I think Braniff's biggest mistake was its expansion after deregulation. It started flying to every city it could, often with only 1 or 2 flights a day. Business travelers want more than just a flight a day. David R http://home.attbi.com/~damiross http://home.attbi.com/~damiross/books.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "RT Simpson" <BraniffIntl@xxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 09:04 Subject: [AIRLINE] AA's Role In BN's BK > <<Don't forget the "Texas Fares" that BN (1) had near the end. They > put the fares in a centerfold in the schedule....looked like a > mileage chart on a road map. Very simple to figure out. > > Unfortunately, it was too near the end, and AA was really doing their > best to kill BN. It never got a fair shake to see if it would work.>> > > While BN's fare simplification move drove Bob Crandall nuts at AA, it wasn't > AMR that drove Braniff into bankruptcy. Years of "creative finances", over > expansion and internal turf wars left Howard Putnam with no other choice than to > file Chapter 11. John Nance's hypothesis that BN had enough monetary "IOU's" > to affect a quick return to the air while in Chapter 11 is pure bunk. My > hunch is if Putnam had been given a more accurate accounting of BN's finances > he'd probably still be at Southwest in the CEO's position. > > RT Simpson > Phoenix >