyd Crandall of American Airlines focused on crushing his competition.

My favorite story about Bob Crandall (of American Airlines) came from Thomas Petzinger’s book “Hard Landing.” The scene was a Congressional hearing on deregulating the airline industry in 1977. At the end of the day’s hearing, some unknown guy walked up to the staffers that were spearheading deregulation and said...

”You %$#&ing academic eggheads ! You’re going to wreck this industry !”

...then turned around and left. Neither knew who it was. Allegedly, it was Bob Crandall -- then head of marketing for American.

It turns out he was right. Despite that, he did what he had to do to ensure American Airlines’ survival. American is now the largest airline in the world. At least until the next merger.

Don Brown
April 20, 2008