A look back at Piedmont

I remember PI used to have those "Hopscotch fares". My dad booked us on them, PHL-RIC-CLT-GSO-SDF, then the same way back. 5 kids and 3 adults everytime. It sure beat being cramped up in the Station Wagon for 13 Hours.
 
EyeInTheSky said:
Oh crap, not the North vs. South junk again? :rolleyes: Bethune is clearly a bitter old man. I guess Gordo's pissed about his Aloha Airlines failure.

Later,
Eye
Click to expand...
I don't see where anything in that article is necessarily a North vs. South thing at all. And as far as Gordon Bethune being bitter? Maybe he's just telling it like it is and the truth STILL stings after all these years. Actually, he's wrong when he says you couldn't have found a dumber management in the industry. Apparently they were second dumbest, next to the current bunch in Tempe. They both have the same mentality when it comes to mergers, though. "Let's purchase an airline and then TOTALLY discard the things they do that work and do everything possible to alienate and drive away their loyal customer base." The more things change, the more they stay the same. Then again, I'm just an original Piedmont employee, so what do I know?
 
The reason the north/south stuff persists is because it's true. USAir blew it; and promptly blew it again with PSA. They were wrong, Piedmont was right. Bethune's comments are on the mark.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #6
Pacemaker said:
. USAir blew it; and promptly blew it again with PSA.
Click to expand...
Actually, didn't they blow it with PSA first, then PI?
As much as the old USAir messed up what PSA had; look at what AA did with AirCal. Bob Crandal is many things but he was no dummy, yet the AirCal merger went sour just as the USAir/PSA meger did. Well, least AA never made the same mistake again! Look how much is left Reno Air and TWA. :rolleyes:

For those who haven't read Bethune's "From Worst to First", you should give a read. In the early 90's CO was quite possibly a worse airline than US is today. Their turnaround was amazing; maybe there is hope for US. Anyone for chipping in and sending a few copies to the Sandcastle?

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-First-Continen...3044&sr=8-1
 
Dont call me Shirley said:
Actually, didn't they blow it with PSA first, then PI?
As much as the old USAir messed up what PSA had; look at what AA did with AirCal. Bob Crandal is many things but he was no dummy, yet the AirCal merger went sour just as the USAir/PSA meger did. Well, least AA never made the same mistake again! Look how much is left Reno Air and TWA. :rolleyes:

For those who haven't read Bethune's "From Worst to First", you should give a read. In the early 90's CO was quite possibly a worse airline than US is today. Their turnaround was amazing; maybe there is hope for US. Anyone for chipping in and sending a few copies to the Sandcastle?

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-First-Continen...3044&sr=8-1
Click to expand...
US and AA both handed WN the West Coast. Prior to the AA-OC and US/AL-PS Mergers, WN was just a small airline there, then they really blossumed after the mergers.
 
In hindsite, Bethunes comments are spot on. Did I feel that some 20 years ago? No, I didn't. Nor did I believe
any of the accusations lodged against USAir and it's employees by former PI employees. But I've shed the rose colored
glasses and can see the company for what it is and what it was. America West is treating USAirways the same as we
treated PI and PS in the late 90's

I guess the old addage of "what goes around, comes around" isn't so far off afterall.
 
Gordom Bethune, back in the days of the old Douglas terminal in clt I remember meeting him as a child. My first impression was cowboy, straight shooter, as he was. I think he was regional director for Piemdont at the time. He was a no nonsence guy who told it like it was, don't BS him and he won't BS you. Like it or love it, that's the way he is. I met him because of my father, who at the time was a customer service sup. is CLT (later station manager at DEN, BOS, charlottesville, can't remeber the city code, and retired out of AVP).

My faher came to visit me this weekend and we got to talking about the "good ol' days" and I asked him of his opinion of Gorgon. he told me he sometimes didn't agree with him, but that was ok, he wanted you input. He listened to the front line people and knew how to look an man in the eye when you told him your opinion, agree or disagree, but showed you respect. I like to call it old school. A man who went to the trenches and not the charts to see how things were running.

After 23 years employeed with the company and 40+ being around it, I miss the "good ol' days". I think we can all agree on that.
 
Had Piedmont not gotten gobbled up by US, who's to say what would have happened to it. All the other legacies were already much bigger with much larger intl. presence back then. Piedmont would have had to grow either organically (and not just through a couple of snazzy new 767-200s and a flight to LGW), or from another take over. If I were to guess who would have been next in line, it would be DL and then maybe UA. But that's 20 years ago, and all these 'we could have been...." discussions are completely moot. So many things have changed in the airline industry (and the world of travel) that it's impossible to sit there with 20/20 hindsight and say Piedmont would have been better off without US.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #13
PHL said:
Had Piedmont not gotten gobbled up by US, who's to say what would have happened to it. ... discussions are completely moot. So many things have changed in the airline industry (and the world of trmavel) that it's impossible to sit there with 20/20 hindsight and say Piedmont would have been better off without US.
Click to expand...


PI would almost certainly have merged, but possibly as the surviving company. One can only wonder what would happened had Norfolk Soutern not "taken the money and run".
It was not my intent to fight the North vs South "Civil War" over again (can you say "Cool Northern Efficiency?" :lol: ), but one can draw comparisions to the HP/US merger. Both were more takeovers than true amalgamations - with "there's a new sheriff in town" attitude from teh top - rather than taking best of each carrier's way of doing things.


Speaking of "Cool Northern Efficiency", what similar phrase can be used to describe the Sandcastle's way of handling the merger?
 
I do not post here much anymore as I have moved on, but this thread just tugs at the heart…. This post is “dedicated†to all the wonderful PI employees.

The first commercial flight I ever took was on a PI flight thirty some odd years ago in 1973. I flew with my grandmother from BNA to RDU. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I started flying as part of my job in the early 1980’s and living in NC, I of course flew PI most of the time. To those of you who read this and do not believe that it was a family, well you just could not be more wrong. I still remember the warm and friendly employees in RDU and then later GSO and CLT. I met during a brief stint in politics as fundraiser most of the senior management of PI in the early 80’s. They could not have been more down to earth. I was always impressed how easy going they were, even with a snotty nosed young man in his early 20’s who was always asking them for some big bucks for the candidates that I worked for at the time. I was always treated with respect and to some extent as a member of the “familyâ€. It was during this time that I developed a lasting respect for Tom Davis as a business man and as a person.

By 1982, I flew weekly out of GSO, CLT or RDU. I can still remember the faces and the names of the wonderful agents thirty years later. I still specifically remember the times that a ticket agent or gate agent would save my bacon during irregular ops to get me where I needed to go and on time. Yes in many cases, they were little things, but on occasion, they did things that would never be allowed today. In short, I learned how to become a frequent flyer from some wonderful PI people.

Moreover, like many others, I hated the thought of the merger. I was truly sick over it after having flown Agony Air many times. However, I did not see the immediate impact in GSO, CLT or RDU until we moved away for a number years. After moving back to NC in the early 90’s, you could literally see the difference in the people and policies after that cool northern efficiency had been put into place. Instead of enjoying flying, I came to despise US Air and all it become. The people were the same great folks they had always been, but their hands were tied. The change in those few short years was simply stunning.

Through it all, the old PI agents in GSO and CLT were still the best and did all they could do to help you when they could. I have always believed that a true measure of an airline is how they treat you when all goes to hell in a hand basket. Any airline should be able to serve their customers when the skies are blue and the weather is fine. It is how you treat me as customer when all goes wrong that makes the difference. For many years after the merger, the former PI employees continued to be that difference at US.

Then came the BK’s and the incompetent management at the top. The friends that I had made over the years all started to leave as the incompetence took its toll. I no longer felt the loyalty to US and I realized my loyalty had never been to US, but to the great employees that were former PI’s.

I know this has been a long post….but I just wanted to say one more time, THANK YOU to all the wonderful PI employees, both retired and present day, who made my first 30 years of flying an enjoyable experience. You were the best and to this day 30 years later, I am still longing for Piedmont. As long as I am on this earth and still flying, I will continue to miss you all.

l4pi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wings396
Article from the Jet Piedmont website
2
Replies
28
Views
5K
700UW
700UW
W
US Airways Now Looking to Upgrade Piedmont
2 3
Replies
43
Views
9K
Dorf
D
L
Bethune, On Co-ua Merge
Replies
6
Views
1K
UseYourHead
U
O
Piedmont Fades Away........
Replies
7
Views
2K
AIRMAIL
A
F
Piedmont's Future?
Replies
11
Views
5K
BoeingBoy
BoeingBoy

Latest posts

Back
Top