Frank Lorenzo endorses Doug Parker and US Air

[Boris Badenov]

The shame is that he'll have the same number of mourners as Thomas Paine. No one missed him, either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine

I reckon his grave will be pooped on more, though! Uh, not by me, obviously. *hides toilet paper*

 

[derg]

That's like "Marriage Counseling by Tom Leykis"

 

[Boris Badenov]

I remember when I worked for UPS, and was in the Teamsters union. Those guys were a bunch of leg breakers that would put you in the hospital for a lot less then what he got away with.

That's very 20th century of you. I worked for UPS, too (as a Teamster). By the 90s, the "legbreakers" had moved on to screwing the part-timers in pursuit of their dreams of a second home, a boat, and a second wife to go with the aforementioned. Shades of mainline vs. regional, anyone? Ca Ira, Ca Ira!

 

[cmill]

I would be the last one to defend lorenzo or any of his ilk, but when we joke around at work about how much better we could run things it always comes down to "if you're so smart, why the hell are you working here?"

 

[X-Forces]

That's very 20th century of you. I worked for UPS, too (as a Teamster). By the 90s, the "legbreakers" had moved on to screwing the part-timers in pursuit of their dreams of a second home, a boat, and a second wife to go with the aforementioned. Shades of mainline vs. regional, anyone? Ca Ira, Ca Ira!

What can I say, I was there in the late 80's (Damn, I'm getting old!!)

 

[Boris Badenov]

What can I say, I was there in the late 80's (Damn, I'm getting old!!)

Getting? Sir, I'm Old. That makes you positively Pleistocene. Do you even HAVE any hair? Or just horns?

 

[A Life Aloft]

I would be the last one to defend lorenzo or any of his ilk, but when we joke around at work about how much better we could run things it always comes down to "if you're so smart, why the hell are you working here?"

I don't think it does. No one, and I mean no employee deserves to be screwed around, used, thrown to the street like so much garbage, lied to, played, lose their careers, see their pay reduced, their benefits dissappear and their 401's vanish, their livelihood and sometimes their life because of scum bag owners/operator/CEOs of any company. Especially when you spent many years, a lot of hard earned money, time, made many personal sacrifices, were loyal and were dedicated to that company. People back in the day didn't choose to work for some crap ass outfit. They went to work for what were once regarded as leaders and innovators in that industry, companies that were respected and well run, places were you had a future and employees were once proud to be associated with them and in return they were treated well. It wasn't that the employees were not smart either. That's the difference.

 

[X-Forces]

Getting? Sir, I'm Old. That makes you positively Pleistocene. Do you even HAVE any hair? Or just horns?

Oh, I'll have hair until they put me into the ground. That seems to run in the family.

 

[Boris Badenov]

So a Rug, then? Hey, no shame!

 

[MikeD]

That's like "Marriage Counseling by Tom Leykis"

I remember when he was on KFYI in PHX; he had a Friday dating show he did, along with his regular show.

 

[derg]

Do you know there's a picture of Lorenzo on the wall at Iron Works BBQ in AUS?

 

[derg]

I remember when he was on KFYI in PHX; he had a Friday dating show he did, along with his regular show.

Was that the station that axed Charles Goyette after he went off the reservation and voiced his disapproval of the second gulf war on a very "conservative" station at the time?

 

[MikeD]

Was that the station that axed Charles Goyette after he went off the reservation and voiced his disapproval of the second gulf war on a very "conservative" station at the time?

Yup. Same one that Bob Mohan worked for long before.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

Leaving? He was banned for the rest of his life by DOT, from ever working directly in the airline industry due to his unethical business practices.

A lot of people don't realize this, or think it's a myth, but it's absolutely true. An administrative law judge flat out banned Lorenzo and some of his compatriots from having any involvement in positions that involved airline operations, largely because of the safety concerns of allowing people so obsessed with cutting costs and screwing labor over having anything to do with flight operations or technical operations.

One of our former senior executives, Steve Kolski, was one of them. He was one of Lorenzo's attorneys during the Eastern days. When Lorenzo tried to start up another airline called ATX in the '90s, he put Kolski in charge of it, thinking that having his name on it instead of his own would get it through the DOT. Didn't work. The ALJ refused to approve their application, citing all of the compliance problems at Eastern that both of them oversaw.

 

[CoffeeIcePapers]

Can someone give me cliffs on the Lorenzo thing?

 

[SeanD]

Can someone give me cliffs on the Lorenzo thing?

Sure thing

 

[mastermags]

Can someone give me cliffs on the Lorenzo thing?

Just imagine a caricature of an evil monopoly man stomping on families, eating babies, destroying airlines, unions, careers, and families for his own personal greed and ambition. A man so ridiculously evil that you must think it's a joke.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Can someone give me cliffs on the Lorenzo thing?

Read Post 18

Further.......where to start....perhaps when Lorenzo made a fortune by running up the stock price of National Airlines with his failed take over attempt there. That was eventually quelled by Pan Am but financially it devastated Pan Am and was the start of their downward spiral. With his ill gotten fortune he went looking for another carrier to decimate. He thought he could push Texas International into the big leagues.That was his ego and his evil fantasy at work. By this time however, his sordid reputation was already well known and no body wanted to play ball with him. Smart at TWA showed him the door as did Six at Continental. But after the reins had been handed over to Feldman, Lorenzo pounced like a blood thirsty wolf. He knew no one would merge with his him so he began a hostile take over. He purchased over a million shares of their stock. Within a matter of a week, he owned half of Continental's stock. You have to remember that the laws were much different than they are now. To garner the collateral for the money he borrowed, he actually put up and pledged Continental's own damn fleet. The management team and the pilots with their own ESOP plan fought him tooth and nail. But with his corrupt greedy partner at the time, Phil Bakes, they took control. He has always, always aligned himself with other greedy, conniving and evil men.

The myth he has continued to this day (see that ridiculous article in the first post of this thread) to propagate about pouring cash into Continental to save the carrier is total and pure bull crap. He was already known as a slimeball in business and connected himself with men of his ilk who also had the reputations for making more underhanded back hand deals than any drug lord could hope to muster. Continental didn't need Lorenzo and would have survived and flourished without him. It was still one of the premier airlines in this country.

Continental almost didn't survive after what Lorenzo did to them. He caused them two bankruptcies, he destroyed of all the pilot's contracts, then caused subsequent strike, he hired, supported and welcomed back hundreds of scab pilots, he lowered and revamped the maintenance and service standards to the point of seriously compromising safety, and he cost the carrier a fortune in legal fees while they were trying to fight off his take over attempt. He also fired a huge portion of the workforce, and reneged on all the labor contracts with all the various worker groups. He already had a history of this same behavior.

His claims to this day of "saving Continental" make me want to puke. He nearly destroyed them and ruined thousands of lives in the process while lining his pockets and sucking them dry financially. If it had not been for the employees and Gordon Bethunes who continued to fight and rebuild from the ashes, he would have. As it was, they had no union on property for years afterwards until they formed their own.

 

[mastermags]

Read Post 18

Further.......where to start....perhaps when Lorenzo made a fortune by running up the stock price of National Airlines with his failed take over attempt there. That was eventually quelled by Pan Am but financially it devastated Pan Am and was the start of their downward spiral. With his ill gotten fortune he went looking for another carrier to decimate. He thought he could push Texas International into the big leagues.That was his ego and his evil fantasy at work. By this time however his sordid reputation was already well known and no body wanted to play ball with him. Smart at TWA showed him the door as did Six at Continental. But after the reins had been handed over to Feldman, Lorenzo pounced like a blood thirsty wolf. he knew no one would merge with his him so he began a hostile take over. he purchased over a million shares of their stock. Within a matter of a week, he owned half of Continental's stock. You have to remember that the laws were much different than they are now. To garner the collateral for the money he borrowed, he actually put up and pledged Continental's own fleet. The management team and the pilots with their own ESOP plan fought him tooth and nail. But with his corrupt greedy partner at the time, Phil Bakes, they took control.

The myth he has continued to this day (see that ridiculous article in the first post of this thread) to propagate about pouring cash into Continental to save the carrier is total and pure bull crap. He was already known as a slimeball in business and connected himself with men of his ilk who also had the reputations for making more underhanded back hand deals than any drug lord could hope to muster. Continental didn't need Lorenzo and would have survived and flourished without him. It was still one of the premier airlines in this country.

Continental almost didn't survive after what Lorenzo did to them. He caused two bankruptcies, he destroyed of all the pilot's contracts, then caused subsequent strike, he hired, supported and welcomed back hundreds of scab pilots, he lowered and revamped the maintenance and service standards to the point of seriously compromising safety, and he cost the carrier a fortune in legal fees while they were trying to fight off his take over attempt. He also fired a huge portion of the workforce, and reneged on all the labor contracts with all the various worker groups. He already had a history of this same behavior.

His claims to this day of "saving Continental" make me want to puke. He nearly destroyed them and ruined thousands of lives in the process while lining his pockets and sucking them dry financially. if it had not been for the employees and Gordon Bethunes who continued to fight and rebuild from the ashes, he would have. Ads it was, they had no union on property for years afterwards until they formed their own.

And then there's Eastern.

 

[A Life Aloft]

And then there's Eastern.

That SOB used Eastern to funnel planes to Continental at pennies on the dollar while leaving both carriers to flounder in the wake of his utter mayhem and destructive self-serving values. He never had the the goal, the talent, the experience, the skills nor the knowledge to save or rebuild anything, except himself. It always was and remains to be all about Frank.

Read the book Grounded Frank Lorenzo And The Destruction Of Eastern Airlines by Aaron Bernstein.

I haven't imagined yet, another human being in this century who through his business dealings, has laid waste to so many thousands upon thousands of lives as Lorenzo has.