THE CHANGING MARKET

In 1963 the international airline industry was booming. All the big international airlines such as KLM, Swissair, BOAC, Lufthansa, Air France, etc. all operated under Civil Aviation Rules and Regulations. Actually, their rules included all airlines. In regard to the International carriers, they operated under reciprocal agreements between governments. The Netherlands had an open sky's policy which meant that any certificated airline was welcome to land and discharge or board passengers in Amsterdam. Most others bartered landing rights. In other words, if Air France wanted to fly into New York, they would offer the U.S. landing rights in Paris to Pan American Airways, and so on. Once they started flying into the U.S. they came under American Civil Aviation Rules. All air lines operating outside the U.S. also had to conform to I.A.T.A. Rules, which are the "International" rules governing air line operations. One of these rules was that an airline was forbidden to give away its service in order to obtain business. This did not preclude the payment of set commissions to Travel Agents, which were set at 10% of sales.

While all the airlines swore that they observed these rules, none that I know of, did. For instance, a Travel Agent would have a large group that wanted to fly and tour Europe. The agent was free to choose the international airline of his choice. He would contact his Sales Rep. for airline "A" and offer to book his group with them but wanted more commission than the 10%. If airline "A" refused, he would approach airline "B". As an example, he may eventually obtain an additional $25 per head plus a free seat or two for his tour leader. What would happen after the business materialized, an employee (most probably an especially faithful accounting person) would meet with the local manager and Travel Agent and pay him in cash for the business received. Some Travel Agents, especially the ones that had a very high number of ethnic travelers, such as Polish, Jewish, Greek, etc. could make many thousands of dollars under the table. The practice of airlines paying under the table money or free seats became so bad that the airlines Presidents convened a meeting that took place in Dublin, Ireland. They all came to an agreement to stop the illegal practice and pledged to enforce the rules with their world wide offices. This became known as the "Dublin Agreement". I'm writing this background information because of something that happened to me, and is an example to my children of what can happen in life that you don't expect.

As Manger of the Hartford office, the salesmen and I were approached many times by Agents and others for override payments and often complied to obtain the business. After the Dublin agreement I had a staff meeting and advised the salesmen that we could not participate in any more such practices. It was not very much later that I received a phone call from an Agent offering to book a very large group with me but wanted an override commission. I explained the Dublin agreement and offered to book his group however; I could not pay him any more than the standard commission. He said no and hung up. A few days later I received a phone call from my Regional Manager in New York. The Agent had gone over my head and spoken to him. He had agreed to the override. I asked him about the Dublin agreement and he told me that he had special permission to take the group and to go ahead with the booking. It was for a group that would be departing several months later.

The months passed, and the group departed and returned. The Agent called me and wanted to know when he could expect his override commission which was going to be a couple of thousand dollars. I contacted the Regional Manager who told me he would take care of it. A few more weeks passed and no payment. It was just about that time that I received a phone call from Margret, the regional managers' secretary. She would not tell me anything except that I was going to get a call from the new company V.P. and that I should tell him the truth and that this was very important. She would say no more and hung up. A couple of days later I received the phone call from Luke Asjes, the new Dutch head of sales for the U.S. operation. He informed me that a two day meeting was to be held in New York the following Tuesday morning for all management staff in the U.S.A. Since I would be attending the meeting he wanted to see me in his office on Tuesday morning prior to the meeting. Needless to say I was bewildered about what was going on.

Flying down to New York on Monday night, I was at the meeting with Asjes at 8am. Mr. Asjes asked me if I was aware of the Dublin Accords. I said that I was. He produced a company memo that was addressed to me and asked me if I had received the memo. I said that I had never seen it. He asked me to read it. It was a memo from my regional manager, in it he said that I had been warned about the Dublin Accords and that I had deliberately taken a group against his orders and he was holding me personally responsible. I told Luke Asjes that I had never seen the memo and that in fact I had taken the group on the orders of the Regional Manager. He told me that he believed me, that I should proceed out to JFK airport Hotel; attend the meeting that was to start at 11:30 with a luncheon. He cautioned me not to speak with my regional manager. Actually, The Regional Manager was not at the meeting. Although my room phone rang several times, I never answered it. The meeting went on for two days; it was an introduction of Luke Asjes as the new Sales Manager of KLM in the USA and plans for the future of the Company.

At the conclusion of the meeting, I found out what had happened in New York after I had left Luke Asjes office. I learned that his secretary, Margret, had typed up the memo and was instructed to destroy the original and place the copy in my file. He was then going to use this memo to fire me. I don't know why Margret turned that memo over to Luke Asjes. I really didn't know Margret other than to say hello to her when I visited the Regional office. When I found out, I thanked her profusely for saving my job. She would only say that she did not like dishonesty and couldn't work for someone who would do such an underhanded thing. I understand that after I left Mr. Asjes office, he sent for the regional manager and confronted him with the memo. He confessed what he had done and was escorted from the building by security and as a Dutch employee, sent home to Holland. I found out that Luke Asjes was not a man to tolerate lies. Incidentally, the agent got his payment. And there were no more breaking the Dublin Accords.

This is a very long blog but I don't think my children ever knew this event in my life and I don't know what the moral of this event is, perhaps, "if the company has a rule, don't break it, even if your manger tells you to" or perhaps it's "you are a very lucky person if you have a guardian angel you didn't know you had". It may also be a good idea to be friendly to everybody. You never know when you may need a friend. Incidentally, sometime later I received a letter of apology from Holland. He was no longer with KLM and asked for my forgiveness. I never replied.