Some collusion attempts become famous. In 1982, Robert Crandall, CEO of
American Airlines, phoned Howard Putnam, CEO of Braniff Airlines. Mr. Putnam was
taping the call and gave the tape to The Wall Street Journal:
Crandall: I think it's dumb as hell, for Christ's sake, all right, to sit here
and pound the [expletive] out of each other and neither one of us is making a
[expletive] dime.
Putnam: Well...
Crandall: I mean, you know, goddam, what the [expletive] is the point of it?
Putnam: Nobody asked American to serve Harlingen, nobody asked American to serve
Kansas City, and there were low fares in there, you know, before. So...
Crandall: You better believe it, Howard. But you, you, you know, the complex is
here�ain't gonna change a goddam thing, all right. We can, we can both live
here, and there ain't no room for Delta. But there's, ah, no reason that I can
see, all right, to put both companies out of business.
Putnam: But if you're going to overlay every route of American's on top of over,
on top of every route that Braniff has�I can't just sit here and allow you to
bury us without giving our best effort.
Crandall: Oh, sure, but Eastern and Delta do the same thing in Atlanta and have
for years.
Putnam: Do you have a suggestion for me?
Crandall: Yes, I have a suggestion for you. Raise your goddam fares 20%. I'll
raise mine the next morning.
Putnam: Robert, we...
Crandall: You'll make more money and I will too
Putnam: We can't talk about pricing.
Crandall: Oh [expletive], Howard. We can talk about any goddam thing we want to
talk about.