Pan Am clipper, Vol. 22, No. 18, September 13, 1971

              that critical something extra
Going by the book isn’t enough, President Najeeb E. Halaby has told managers who deal regularly with the traveling public.
In a note bearing the Consumer Action letterhead, Halaby reminds “each man and woman in Pan Am management” that he or she is expected to go out on a limb a little in applying “reasonable judgment” to accommodate passengers.
“I have the fullest respect—and so, believe me, does our competition—for the Passenger Traffic Manual, the Reservations Manual, the Cargo-Traffic Manual, and the Administrative Manual . . . For the routine practice or the operating standard, they are references that are simply irreplaceable.
“But they are not the ultimate substitute for human judgment.”
The chief executive urges managers “to add
An economy drive aimed at Pan Am’s sprawling North American PanTel network has already paid off in a $550,000 savings on the airline’s $8.6 million annual telephone bill.
Ben F. McLeod, staff vice president-communications, said the half-million-dollar-plus belt tightening was made over a seven-month period “without affecting essential communications operations.”
He credited employees with pulling together to help reduce the telephone bill—mainly by slicing the so-called “off net” PanTel calls by 47.7 percent since last January. (An off-net call is one made from a Pan Am telephone to a non-Pan Am telephone.)
Last January, McLeod’s department formed a four-man task force to find ways to improve the service and, at the same time, reduce communications costs. Committeemen Tom Ferrero, John Mul-roy, Bill Thompson and John Casselman set out
something human to all the lore and knowledge amassed in our books and manuals and practices and policies. That something is reasonable judgment.
“So that we all understand this fully, I give you a new regulation . . . effective immediately:
rule for exceptional circumstances
“Any member of management may, in exceptional circumstances, authorize any reasonable service to any passenger, within the law. The cost or liability of the extraordinary service given will be justified to and backed up by the top management of the company.
“I have underscored ‘exceptional’ and ‘reasonable’ in full knowledge that they invite degrees of judgment and interpretation. Ex-
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to determine, among other things, if the telephone company was “delivering what Pan Am was paying for.”
Ferrero pointed out that Pan Am leases some 1,000 intercity telephone lines amounting to 280,-000 miles of cable stretching in every direction across North America.
To make sure that the 1,000 circuits actually were available to Pan Am, the task force set up its own telephone monitoring and test system. In one test, 88 east-to-west coast PanTel calls were made at the same time to make sure the circuits were in good working order.
“Descrepencies were quickly identified and corrected,” Ferrero said.
A key to the cost-savings program, McLeod said, was to make employees aware of the problem and advise them on how to properly utilize and economize in the use of the company’s 9,280 telephones located in Pan Am offices in 47 cities across North America.
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join Gulf in Europe motels
Pan Am is getting into the motor hotel business in Europe.
The airline and Gulf Oil Corporation jointly have formed a third company, yet to be named, to develop a chain of motor hotels along some of Europe’s best traveled highways.
Both Pan Am and Gulf have committed an initial investment of $5 million to the venture.
The new company exists as an entity, independent of both parent corporations. However, it will draw upon the international expertise of Gulf in fulfilling motorists’ needs, and of Pan Am in the field of international travel and hotel accommodations. A subsidiary of Pan Am, Inter-Continental Hotels, has a chain of 54 hotels in 37 lands.
The new company’s managing director, Ralph M. Starke, will be temporarily located in Gulf House, 2 Portman Street, London. The joint venture, Mr. Starke says, is the result of the companies’ recognition of travelers’ increasing desire a see Europe on a more familiar, close-up basis of touring by car.
“Within five years,” Mr. Starke says, “the motorist will be able to travel throughout Europe secure in the knowledge that he can easily find a consistent quality of accommodations available to him.”
A typical motor hotel will offer 100 to 200 rooms, equipped with a full bath, air conditioning and telephone, at an anticipated $12 to $14. A swimming pool will also be available at most locations. There will be a restaurant for approximately 75 people and a bar for 40. A divisible dining room facility seating approximately 100 will be included for the use of local and visiting businessmen. There will be parking on the premises at all hotels and Gulf service stations will be included where appropriate.
The first hotel is expected to be ready for occupancy within two years. It will be in the Germany-Belgium-Luxembourg area. Following the first site, the company will concentrate on rapid expansion in the tourist and commercial centers of the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland.
The company’s board of directors is drawn from Gulf, Pan Am and Inter-Continental.—edc
phone bill’s belt tightened
by James A. Arey
sleuths are saving bucks
JFK — Trained sleuths will be tracking down costs here. No, they’re not detectives or accountants. They’re ordinary Pan Am employees who have spent some time in the Value Analysis Workshop Program and learned how to go about determining whether functions or services can
Where is George Washington pointing?
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be continued in a less expensive fashion.
The functions of four items having an annual expenditure of $250,000 were reviewed in the first value analysis workshop recently completed at JFK. A second workshop is presently being planned.
Sixteen representatives from seven departments formed four work teams. Each team evaluated the usage and expense of one item and developed specific savings measures and proposals.
The objective of the workshops is to train selected personnel in value analysis techniques and principles, thus enabling them to actively participate in cost reduction efforts.
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America’s first president took his oath of office in the shadow of this classic building on Wall Street,