Which 1 Past Business Decision Would You Change?

[phllax]

If there was 1 business decision made from the folks at CCY since 1979 what would it be?

Mine would definately have to be to keep the PSA product intact and remain in the West Coast markets. Had they done that, as well as kept the Piedmont product intact on the East Coast, the entire domestic airline industry might be different.

 

[Phantom Fixer]

One business decision would hardly offset what has spiraled downward here , yet I can appreciate the spirit of the question.

The PSA debacle was certainly a bad choice....and the need for project Barbell certainly drives the point home.

IMHO...the worst choice ever made was allowing PIT to rule the roost when multi-mergers took place.

CCY may have been calling the shots....but the influence from certain factions in PIT have worsened things. This is not to say that the workers in PIT are remotely to blame...just the managerial protectionist cells that micro-ruled things ..and in far too many cases still do.

Back to the origional question...what one thing has destroyed things? The typical management style , or lack there of here that remains here.

My greatest hope is that HP's Management reviews the multi-tier system of management here...and kicks it straight to the curb. The only real hope of getting this company (combined) on the right path is to re-invent what worked from both PSA , PI and what's working at HP at present....business as usual U leadership will only drag both sides down the tubes if any traces of it remain in tact.

 

[OldGuyinPA]

Leaving the West Coast certainly gave SWA the opportunity to grow overnight. That probably was the worst decision...other than having the " Al " promoted to Senior Executive Vice President of this company.

I just hope AWA gives all our management te boot........

 

[javaboy]

no ceo nor president should have been hired since 1992...

if both positions were left un filled the net cash savings would have been in excess of 100m, and i'm guessing almost no change in day to day operations

in other words they collectively did 0 for the corporation and each 'mgmt team' left the company in worse fiscal shape than when they stepped on to the property

labor should go after
mrssrs wolf, gangwald,seigel,cohan,davis [and others] in the same way bernie ebbers (world comm) is being forced to give back over 99% of ALL presonal wealth and holdings and will most likely serve a life sentence

 

[PITbull]

To me the obvious.....




NO BANKRUPTCY

 

[sentrido]

Laying me off 😀 <_<

 

[Hope777]

I would say showing Gordon the door after the PI merger. My second would be Mirror IMAGE, the USAir way or the Highway. None of the PSA or PI good was ever accepted by U Management.

 

[longing4piedmont]

Picking one is going to be rough, and if I had my druthers, PI would have bought US. 😀

In my opinion, the path down the slippery slope started with the hiring of Wolfe. The man did more damage to US than any other single person with the one possible exception being Uncle Al. Neither one of them have a clue how to run an airline. Wolfe set the tone that has never been reversed and the raiding of the piggy bank continues to this day

 

[Finish or Ignore]

Picking one is going to be rough, and if I had my druthers, PI would have bought US. 😀

In my opinion, the path down the slippery slope started with the hiring of Wolfe. The man did more damage to US than any other single person with the one possible exception being Uncle Al. Neither one of them have a clue how to run an airline. Wolfe set the tone that has never been reversed and the raiding of the piggy bank continues to this day

[post="281538"][/post]​

Amen Brother
Parity plus one rammed down ALPA's throat..the tone is exactly the same as set by Wolf. Under Wolf we were transformed from humans to numbers.

 

[a320av8r]

"Picking one is going to be rough, and if I had my druthers, PI would have bought US."

I'd rather AL left PI alone altogether, should have let TWA buy them.

But, if not for Colodny, Schofield, Wolf, Gangwald and Siegel where would we be now? :down:

I hope and pray Doogie will be better, we'll see.
I'll bet he's here to line his pockets too though.

 

[732guy]

Buying Piedmont. The single biggest mistake ever. What would Piedmont be today with no US involved? One can only dream of the possibilities.

 

[High Iron]

Another "too many to list" vote. ( understatement of the decade )

OK, one ( relatively ) recent one.

Betting the farm on PHL as the "crown jewel".

Granted, it should still be a sizeable operation with its population base, but they should've either committed to the already substantial investment in PIT, or just said the hell with it and retrenched to a CLT fortress.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

1) allowing the development of a corporate culture that embodied an imbalance between managing U's markets vs. managing U's costs.

In other words: getting SO addicted to yield management that U forgot how to run an airline efficiently.

the symptoms of this addiction include:

buying PI in order to protect yields and having NO CLUE or even apparent CARE to control costs that were rediculously high with overlapping hubs and inefficient use of capital.

There are plenty of other examples of this imbalance, but that's the biggest one. When U and PI merged, not enough changed. It's conceivable that the combination could have worked, but instead of growing into LGA's BOS's and DCA's hometown airline, it remained PITs hometown airline, assuming that U's market power would never erode.

It was never a sustainable model, but to be fair it came crashing down MUCH FASTER and HARDER than almost anyone seemed to expect.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

After both British Airways & Warren Buffett (universally recognized experts in airline operations and finance) invested in USAir, eventually recognized the problem and walked away at loss on their investment.

And NOBODY at USAir sounded an alarm.

Just wanted to remain fat dumb and free tix....

 

[delldude]

i seem to question the BOD leaving Seth wandering out in the desert for such a long time without doing something about it.to me we seemed floundering a year or so after big ed left and it morphed,due to many factors into our present day quandry.