Splash of Colors, The Self-Destruction of Braniff International - Book Review

John J. Nance, a former Braniff pilot and author of the documentary Splash of Colors, details a compelling story about the failure of a long-standing, multi-billion dollar airline that once held a position as the eighth largest carrier of the time.

Take trip back in time to 1928 when Braniff's first president, Tom Braniff, established this mail carrier. The 5-passenger single-engine prop aircraft flying out of Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Wichita Falls would become a major passenger carrier with international routes and a fleet of jets.

The story reveals the tremendous effects unions have on business with demands that drove higher salaries for pilots, ground crews and in-flight personnel. This, added to the pressure of funds already stretched to the maximum, would eventually seal Braniff International's fate and crash the business into bankruptcy.

Harding Lawrence, President from 1965 through December 31, 1980, with the rapid expansion of the company found himself fraught with under-qualified executives of junior and senior rank." Referred to as "empty suits" he blamed his "calcified, uncommunicative senior officers in operational, sales and service areas". . . whom he believed "were at least two levels above their maximum level of competence." He attempted to infuse "new, more qualified executive management talent" into the company using headhunters and personnel agencies.

The inner workings of corporate America are exemplified in this story which serves as both an example and a warning of what can happen when power and greed take the reins. The story also details the importance of hiring and training qualified corporate management candidates who have the aptitude and skill level required.

At a time when air travel remained glamorous, Braniff excelled at providing extraordinary meals and flight service in the air. Extravagant paint schemes, designer uniforms, two-for one fares, non-profitable routes, overhead and service contracts in foreign countries, interest on collateral loans, and lack of communication, all played a role in the demise of the airline.

The multi-million dollar expansion of its worldwide headquarters added to the burden of debt and steep overhead. Combined with the number of successors in the role of President and CEO with guaranteed hiring packages and golden parachute deals, the soaring cost thwarted any return to profitability.

Nance writes a compelling account of conversations in board rooms, at interviews, and in management circles which lend the intimacy of practically being in the room. He explains the pitfalls of corporate decisions leading to diminished job enthusiasm and details how fierce competition for recognition led to disregard for employee initiative.

He shares insight into the deadly Jericho memorandums that dramatically tainted employee morale and inspired internal uprisings. He addresses the silos and isolated nature of organizational communication along with the size of the airline and its operation which had increased over 30 percent in a few short months as being key to failure.

He explains the effect of the deregulation of the airlines which brought fierce competition for the same routes spreading the passenger count between different carriers. Planes operating below capacity resulted in lowered profitability. During the same time, fuel costs rose exponentially with fares failing to keep up with the costs of operation. The bottom line suffered the red ink of diminishing revenue paired with inflationary costs of operation.

The book details the inner workings of a corporate board of directors and their role in debt restructuring of capital equipment, the expansion of Braniff into new unproven routes, the purchase of multi-million dollar jets, employee demands for competitive salaries and other factors like dirty tricks played by competitors and reservation agencies.

Traveling deep beyond the newspaper headlines into the realms of corporate sabotage, fierce competition with other airlines, dirty tricks and politics, of multi-million dollar deals gone sour, the story takes the reader on a voyage into the minds and workings of the people who both loved and hated the airline. This true story, in four-hundred plus pages travels into oxygen-thin altitudes, shares white knuckle take-offs and landings, and conveys the devastation that thousands of workers felt when learning their jobs and income vanished overnight.

Despite continued efforts of its dedicated employees and workaholic leaders, the company eventually spiraled out of control into a fatal tailspin in May 1982 after multiple attempts at restructuring failed.

The Braniff tradition of loyalty and family camaraderie continues with former employees posting on its many online social groups with memories, photos and experiences they had while working for this peerless and incomparable airline.

About the Author

Vietnam and Desert Storm Veteran, Dallas born John J. Nance is the author of multiple fiction and non-fiction books with 19 on the New York Times best seller's list. He is a professional speaker, licensed attorney, former pilot and a familiar face on ABC World News and Good Morning America.

This first edition copy of the book, published in 1984, was purchased on eBay with hard-back copies also available on Amazon through third-party vendors.

My personal experience as a Braniff employee: My Former Life as a Flight Attendant

My Former Life as a Flight Attendant - Braniff International

Sometimes one phone can turn your life completely around.

For months, I'd been working the late shift as receptionist in a hair salon and attending school in the  morning. My cosmetology training was nearly complete when I decided to take a short vacation. I had a job lined up as a hairstylist once I graduated beauty school and passed the State Bar Exam. 

One of my regular beauty school customers found out I was headed to Texas for a few days. She asked me to call her daughter while I was there. Long-distance calls used to be expensive while local calls were free. She gave me her daughter's business card with the phone number. Little did I know that phone call would change my life.

Once I settled in with the family in Texas, I gave the daughter a call. She was happy to hear news about her mother in Florida. We had a nice conversation. She was an executive in Flight Attendant services for a major airline. I mentioned that I'd always wanted to work as a flight attendant.

"Well, we're currently recruiting flight attendants." My heart skipped a beat. "But I'm not allowed to interview you."

"I understand," I told her somewhat disappointed.

"I'll ask someone to give you a call, but I can't promise anything."

I figured that was the end of it when the phone rang at my mom's house.

"This is Flight Attendant staffing," the caller announced. "Are you available for an interview tomorrow?"

Of course, I said yes. My mom and I immediately went shopping for an appropriate outfit to wear. All I had with me were vacation clothes. We had a great day shopping in downtown Fort Worth where she grew up.

The next day, I borrowed their car and headed to the airport. I weaved my way through a twisting maze at the huge airport, located the right building and found a good parking spot. Walking across the asphalt in the summer Texas heat, I could feel my hair and makeup withering.

The Interview

She asked about my work history and the reasons I wanted to be a flight attendant. I'd been a hostess and stand-in bartender at a couple of expensive restaurants and shared that experience. I'd also worked at banks and my cosmetology training was almost finished.

She also asked questions to evaluate my personality and suitability for the job like, "What would make you make a better flight attendant than someone else?"

 Despite my nervousness, I thought the interview went okay.

Once I got home, the phone rang again.

"Would you be available tomorrow for a group interview.?" There would be a panel of pilots, senior flight attendants, and training instructors that would interview several applicants at the same time. If we made it to the finals, we'd have individual interviews after the group session. Yes!

There was an advantage to not being the first to answer a question. We learned from the reactions of the panel what they didn't want to hear like, "I want to be a flight attendant because I just love people." They were sick of hearing that.

The challenge was to come up with something original after several others already answered the same question. When the group session finished, I was chosen for an individual interview.

Afterward, I resumed my vacation. That's when the phone rang again.

This call changed all my plans going forward. The friendly voice on the phone said I'd been selected to attend Flight Attendant Training starting in one month. A couple of days later, I flew home to Florida. I could hardly believe this happened, until the official offer letter arrived with the date to report for training. I was still in denial.

Over the next few weeks, I finished beauty school, quit my job at the salon, sold most of my belongings, and packed my car for the trip to Texas. Driving through Florida, my roommate and I stopped in Pensacola to take my State Board Exam for my cosmetology license. She'd come with me to be my hair model for the practical exam and flew back to Tampa after that was over. I continued the twelve-hundred-mile drive to Dallas alone.

I'd wanted to become a flight attendant for years. At twenty-one, I applied with Eastern Airlines. They didn't hire married applicants and I got a letter of rejection.

Once I became single again I applied again. This time, they sent a round-trip ticket to Miami for an interview. It took a couple of weeks before another rejection letter came in the mail.

At twenty-five, I applied with Northwest Orient Airlines and went for an interview in Minneapolis, Minnesota in winter time. There were only thirty positions available and they had 800 applicants. We were rushed through the process and told they would let us know the results. A few weeks later, another rejection letter came.

Training in Dallas at the Royal Coach

During the five-week training course, we lived in The Royal Dunfey's Hotel in Dallas. After breakfast, we were bused to the training facility on Lemon Avenue for classroom training and to practice emergency drills and CPR. 

We jumped out of second-story windows onto scorching hot evacuation slides, learned to use fire extinguishers on real fires and fumbled our way through dark airplanes to locate safety equipment. We trained to open exit window hatches. One test required us to open the door of a 747 which was five stories above the ground.

"Again!" the emergency procedures instructor would yell as we practiced pulling the emergency hatch off the mock-up airplane.

"Now toss that hatch on the seat and move those passengers along."

We spent hours practicing airline announcements, reading them from our manuals as required by the FAA. We worked in galley mock-ups learning how to use convection ovens and coffee makers. We served seven-course dinners on real dishes with glassware. We trained for a week on bartending skills learning cocktails and how to serve wine and make Cappuccino.

At night we studied our training manuals and memorized configurations for the fleet of Braniff jets. We formed groups and quizzed each other on airport codes and their abbreviations. We practiced and role-played for hours, but it was nothing like serving onboard a flight with real passengers.

After Graduation

Our travel assignments were based on seniority, the length of time we had with the airline, or within our class, our date of birth. Each month we bid on different flight schedules and those with fifteen years plus with the company got the better schedules like five trips to Hawaii during the month. I longed for that kind of route.

Newbies like us had little seniority and usually flew reserve. That meant nine days off during the month with the rest of the time being on twenty-four-hour call. At a moments notice, scheduling could assign us a trip with a one-hour notice. Usually, we filled in for absent employees or those delayed elsewhere by mechanical difficulties on a previous flight. We had to keep a packed suitcase ready, like an expectant mother.

Despite the unusual hours, the waiting by the phone, the meal service on back-to-back commuter flights, and the rigors of standing for up to fourteen hours at a time, the job was a lot of fun.

I'll always remember those days as some of the best of my life.