Ric,



Any information as to American's response?



John



John F. Henry
Department of Economics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2449

Office Phone: (816) 235-1309
Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Ric Holt [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 3:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SHOE] Galbraith on being bumped from a flight

Some of you know that I am editing a volume of letters by John K. Galbraith for Cambridge University Press. On my way home from Boston where I was doing some research on the project, I was bumped from my flight. For those you have had a similar experience, here was Galbraith's response to such an inconvenience in 1958.
Ric Holt


                                                                        February 3, 1958


Mr. C. R. Smith, President
American Airlines, Inc.
99 Park Avenue
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Smith:

Last night I arrived at the Washington D.C. airport to return to Boston on Flight 376. This was following a regularly scheduled meeting of the Democratic Advisory Council, and as a result my reservations had been made some weeks in advance.  I had duly reconfirmed it on my arrival in Washington the previous morning. I arrived at the airport some ten minutes or more before departure time.

At the gate the agent advised me that I had failed to reconfirm. Since, rather fortunately, I had a witness to the fact that I had reconfirmed, he then advised that the airplane was full and that certain passengers were being excluded because of gasoline requirements. In short, more seats had been sold than the plane could accommodate. When I protested with some vigor, the passenger agent was called, and I was advised that this was a normal and routine occurrence.  I was assured that such contingencies were specified on my ticket contract. Your local personnel was
entirely courteous. I was exceedingly angry. Eventually, place was found on another plane.

I have now investigated this matter. Apart from the possible issue of slander, it is evident that your oversale of tickets is in violation of the rules. It is also possible that you are guilty of common fraud. Under any circumstances, in selling space which may not be available you are violating the elementary cannons of business decency. Perhaps there was a time many years ago when a very young industry could be forgiven such practices. Obviously, this is no longer the case.

Since, in the ordinary course of business, I must do a good deal of travel, I have more than a general citizen’s interest in your position. I would appreciate a full comment.

                                                                                    Yours faithfully


                                                                                    J. K. Galbraith