REMEMBERING PHILIPPINE AIRLINES #60

I was sitting at the computer thinking about the next Blog, and wondering what I would write. Then, I recalled that my daughter Karen had suggested that I write about some of the trips I had been on. So, here's one I took to the Philippines, in 1968.

Philippine Airlines and KLM had an agreement that the two airlines share routes and aircraft. Some of KLM's aircraft were painted with the Philippine Airline logo on one side and the KLM logo on the other. I recall that this caused quite a commotion at the Detroit airport, at one of our arrivals there. One of our charters was returning from Amsterdam and the control tower gave KLM permission to land. They had no idea that the KLM aircraft was painted with the Philippine logo on the other side. When the aircraft turned around at the end of the landing, to taxi to the terminal, the control tower went crazy. They had no idea how a Philippine Airlines jet had landed at Detroit without permission, and where was the KLM aircraft? It caused a lot of concern. When the tower finally figured it out, they wanted to kill me for not telling them. Problem was, I had no idea of the paint job either. I informed the companies to please have the pilots inform the tower, on all future flights, that they had a dual paint job.

Back in July or August of 1968, Philippine Airlines and KLM had decided to give a familiarization tour to the Philippines for some key KLM Sales Managers. The trip would be to Manila for three days, then on to the mountain city of Baguio for two days, and then to Hong Kong for three days. There were twenty selected participants. Stig Edgrig, KLM's Tours Manager, was our leader on the trip. Besides me, there were District and Regional Managers and a few of our top District Managers. It was a great trip, as P.A.L. had pulled out all the stops. In Manila, in addition to an intensive city tour, we explored the countryside. We took a boat trip to Corregidor to see where our troops had made a futile last stand against the Japanese in WWII. We entered the tunnels built in many areas throughout the island. On the outside, we saw all the old, rusted cannons that pointed out to sea. The main problem with them was that they could only shoot straight ahead; they had no way of turning the guns right or left. The Philippine, British, and American troops that were captured on Corregidor were taken on the infamous "Bataan Death March". When MacArthur returned to retake the Island, the Japanese occupiers took refuge in the many tunnels. They refused to come out and surrender, so the American troops just bulldozed the entrances close. They say that for several weeks you could hear the gun shots as the Japanese committed suicide rather than surrender. Not a very pretty story.

The President of P.A.L. invited us to his home for a gala dinner. I would call it more of a palace. You could sit at least fifty people in the dining room. What a contrast to the poverty we saw around Manila. I had noted the number of children who were carrying old empty five gallon containers that they would fill with water, and then carry them home. That was, no doubt, the family's water supply. I saw that they all seemed to be smiling and laughing with each other. I mentioned that fact to our host, to what he answered: "That's because they are happy with their lives". You couldn't help but make comparisons between the opulent life style of the wealthy and the way the rest of the people lived. Their homes were all walled in, surrounded by beautiful gardens, and cared for by many gardeners, maids and household workers. Our host thought it very funny when he secretly set off some firecrackers under the table. In some ways, the Philippines were a little child like.

During one of our tours in the countryside, I saw a family in a field cutting rice with some sort of interesting wooden cutting tool. I asked the driver to stop so I could take some pictures. One old man came out of the rice paddy and asked our driver if I wanted to take his picture. I took some pictures and had the driver ask the man if he would sell the wooden tool. He agreed and I gave him five dollars. The driver was a little dismayed; he said that was more than the old man could make in a year. No wonder the old guy was happy.

We flew on an old DC-3 P.A.L. aircraft up to the mountain village of Baguio. I noted that the pilot had a large telephone book that he sat on so he could see out the windshield. We also learned that the mountain jungle we flew over still had tribes that were head hunters; they lived their lives without ever seeing a white man. That made us all hope that the old DC-3 was in good working order. The USA had built a large Military field hospital and recovery center in Baguio. This was separated from the nearby village. The village was very interesting; you would see villagers shopping at open air markets; there were bamboo cages with live chickens for sale. Several people had live chickens hanging from their waist by a string. Because they had no refrigeration, the chickens were carried home live, killed, and eaten for dinner. The most modern structure in the village was an orphanage, and must have been built after the war. The orphanage was run by nuns and the children all seemed well cared for. They sold handmade wood items in a little gift shop. I purchased several carved wood Madonna images, to bring home as gifts. Returning to Manila that night on the same old DC-3, we again stayed overnight at the beautiful Manila Hotel that had been our home for the previous three nights. The next day it was off to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was an exciting place to visit. It was here that the U.S. sent their military personnel for leave during the Vietnam War; it was a shopper's paradise. The first night we were taken to the famous Floating Restaurant in Aberdeen Harbor. It was decorated with Cantonese red lanterns, gold swirling dragons and traditional Chinese motifs. Of course, fish was the main menu. On the side of the restaurant, there were fish pens; the waiter would use a net to pick out a live fish and show it to you for your approval, before cooking it.

On the following day, we were taken back to Aberdeen Harbor to see the hundreds of small fishing junks, tethered together to form a living communities of Chinese people. We were told that almost every morning the authorities would patrol the waters and pick up the corpses of people who had died during the night. Families living on the junks had little money to pay for burials, so they just rolled the deceased into the sea, for the authorities to take care of. I understand that in the very poor areas of the city, they just left the dead by the side of the road.

Our hotel was just outside Kowloon Park. I could look out the window in the morning and watch throngs of people doing their morning exercises. It was well known in Honk Kong that you could order a suit in the morning and wear it that night. Several of us decided to purchase a suit. The tailor came to our rooms with samples of fabric; once selected and a price determined, the tailor would take your measure; at noon they would be back for a fitting, and about five PM they delivered the final product. The fabric was mostly British fine woolens, and the fit was great. I had mine for several years. There were many small shops where craftsmen carved beautiful chests or worked in silver or gold. I purchased a large round brass tray that could be made into a table or hung on the wall. I gave it to Kirby, just last year. In one small shop they printed "Funeral Money". This was placed in the coffin to assure the dead person had money on their arrival in heaven. Another market sold gold fish, I'm sure there was nothing you might want, that you couldn't find in Hong Kong.

On the third day in the area, I took the Catamaran boat to Macau, the former Portuguese colony on the border with China. It is a very picturesque town built by the Portuguese, but later harbored several different nationalities. Most people go to Macau for the Casinos, which were packed with Chinese gamblers. I contributed a few dollars to their economy and then walked up a road to the Chinese/Macau border, where the armed Red Guard kept watch. I was told that the Chinese often pushed their citizens, who were sick or infirm, across the border at night, so they didn't have to care for them. At that time China was closed to tourism, so I didn't cross the border. One thing that I did note was a very large Levi's factory very close to the border. I imagine that was to employ cheap Chinese labor. It's been going on for a while, I guess.

The following day we boarded our P.A.L. jet to SanFrancisco, and then, on to New York.

 

 

 

NEW YORK, NEW YORK #59

January in New York can be pretty cold, and 1972 was no exception. On top of that there was a work dispute with the garbage collectors; trash was building up along with the winter snows. New Yorkers, however, seem to take everything in stride. I guess I could now classify myself as a New Yorker. Remembering back to the 1940's when I was in the Canadian Army, and visited New York for a day. I was so impressed when I viewed the city from the top of the Empire State Building, to which I had hoped to return some day. There is a difference between being a one day visitor and a full time resident. As a resident you have to cope with realities of day to day living in a cosmopolitan city of millions of people. Although I had been living in New York for several years, it was on a part time basis and I could escape the city with my business travels and weekends at home. Now New York was to be my full time home. Fortunately, I could still escape on business and I would take full advantage of being able to do so.

It was time to catch up on the District Office visits that I had promised to Kielman, the big boss. Unlike the assistant regional manager's job where I was only involved in the Eastern Regional offices, I now had the additional offices that made up the USA organization. The main stations for charters were New York, Boston, Miami, Detroit, Chicago, and the West Coast. There was no reason why all stations couldn't get charter business, and I wanted to prove that Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte and other smaller districts could sell charters too. My plan was to reach out to our largest producers first and then get to the others, as soon as possible. The main stations only produced two or three charters per year, except for Detroit, that was producing about fifteen per year. So, the potential was great.

In the first few months, I made calls on our main stations and spoke to all their managers and staff. Even though they were producing, their knowledge was still limited. It was very apparent that my idea of writing a sales manual had become even more important. I decided to complete the manual, prior to visiting more cities. I had phone contact with them all, and knew all the managers from meetings and seminars that we had all attended in the past. In the next couple of months, between meetings in Amsterdam every couple of weeks, I was able to complete the manual. Over the next few weeks I invited each manager to assign one of their staff to become the charter expert in their office, and send that person to an indoctrination meeting in the New York office. I set up dates in New York for several meetings and invited Charter Managers from the Netherlands to attend and contribute to the success of the training sessions. Each attendee was given a copy of the manual to take back to their station.( I keep in touch with a number of my old friends in KLM and they tell me that even after all these years that old manual is still in most of the offices.)

I was combining the meetings in New York with field visits to some of our smaller sales offices. I recall our Sales Representative in Charlotte, NC. His nick name was Johnny Mac. He was a good old southern boy. He was a great salesman and everybody loved him. I would accompany him on some of his sales calls; we would drive in his company car in which he had installed a special horn that blasted "Dixie". I didn't know of the horn until one day we were travelling a country road to the next sales call, when I saw a young black boy, walking along the side of the road ahead of us. As we approached the boy, Johnny Mac hit the horn. That young man must have jumped five feet in the air. I must admit that it was pretty funny but I told Johnny Mac that the horn had to go. It was not in keeping with the KLM image. I still remember Johnny Mac, as I'm sure others do, as a great salesman and a fun person to be with. Whenever I got to Charlotte, he would invite me to dinner at his home. He had a very nice wife and a couple of boys. I don't know if he ever took out the horn. I never asked him.

 

GOODBYE ITALY, HELLO NEW YORK #58

It was good to be back in my office in New York, and in my own apartment. I was hoping that I could stay put for awhile. I loved to travel and hoped to do much more, but, it's always good to have a place of your own, a place where you can put your feet up and just relax. I guess it's more than just an apartment; it's a sanctuary from the everyday stress of schedules, deadlines, and budgets.

The office staff seemed happy to have me back; of course, I had to prepare reports and expense accounts for the Auto Owners' trip. Money wise, the trip was not that expensive for the company. Transportation did not cost anything as all the airline travel was on free passes. Hotels were all complimentary, as were a lot of meals. The major expense was on car rentals and a few meals. Rudy Postmaa, who traveled with me, paid all his own expenses. With all reports, both written and orally completed, I was turning my thoughts to the district offices and the charter manual that I was writing for them.

Although I was in New York during the week, I was commuting back and forth to Michigan every weekend that I could. I had missed a couple of weekends during the Auto Owners trip in May of 1971. So I was trying to make up every weekend that I could. Helen had been very angry that I was missing some weekends, especially the two in May. I decided to take a couple of weeks off and take care of some building projects that she wanted to do at Island Lake in Rose City, Michigan.

The home at Island Lake was built on a hill overlooking the lake. Helen wanted a series of stairs and landings leading from the house down to the lake. It would also be a good idea to build a large deck out the side of the house and a large shed to keep the snowmobiles. Kirby was an avid snowmobiler in winter and fisherman in summer. Anyway, I took the days off and built the decks, stairs and shed. Still, relations at home were not good. Except for the two weeks, I saw very little of my children. It seemed that they had gotten used to my not being around, and had things going on in their lives that kept them busy every weekend that I was there. I missed them very much. It was New years Eve 1971/72, when I was at Island Lake. Helen and I got into a serious argument over my work, and this led to our separation and later divorce.

Looking back over the years, Helen was never happy over my leaving EasternAirlines for KLM. She was of the opinion that when you joined a company, you stayed with them until you get a gold watch and retired. That was her life experience with her family. Her father had a job and worked there most of his adult life until retirement. I take full responsibility for our breakup. My work had developed into something that Helen and I had not anticipated; she was a good mother and a hardworking homemaker. I'm sure she never anticipated my many days away, where she would have to be both mother and father to three young children. Looking at my children today, she did a good job, and I will always be thankful to her for that.

1972 didn't start off too well from a personal point of view; I wouldn't be a commuter to Michigan any more. I would settle in New York. Life is sure funny, it can up and bite you when you least expect it. In any event, I had my job and a place to live. I drove down to the KLM Detroit office and turned in the company car; I wouldn't need that any more. Fortunately, it was New Years day so I just left the keys, along with a note that I did not need the car any more. I was happy that I didn't have to speak with anyone. I took a taxi to the airport and flew back to New York.

 

 

ROME, THE ETERNAL CITY #57

After visiting and working in Naples, Rudy and I drove north and accessed the modernized section of the Appian Way to Rome, at Capua. The original Appian Way, was built in 312 BC to move the Roman Armies South, parts of which are still in use today and have many important historical landmarks. All of Italy is full of history going back many centuries before the birth of Christ. Although Rudy and I were going to Rome to finalize the arrangements for the Auto Owners groups, I was certainly going to take time to explore more of the city. I had been to Rome in the summer of 1962, when I had spent a couple of days there with the family on a European vacation, including Holland and Greece.

The drive to Rome took us along the coast and through the Appian Mountains. It took us about five or six hours before arriving in the city and driving down the Via Vittorio Veneto to the famous Excelsior Hotel. We were happy to learn that the hotel was providing us with a two bedroom suite. Shortly after checking in, we received a phone call from Antonio Del Balzo, who identified himself as the Sales Manager for the Excelsior; he was welcoming us to the hotel and invited us to dine with him that evening. We met that evening in the cocktail lounge. Del Balzo had brought along Dr. Alberto Scialenga, Director of Marketing for CIGA Hotels. After a cocktail, we had dinner in the dining room. I was a little amazed how the staff attended us, even the chef came to the table to be sure we were happy with what he had prepared. Dr. Scialenga spoke about the history of C.I.G.A. Hotels and about how many American guests stay at his hotels. They were represented by H.R.I., a large firm in New York, and had booked a few groups from some of the U.S. travel agents that I knew. He was a very interesting gentleman who had travelled a great deal in the States. He was very likeable and I was sure that he liked his job very much. He made us both seem very welcome. Del Balzo, on the other hand, seemed happy to let Alberto do the talking. After our very special dinner, Rudy made an appointment with Del Balzo for the next morning to discuss the needed rooms and agree on a rate. We were talking about fourteen hundred people, so Rudy was expecting a very reasonable rate.

I left the hotel negotiations to Rudy as it was up to him to give Auto Owners a land package price, per person. I had already given them my price for the KLM charters. I wanted to visit the Le Grand Hotel, the sister hotel to the Excelsior. Although the Excelsior was a deluxe category, the Le Grand was even a more traditional, old world, luxury property that catered to the very wealthy, titled and celebrated clientele. They never took groups, no matter how important they were. I met Sr. Mario Miconi, who I found out also managed the Excelsior. He arranged to have one of his staff show me the hotel. I spent about two hours visiting rooms, suites, dining rooms and sitting rooms. I even got to visit the back of the house, kitchens, and housekeeping. At the time, Richard Burton and Elizabeth were staying at the hotel with all their cats. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet them. I was very impressed with the property, I'm sure the artwork and oil paintings alone were worth a small fortune.

After a coffee and snack at a sidewalk café, I went to St. Peters and spent the rest of the afternoon admiring this great Basilica's art treasures. I even got into the Vatican treasury which is open to the public. I have no idea how many millions of dollars are represented by the gifts from all over the world, for centuries, to the Popes. They were comprised of gold statues, bejeweled vessels, paintings and art; some had been gifts from the very poor, some from the wealthy or from world leaders. I also managed to get down into the catacombs under St. Peters, where a number of Popes are buried. There was so much to see, so much to learn. From St Peters I took a taxi to Trevi Fountain, where I tossed in a coin to assure my return to Rome. When I got back to the hotel, Rudy told me of his visit with Del Balzo and the rate he had obtained. It was not as low as he wanted but he felt that eventually he could get it down and would later make some calls from his office when he got home. In the mean time he had his blocked room space. We had dinner at a local restaurant on the Via Veneto, a night cap at the hotel bar, and retired. On the following day, we would take a flight to Amsterdam and a connecting KLM flight to New York.

AN INTERESTING FLIGHT TO ROME #56

Yugoslavian Airlines were not quite up to KLM standards but Rudy and I had no other choice flying between Zagreb and Rome. The flight was jam packed with Italian oil workers from oil fields somewhere East of Yugoslavia; they were returning to Rome for vacation time. Seats on the aircraft were three abreast and Rudy and I got the last two middle seats in different rows. In my row, I had a burley oil worker on each side. We were hardly off the runway when the workers started to pass a bottle of whiskey back and forth in front of me. It was obvious that they had already consumed about half the bottle before landing in Zagreb. They tried to talk to me, but I didn't speak Italian and they knew no English, so they decided to communicate in sign language. Smiling broadly, they pointed to the bottle and then to my mouth. I shook my head no, but they were quite insistent; looking at their size, I thought that rather than create an international incident, I would take a swallow. This was followed by a couple of more swallows; I don't know what I was drinking, but after a couple of swigs, it didn't taste too bad. They finished the bottle just before landing at Rome's airport. Getting up to disembark they shook my hand and slapped me on the back. I didn't understand a word they said, but it sounded very friendly.

After clearing immigration, we proceeded to the baggage claim area. Unfortunately my suitcase was nowhere to be found. It was a mob scene in the terminal and any one could have picked it up, perhaps by mistake; maybe they didn't load it on the plane in Zagreb, although Rudy and I were the only two passengers getting on that flight. My bag was an almost new two-suiter and besides all my clothes, toiletries etc. I had my camera and pictures. The baggage supervisor called Zagreb, but they said that it was not there. I have a picture in my mind of some Arab riding a camel wearing my Brooks Bros. suit.

We rented a car and took off for Naples; we wanted to see the Excelsior Hotel where the Automobile Owners groups would be staying. We also wanted to look into local activities that the groups could do during their two day stay in Naples, before their trip to Rome. The Excelsior Hotel was a member of the C.I.G.A. chain of deluxe properties. It sits overlooking a beautiful bay and the harbor of Saint Lucia. It was built in 1909 to be fashioned after the Ritz of Paris, the London Savoy, and The Le Grand Hotel in Rome. My daughter Karen stayed there when she was in Naples, touring Europe. The rooms either looked out over the bay or the now dormant Mount Vesuvius. That evening we had a wonderful dinner, a drink at the bar, and then retired early as we had lots to do and see in the morning.

After a hearty breakfast Rudy and I set off to visit Pompeii, the famous city that was buried for centuries after Mt. Vesuvius erupted, in AD 79. It was mostly a forgotten city until the 18^th century when it was accidentally rediscovered. Ever since, there have been extensive excavations. It's fascinating to walk the narrow streets and think of the Roman chariots that once traversed those roads. A number of buildings have well preserved frescos on their walls. A small museum has many artifacts dug from the ground, including petrified remains of people and animals preserved in the lava that they could not escape. This was going to be one of the day trips on the A.O. tour, for sure.

Naples has many small restaurants and bars with lots of local charm and color. Rudy wanted to plan one dinner in a local restaurant, but we couldn't find one that would seat 200 plus people. After visiting one restaurant and speaking to the owner, but deciding that it wouldn't do, the owner came running after us crying out that he would build one for us. Rudy decided that we would just have to use the hotel dining room at the Excelsior. It was a beautiful room with opulent décor, walled in long mirrors, hung with white glass chandeliers and draped in pure silk. A wonderful room, elegant, but it was still a hotel, and Rudy wanted to give the group some local color.

We had the opportunity to meet with Massimo Rosati, the Hotel Manager. Rudy had to sit down with him and negotiate the rate per night, the meals, and any extras that might be needed. I excused myself as I didn't want to be involved in Rudy's negotiations; he would fill me in later. I used the time to walk around the city and take in as much as I could of the local atmosphere. I know that there was a lot of destruction during the war when the American Army invaded. There were still signs here and there, but the city had survived and was very much alive. The first morning we were in Naples, I had taken off and done some early morning shopping. I still had a few things to purchase, including a suitcase, so I put the time to good use.

Tomorrow, we would drive up the Apian Way to Rome and the Excelsior. I was looking forward to exploring Rome

ON THE ROAD TO DUBROVNIK #55

Our road to Dubrovnik started in Amsterdam, where Rudy and I boarded a KLM flight to Zagreb, in what used to be Yugoslavia, in the days of Tito. Our plan was to rent a car in Zagreb and drive through the Dinaric Alps to Dubrovnik, which is located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The Dinaric Alps are not anywhere as high as the Swiss Alps, but are a continuation of the Swiss Chain. Zagreb is now the Capitol of Croatia, very near the Slovenia boarder.

Since KLM was paying for renting the car, it was decided that I would drive, a decision that I should have given a little more attention to. The route took us through what is now Bosnia Herzegovina. I would have to say that I certainly had driven on better roads, as this one twisted and turned through the mountains. I have always considered myself a good driver, but these roads had no guard rails; on top of this, it was raining. The car would slip and slide, and we came close to a nasty drop into the valley below. Finally we came upon a roadside restaurant that didn't look too bad, (and I needed to get my breath back); I pulled in so we could get a bite to eat. Neither Rudy nor I spoke Croatian and this was a very modest, local restaurant. When we walked in, all conversation stopped, as the locals stared at this couple of tourists. We managed to get a menu, which unfortunately had no English or Dutch subtitles. We had no idea what we were ordering, so we just pointed to an item that looked like it was something we thought would sure suit our purpose.

Lesson number one: never order anything that you have no idea of what it is. It ended up that we had ordered wild boar head. The plate that was put before me was one half of a boar's head, complete with one ear and one eye, which seemed to stare at me. The ear still had hair on it. I have to give Rudy credit, because he ate his. I'm sure the cook probably enjoyed mine, as I just left it on my plate. We had changed some money in Zagreb, so we paid the amount shown on the menu, left a more than a generous tip, and took our leave. We heard a lot of laughter as the door closed behind us. Thankfully, Rudy agreed to take over the driving. I'm sure that I had given him some white hair on a few of the curves, when I was driving.

It was late afternoon, when we arrived just outside Dubrovnik, since you cannot drive into the city, we checked into a local hotel on the outskirts. I don't recall the name of the hotel, but I remember that it was modern and had no doubt been built after World War Two. I was happy to see that it was a hotel that catered to the international trade. We had single rooms that were very comfortable, and had dinner in the hotel restaurant, that had an English menu. Walking around the hotel after dinner I was surprised to see that it had a casino; the casino was owned by the owners of Hurrah's Club in Reno Nevada. I'll tell you more about that later, we retired early as we wanted to see the city in the morning.

Dubrovnik was a city built during the Middle Ages. We learned that it achieved a great deal of its growth and development in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, when it was a major seaport and a center of trade; it was walled, to protect it from the constant threats by the Ottoman Empire and by Venice. There is no vehicle traffic within the city; the narrow cobblestone streets are lined with small shops and many quaint open air restaurants, that serve wine and local liquor to patrons at small tables outdoors, and in tree lined squares. The town is built on a hill; some of the streets are quite steep, others lead down to the sea and the old fortresses. Rudy had chartered an Epirotiki Line cruise ship that would carry the Auto Owners group between Dubrovnik and Naples. The cruise would go down the Adriatic coast, around the boot of Italy, into Naples. We were not able to see the ship, as Dubrovnik was not a port where it regularly called, except when on a charter basis. After a full day of walking and exploring, we retired to the hotel. Rudy wanted to visit Sveti Stefan the following day as he was considering adding this historic city as a day trip for the group while they were in Dubrovnik.

Sveti Stefan lies south of Dubrovnik, on the central part of Montenegro Adriatic coast line. It is a small island with a 15^th century fortified village named after Saint Stephen. It was built to defend against the Turks and eventually became a haven for pirates. The island coast line is only about 2 miles in length, but is connected by a narrow isthmus to the mainland. Nearby, on the mainland, there were two pink, sandy beaches. It was well worth the drive, and Rudy did include it as a day trip on the A. O. itinerary.

Back at the hotel, I found a note from someone at the casino who wanted to see me. I don't remember his name, but he was the Casino manager. I noted from the On the previous evening I had noticed that the casino was not very busy, and when I made my way to the meeting, there were only a handful of people at the tables. The manager was interested in why we were visiting the hotel, noting that I was with KLM. I told him it was an exploratory trip and that we were looking at the facilities with the possibility of bringing in some charter flights. At that point he wanted to know if I could promote gambling trips from the USA to the hotel and casino. If I could do that, he would pay me a commission of 25% of whatever amount of money the charter members lost. I was a little taken back by the offer, and told him that it was not anything I would be interested in doing, so he upped the offer to 50 %. I guess they were desperate to get players in that casino. I thanked him for his offer, but promoting that kind of business was not in my job description.

On the following day, Rudy and I drove back to Zagreb. We were to take a Yugoslavian Airline flight to Rome. That will be the next chapter of this saga.

 

 

 

 

 

THE BIG SALE #54

I was making good progress on my visits to the Regional Sales offices. As expected, the sales staff was reluctant to approach a potential charter client as they had never had any training in this aspect of air transportation. Thinking back to my years with Eastern Airlines, I recall a time when I was approached by someone who wanted to charter an Eastern aircraft and asked me how much it would cost. When I inquired from the company, I was told that the cost would be much higher than the per seat cost for a normal ticket. Eastern was missing out on a great revenue opportunity; they often had aircraft available that they could have been sold on a charter basis. They just didn't see this as a market. I guess that's just one more reason why they are no longer in business.

K.L.M. saw whole aircraft charters as a new market; I was fortunate to now be in charge of this market in the U.S.A. I started to set up a series of sales meetings and invited the regional offices sales staff to come to New York and participate. I created a "Charter Sales Manual" with the instructions on procedures, copies of typical charter contracts, and C.A.B regulations. I also had the agreement of Tubby Walker to spend an hour at each session to discuss C.A.B. regulations. The most important rule at that time was that all the passengers must have the same affinity, such as all participants actually being employees of a single company or members of the same clubs or organizations. It was not beneath the C.A.B. to send an inspector to the business, club or organization to check on the validity of the membership.

While I was District Manager in Detroit, I had been in contact with Auto Owners Insurance Company. They wanted to have a sales contest among the agents who sold their insurance policies, so they asked me to suggest a program that would involve a flight to Europe and a one week tour. I didn't handle hotels, land arrangements, etc, so I brought in Rudy Postmaa of Emhage Tours. Rudy was a good friend who had handled several other land tours for me; I knew his arrangements were always excellent. Rudy was a graduate from the University of Michigan. His family owned a large travel agency in Amsterdam, so after graduation, Rudy decided to stay in Michigan and open a branch office of Emhage Tours. This tour company still exists today under the name of Image Tours.

Rudy called me in New York and told me that Auto Owners had made a decision on an Itinerary by which we'd fly into Dubrovnik, in Yugoslavia, stay there for two nights, then board a cruise ship and cruise for two nights to Italy; they would then spend a couple of days in Naples, go up the Apian Way to Rome for three nights, and then fly home. This would make a total of 10 nights, including the overnight flight to Dubrovnik. Auto Owners was requesting a total of seven back to back charters. They wanted to charter the new Boeing 747 that carried 200 passengers. With a total of 1,400 passengers, this was the largest charter sale KLM had ever had up to that time. I flew to Amsterdam for consultation with the people in the Charter Department. Looking at the itinerary, there was a question as to whether the 747 could land in Dubrovnik. The single runway was just the minimum required. We brought in KLM's Chief pilot who decided that he wanted a test flight to be sure it was going to be adequate. The test flight was set up for the following day. I was granted permission to go along. We had several other passengers from various departments that went along. When I had been talking with the Chief Pilot I was telling him that I had a private pilot's license and, a one time, had wanted to get a commercial license. However, when I went in for the medical tests, they found that I was "shade blind" and could not get a commercial license. I'm not color blind, as an example, I can't see the difference between dark blue and black. You can imagine how happy I was when the Captain invited me to sit in the jump seat; the jump seat is a small hinged folding seat between the pilot and co-pilot. It was an unexpected privilege that I remember even today.

The test flight was without incident and, although the landing and takeoff used up the entire runway, the chief pilot gave his approval for the charter flights. I took the time to visit Emhage Tours in Amsterdam and met with Rudy's father. He was a retired teacher who used to organize student groups who then travelled throughout Europe. (My daughter Karen had been on one of their European student tours and she had a great time). Upon retirement, he decided to make tourism a business. It really took off and he had over twenty employees, both administrative and tour conductors. Upon return to New York, I spoke to Rudy and gave him the good news. He told me that Auto Owners wanted me to come to Michigan for a meeting.

Rudy and I met with Ralph Moulton, President of Auto Owners, and Max Tanner, their Vice President. I gave them the KLM flight schedule I had worked out. The first charter would be one way to Dubrovnik. This group would then travel via the land and cruise itinerary to Rome. The next charter would be from Rome to Detroit to bring the first group home. This charter from Rome would then pick up group two and take them to Dubrovnik, and so on. In other words the first charter would be one way, as would be the last charter that would bring the final group home. The other charters would be full in both directions. In this way Auto Owners would only have to pay for two empty legs at the empty leg rate. The other five would be at the full charter rate.

Rudy then went over the details of the land arrangements. Ralph Moulton wanted to add a gala dinner in Rome. The C.I.G.A. Excelsior hotel in Rome, where all the groups would be staying, had a special Roman theme dinner where all the participants dressed in robes, etc as they did in early Roman days. The hotel would provide all the material needed for the participants to make a costume. Rudy said that he would set this up. Auto Owners was very concerned that this program goes without any problems. The passengers were going to be the top producers for them and any unwanted problems would reflect on Auto Owners. Both Rudy and I assured them that both of us would check and recheck every detail including a dry-run to be sure everything went smoothly. I told them about the flight I had been on to Dubrovnik to check out flight procedures and airport facilities. They were pleased about that and said that if this proved successful, they would plan for more such programs.

Upon leaving Auto Owners, Rudy suggested that the two of us go over the entire itinerary together. I told him that I would have to clear it with the home office. When I got back to New York I spoke to Fritz Kielman about the importance of the Auto Owners business and that I had the promise of even more business if this program I had set up went off well. I asked him for approval of a pass for Rudy and his permission for me to accompany him. It was no problem, Fritz knew that Rudy was becoming one of KLM's top producing agents and he also wanted to see more traffic from Auto Owners.

In the next blog I will tell you about our trip.