88. “alarming rate”: The text of Lorenzo’s speech is attached as an exhibit to the Bakes affidavit of Sept. 24, 1993.
89. veins were popping: Bakes 6/16/94 interview.
90. “press the test”: Higgins 6/8/94 interview.
91. all the head banging: Wolf 6/4/93 interview.
92. perfectly modulated voice: Wolf’s manner on such occasions, described by many who have seen him speak over the years, was also observed by the author.
93. stomach for … confrontation: J. Arpey 6/16/94 interview.
94. “Frank is bashing them”: Wolf 6/4/93 interview.
95. downright naive: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
96. no amount of concessions: Murray 9/4/93 interview.
97. Lorenzo sat Wolf down: Wolf refused to discuss this meeting with Lorenzo. The dialogue is reconstructed from interviews with Bakes, Murray, and others who later spoke to Lorenzo and Wolf about the conversation.
98. a severance check: Lorenzo told Murray that he gave Wolf a check for one year’s salary. Murray 9/4/93 interview.
99. “take him very seriously”: Wolf 6/4/93 interview.
100. Wolf then telephoned: Murray 9/4/93 interview.
101. BMW sedan: Wolf 6/4/93 interview.
102. somebody’s grave: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
103. “welfare agency”: Quoted in Thurow, WSJ, Feb. 18, 1982.
104. Braniff II rates: Bakes 6/11/93 interview. The salary levels cited here are taken from “Bitter, Deadly Dogfights,” by John S. DeMott, Time, Oct. 10, 1983.
105. “blow-your-mind number”: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
106. inserted “The New”: Ibid.
107. deeply depressed: Ibid.
108. admission of failure: Bankruptcy case testimony of Frank Lorenzo, cited in Burrough, WSJ, Dec. 14, 1983.
109. “It’s your baby”: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
110. Just cut: Ibid.
111. protesting the arbitrariness: Murray 9/4/93 interview.
112. instantly joyous: Burr 9/16/93 interview.
113. forces of good: Sullivan 6/8/94 interview.
114. “don’t have enough”: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
115. “vilest enemy”: Quoted in Hopkins, Flying the Line, page 52.
116. cheer went up: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
117. 50 deep in Houston: DeMott, Time, Oct. 10, 1983.
118. “threat of a strike”: “Continental Air Union Leaders for Pilots and Flight Aides Vote to Strike Tomorrow,” by George Getschow and Charles F. McCoy, WSJ, Sept. 30, 1983.
119. instructed … Bruce Hicks: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
120. requisite training: Detailed in 60 Minutes, CBS Television Network, Apr. 15, 1984.
121. peculiar individual: Baxter’s behavior was described by his fellow ALPA leader in Houston, Dennis Higgins, in the 6/8/94 interview. Several elements of Higgins’s account were corroborated by Jim Sullivan, who was also an ALPA leader at Continental, in the 6/8/94 interview. In 1994 ALPA informed the author that it had no idea of Baxter’s whereabouts.
122. “like wind shear”: Sullivan 6/8/94 interview.
123. “Frank’s past lies”: Passage taken from an untitled memo to striking Continental pilots dated Nov. 18, 1983.
124. head of an elk: This and other episodes of violence against Continental scabs are detailed in Continental Airlines v. Air Line Pilots Association, in Re: Continental Airlines Corp., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, No. 83-2386-H3, Jan. 30, 1984.
125. a U-turn … in San Antonio: Aspects of this incident were described in the Higgins 6/8/94 interview; First Amended Complaint, Continental Airlines v. Air Line Pilots Association; and “Militant Fliers: Pilots’ Bitter Strike Against Continental Changed Their Union,” by Leonard M. Apcar, WSJ, March 17, 1986.
126. “with the gear up”: Babbitt 8/26/94 interview.
Chapter 10: Breaking Ranks
1. “Superman of Now”: Herrmann, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, page 201.
2. official history: Hopkins, Flying the Line, page 23.
3. “a man’s job”: Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars, page 166.
4. had to be accompanied: Boase, The Sky’s the Limit, page 68.
5. airlines’ farm club: U.S. Department of Transportation, Labor Relations and Labor Costs in the Airline Industry: Contemporary Issues, May 1992.
6. a barnstormer: The facts of Behncke’s life were taken principally from Hopkins, Flying the Line.
7. “Public safety calls”: Quoted in ibid., page 21.
8. went to Behncke’s head: Ibid., passim.
9. “the pilot’s life”: Quoted in Solberg, Conquest of the Skies, page 174.
10. “getting to be a pilot”: Quoted in “United Boss Dreams of Piloting a 747,” by Dick Griffin, Chicago Daily News, Apr. 28, 1976.
11. how to fly: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
12. starting flag: Ibid.
13. “He listens”: Quoted in “United President Takes to Skies for Fun, Profit,” by Todd Fandell, Chicago Tribune, Sept. 22, 1976.
14. “fearless Dick Ferris”: “Businessmen in the News,” Fortune, May 1977.
15. Boeing 767 jet: Ferris 5/28/93 interview.
16. failed to gain: Carlson, Recollections, pages 209-10.
17. losing an engine: Ferris 6/7/94 interview.
18. Ferris gave money: “United’s Pilots Borrow Ferris’s Idea to Whip Up Unity,” by Bill Barnhart and Sally Saville Hodge, Chicago Tribune, May 8, 1985.
19. “your golf games”: Quoted in “Friendlier Skies? United Airlines Hopes Pilots’ Vote This Week Will Be Turning Point,” by John Curley, WSJ, Aug. 10, 1981.
20. “blue skies” contract: “Management, Labor Debate Work Issues,” by James Ott, Aviation Week, Sept. 7, 1981; “United Takes on the Upstarts,” Oct. 19, 1981.
21. “a new era”: “United Air Pilots Clear Pact Granting Carrier Job-Rule Concessions,” by John Curley, WSJ, Aug. 14, 1981.
22. “Eighty to 90 percent”: Richard J. Ferris, Distinguished Executive Lecture, Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University, 1979.
23. squirmed and fidgeted: Griffin, Chicago Daily News, Apr. 28, 1976.
24. a podium: Ferris 5/28/93 interview.
25. “What the hell”: Luce 8/26/93 interview.
26. “worked too hard”: Ibid Luce was the principal source of the dialogue reconstructed here. Ferris, though not confirming all of the words exchanged, does confirm secretly proposing an LBO at United at this time; he says employee groups would have been partners in the transaction.
27. Ferris could see: Ferris 6/7/94 interview.
28. “Well, Dick”: Luce 8/26/93 interview.
29. “This is a takeover”: Ibid.
30. “don’t make many mistakes”: Ibid.
31. “shook the board”: Ibid.
32. backlash on his hands: Babbitt 8/26/94 interview.
33. still seething: Rick Dubinsky, speech to the Harvard Trade Union Program, Feb. 28, 1991.
34. dead anyway: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
35. Chicago Action Plan: Testimony of Robert L. Crandall, AMR Corp. v. UAL Corp., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 91Civ.7773, Mar. 4, 1992.
36. well over $100 million: Based on spending of $75 million after 1988, as disclosed in ibid., plus $32 million paid to United for 12 slots in 1992.
37. mattered immensely: Ferris 5/27/93 interview; Testimony of Donald J. Carty, AMR Corp. v. UAL Corp., Mar. 4, 1992.
38. giant soiree: “United and American Vie to Expand Share of Market at O’Hare Airport,” by Harlan S. Byrne, WSJ, Aug. 27, 1984.
39. civic activities: Zeeman 7/23/93 interview.
40. “Get along peaceably”: Letter from Jesse W. Ferris to Dick Ferris, Aug. 28, 1957.
41. deeply hurt: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
42. pounding on tables: “Revolt at Allegis: How Labor and Wall Street Stopped Ferris,” by Mark Hornung, Crains Chicago Business, Nov. 30, 1987.
43. “You match the American”: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
44. actually canceling: “The Dogfight Between United and Its Pilots,” by Carol Jouzaitis, Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1985.
45. “lost his balance”: Luce 8/26/93 interview.
46. Dick’s toughness: Carlson, Recollections of a Lucky Fellow, page 270.
47. “love affair gone bad”: Zeeman 7/23/93 interview.
48. role that wives played: “United Pilot Unity Starts at Home Front,” by Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1985.
49. fully 1,000 pilots: First Officer David Cook, speech before United Pilots Teleconference, May 5, 1985.
50. household finance: “Video Technology Rallies Striking United Pilots,” by Beth Ann Krier, Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1985.
51. piggy bank: Pan American World Airways, Inc., Financial Analysis, Lazard Frères, Jan. 31, 1985.
52. “Employees will not trust”: Ibid.
53. “I want to talk”: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
54. commissioned a study: Ibid. Ferris’s thinking is also detailed in “The Pan Am-United Deal: Truly a ‘Win-Win’ Situation,” by Reggi Ann Dubin, BW. May 6, 1985.
55. intervention of … Reagan: Carlson, Recollections, page 224.
56. that was okay: Shugrue 9/8/93 interview.
57. “The Continental situation”: Quoted in “Pan Am Reaches Back-to-Work Accord with Pilots; Mechanics Remain on Strike,” by William M. Carley, WSJ, Mar. 7, 1985.
58. required a cushion; Acker 6/3/93 interview.
59. “fucking believe it”: Zeeman 7/23/93 interview; Ferris 6/7/94 interview.
60. Ferris … readily agreed: Gitner 3/31/93 interview. Ferris, in the 6/7/94 interview, confirmed quickly accepting Acker’s price, although not before he had conducted a quick and discreet due-diligence review.
61. emotionally wrenching: Acker 6/3/93 interview.
62. “could always argue”: Coleman 2/16/94 interview.
63. could not imagine: Crandall 9/1/93 interview.
64. Ferris knew the timing: “Pan Am Agrees to Sell United Its Pacific Unit,” by William M. Carley and Harlan S. Byrne, WSJ, Apr. 23, 1985.
65. high gear: “United Tries to Keep ’Em Flying During Strike’s War of Nerves,” by Carol Jouzaitis and Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune, May 23, 1985.
66. casual slacks: “United Chief Takes Two-Tiered Pay Show ‘on the Road,’ ” by Bill Barnhart and Sally Saville Hodge, Chicago Tribune, Mar. 13, 1985.
67. intimidating my pilots: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
68. satellite production: ALPA, United Pilots Teleconference, May 5, 1985. The author viewed a videotape of the production.
69. agreed to b-scales: “There’s No Turning Back at United,” by Aaron Bernstein and Ellyn E. Spragins, BW, June 3, 1985.
70. 50 percent of capacity: “United Airlines, Pilots’ Union Agree to Hold Talks with Mediators in Strike,” by Harlan S. Byrne, WSJ, May 20, 1985; “Pilots Go on Strike at United,” by James Warren and Carol Jouzaitis, Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1985.
71. lodging the strikebreakers: ALPA’s countertraining operation in Denver was described in the Babbitt 8/26/94 interview and the Higgins 6/8/94 interview.
72. “nuclear reactor”: Babbitt 8/26/94 interview.
73. double agents: Higgins 6/8/94 interview.
74. Haas … expressed reservations: Zeeman 7/23/93 interview; Ferris 6/7/94 interview.
75. Six showed up: Byrne, WSJ, May 20, 1985.
76. 30 management pilots: Ibid.
77. Twenty-four-hour security: Ferris 5/27/93 interview. Ferris also described the acts of intimidation against strikebreakers.
78. “I am the chairman”: Quoted in “ ‘Friendly Skies’ Now Cloudy,” by Carol Jouzaitis and Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1985.
79. “back to the Dumpster”: Babbitt 8/26/94 interview; “Settlement Pleases United’s Chief Exec,” by Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1985.
80. Ferris would … deny: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
81. “ALPA can’t win”: Warren and Jouzaitis, Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1985.
82. called his senior managers: Zeeman 6/23/93 interview.
83. “tank of gasoline”: Luce 8/26/93 interview.
84. “not a strike”: Zeeman 7/23/93 interview.
85. “pile of cash”: Olson 6/28/94 interview.
86. landed in London: Ferris 6/7/94 interview; Zeeman 7/23/93 interview.
87. Ferris’s own managers: Marianne Lazarus 6/10/93 interview.
88. “own the world”: Ferris 5/27/93 interview.
Chapter 11: Gloom over Miami
1. direct electronic tie-in: “The Other Reason Frank Lorenzo Wants TWA,” by Chuck Hawkins, BW, Dec. 30, 1985.
2. 30,000 travel agencies: U.S. Department of Justice, 1985 Report to Congress on the Airline Computer Reservation System Industry, Dec. 20, 1985.
3. “competitive raison d’être”: Robert L. Crandall, written statement, U.S. Congress, House Aviation Subcommittee, June 23, 1983.
4. ways to play games: “Aerial Combat: Major Airlines, Tired of New Lines’ Inroads, Cut Fares, Woo Public,” by Francis C. Brown III, WSJ, Feb. 28, 1986.
5. concentration of terminals: Hopper 10/13/93 interview.
6. “Whether bias exists”: Michael Gunn, American Airlines, presentation to 1984 marketing meeting.
7. greater motive: Hawkins, BW, Dec. 30, 1985.
8. gypsies play cards: Ibid.
9. walked away: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
10. “no intent or motive”: Quoted in “Continental Air Wins Defense of Chapter 11,” by Bryan Burrough, WSJ, Jan. 18, 1984.
11. judge would soon accept: “Judge in Texas Air Unit’s Case Says Talk of Job Came Weeks After His Rulings,” by Jonathan Kwitny, WSJ, Oct. 6, 1986.
12. imploring Bakes: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.
13. inferiority complex: A number of Lorenzo’s former associates used these terms to describe his ambivalence about cutting Continental’s levels of cabin service.
14. jumped all over Bakes: Bakes 6/16/94 interview.
15. marketing innovations: Ibid.
16. “airport of the future”: Ibid.
17. “wasting money on this shit”: Ibid.
18. pictured in Business Week: “Continental Is Soaring Out of Chapter 11,” by James R. Norman, BW, July 7, 1986.
19. “a real high”: “Continental Air’s Lorenzo Has New Image with Aides a Year After Chapter 11 Filing,” by Bryan Burrough, WSJ, Sept. 24, 1984.
20. 30 percent of his time: Bakes 6/16/94 interview.
21. same budget hotel: “Continental Air Reorganization Plan Is Accepted by Most of Firm’s Creditors,” by Mark Zieman, WSJ, Sept. 6, 1985.
22. “running the zoo”: Quoted in Gibney, Washington Monthly, June 1986; “Lost in Space,” by Rowland Stiteler, Florida, Nov. 1, 1987.
23. moved to restrict: Smaby et al., May 1987.
24. Within hours: By Barber’s recollection, Borman privately first issued his Chapter 11 threat about two days before the Continental Chapter 11, although there is little doubt that Continental’s icebreaking maneuver emboldened Borman to take his threat public.
25. “à la Continental”: Quoted in “Future of Eastern Air Lines Hinging on Chief’s Credibility with Unions,” by Margaret Loeb and Thomas E. Ricks, WSJ, Sept. 29, 1983.
26. fanned out: Magurno 3/11/94 interview.
27. intimidate … its customers: Gibney, Washington Monthly, June 1986.
28. “Borman, Resign Now”: “The Fall Crisis at Eastern,” by Paul J. Baicich, Labor Research Review, Winter 1984.
29. teach some reason: Magurno 3/11/94 interview.
30. Crisp … made a point: Bryan 5/13/93 interview.
31. Bryan would later admit: Ibid.
32. “largest experiment”: Gibney, Washington Monthly, June 1986.
33. “extensive employee participation”: “Frank Borman’s Most Difficult Days,” by Leslie Wayne, NYT, Feb. 17,
1985.
34. “off by 10 years”: Kelleher 6/14/94 interview.
35. “war is over”: Quoted in “Eastern’s Kansas City Hub Is Proving to Be a Bright Spot,” by Gary Conn, WSJ, Apr. 20, 1984.
36. dying inside: Borman admitted to his secretly negative feelings in Deposition of Frank Borman, In the Matter of Preliminary Investigation of Texas Air Corp., U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket No. 45581, Apr. 26, 1988.
37. so much “crap”: Borman 1/29/94 interview.
38. had shaken him: Barber 6/21/94 interview.
39. “the only pilot”: Frank Borman, transcribed remarks to Eastern ALPA Master Executive Council, Miami, Aug. 19, 1985.
40. cancel … 500 flights: Smaby et al., May 1987.
41. Colonel’s long-range vision: Kunstler 9/7/93 interview.
42. Crandall’s coterie: Kaldahl 4/27/93 interview.
43. “Caribbean marketing”: Gunn, presentation to 1984 marketing meeting.
44. “beyond Band-Aids”: Quoted in Smaby et al., May 1987.
45. just $3,000: “Eastern Air Union Leaders Are Taking Steps Toward Possible Bid for Control,” by Gary Cohn, WSJ, Jan. 9, 1986.
46. “Fix it”: Magurno 3/11/94 interview; Borman, Countdown, passim.
47. “talk to you”: Borman, Countdown, page 420.
48. Lorenzo wanted System One: Borman 1/29/94 interview. Borman and Lorenzo discussed the possibility of using System One as the foundation of a multiairline reservations network to compete with Sabre and Apollo. Lorenzo had assumed an active role among the non-CRS airlines in proposing this system, known as the Neutral Industry Booking System, or NIBS. According to Richard Murray, who represented Lorenzo in these discussions, “We were using NIBS as a way of getting to System One. We knew NIBS would never happen: there were too many different philosophies and cultures.… NIBS was a way of keeping a finger on System One.”
49. Borman took … to Lorenzo: Borman, Countdown, page 421.
50. as if … making a joke: Borman reconstructed his conversation with Lorenzo in Deposition of Frank Borman, Apr. 26, 1988. Additional details are based on Borman, Countdown, page 421, and in the Borman 1/19/94 interview.
51. “ace in the hole”: Borman, Countdown, page 421.
52. Borman excitedly described: Magurno 3/11/94 interview.
53. “just using me”: Borman, Countdown, page 423.
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