Archive: Opinions

EditorialI like iPods.  They are expensive, but you know what you are getting.  They are simple to use and the iTunes interface is a seamless way to get media onto the device.  You don't have to buy music from iTunes, but if you want to it is well priced, offers instant gratification, and is very easy to get onto your iPod or burn onto a CD or just listen to on your computer.  For the most part customers are happy.  Look how many people buy iPods even though there are much less expensive music players out there.

I don't like commercial air flight.  It is expensive, but you don't know what you are getting.  Unless you have flown before -- then you know that optimism is futile.  Airlines are not simple to use, and most of this year's 680 million customers are not happy.  US Airways' customer satisfaction ranking is down 25%.0 this year according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Last year it was only down 11.5%.  Northwest Airlines does better.  Their customers are only 17.4% less happy this year, compared to 6.6% less happy last year.

When your business is in trouble irritate your customers.  Those pesky customers may just go away and stop bothering you so you can wallow in your bad luck.  That's what the airlines are doing, and it seems to be working. 

There are certainly forces that are beyond the airlines' control.  The price of fuel is hurting everyone, but I will admit that airlines have to use more fuel than I typically do.  Another force is the Internet.  Really, with the ability to hold virtual meetings using video, electronic white boards and other tools it is becoming less necessary for business people to fly.  I would say the third force is how the airlines view and treat customers.  That one is within their control, though if you fly you have to wonder whether they are even trying to exert control over that one.

In April Forbes Magazine reported, 'The International Air Transport Association chopped its industry profit expectations to $4.5 billion on Tuesday from December's forecast of $5.0 billion and September's $7.8 billion.'  Oh gee, maybe I've been unkind.  Only $4.5 billion.  The association's chairman was quoted as saying that 2008 is turning out to be a very tough year.

Gosh, if making a profit of $4.5 billion is a tough year, then I must be destitute!  I wonder if that kind of thinking is what accounts for the nickle-and diming, treating passengers like cattle, under-training employees on dealing with customers in difficult situations, poor scheduling...

Let's talk about the nickle and diming.  Let's face it -- for years the airlines have been trying to convince people who can't afford it to fly.  And they have tried various schemes to convince you, such as wracking up miles for free tickets.  Or the one where they overbook a flight, then ask you to give up your seat for a seat on the next available flight plus free tickets to anywhere in the U.S., unrestricted.

But those are not free flights.  Not long ago my family fell for that 'give up your seat and get a free flight' scheme.  When we tried to use them there were all kinds of restrictions and fees.  My wife grew up in a travel industry family, so she knows the right questions to ask, how to be nice to harried employees, and what the deals are supposed to be.  When she tried to use those tickets her face turned red and steam came out of her ears.  I have never seen her so angry after dealing with a travel company.  The reason is that it was bait and switch -- they promised one thing and delivered something quite different.

One of the things they tried was to get her to agree to convert those 'free for any flight in the U.S.' tickets to '$250 toward any ticket unrestricted' tickets.  So hmm, go for free as promised, or pay $400, give or take, per seat?

And what's this preferred seat scam?  First they give you a lousy seat.  But you can buy a preferred seat online for $5.  Or you can change to an unreserved seat.  But guess what?  There are no unreserved seats.  Or the only one (not plural) is in the very back row, a seat nobody in their right mind would switch to unless they have an iron stomach and all the time in the world to miss their connecting flight.

And how about this from the US Airways Web site?  'On July 9, 2008, we’ll begin assessing a $15 fee for passengers’ first checked bags. If you’ve already purchased a ticket for travel after July 9 the fee won’t apply. We’ve also recently begun charging $25 for second checked bags. The new checked bag policies apply to all flights to and from Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as flights within the U.S.

Why not come up with a fair price, get some decent marketing people to actually sell the seats, not charge me one price and the person sitting next to me another price that is hundreds of dollars different, and include everything?  Or offer an a la carte menu.  One fair fare, then extra for bags, food, pillow... Be up front about it so people know what they are getting beforehand?

The interface for getting me onto an airplane is way worse than iTunes.  I am pushed around in a crowd with no respect for my schedule or time, despite whatever I have paid.  I am searched (they say those machines that can see under your clothes are starting to appear in airports.  Guess what's the next trend in Internet pornography is going to be...  Then I get to sit around.  If my flight is delayed I may be informed.  Or maybe I'll get to sit in a plane for a few hours, not at the gate, but not in the air.

One of my favorites was when my  plane had a tailwind and we got to the Philadelphia airport (or should I say Dante's Seventh Ring of Hell?) a half hour early.  There were cheers!  This kind of good experience on an airline flight is very rare.  But then we sat on the taxiway for about forty minutes, because there wasn't a gate available.

That would have been a bit easier to swallow if there weren't at least a half dozen unused gates in sight.  Those gates were empty from the moment we arrived to the time when we finally hobbled out the jetway.  Now I think the airlines would say that those gates are not assigned to them.  But aren't they a pretty strong force when dealing with the airports?  What if they all got together and said we're going to Pittsburgh instead of Philadelphia unless you let our customers off our planes whenever a gate is empty, regardless of which gate it is?

(That would be win-win.  If the Philadelphia airport said no we'd all be going to a much nicer airport with better weather and fewer delays.  If they said yes, well... one down!  Next customer gripe to fix...

Despite the airlines inexplicable behavior, 680 million people will fly commercial airlines this year, up from 661 million last year.  And despite the blaring reports of airline bankruptsies, there are 111 airlines offering scheduled service this year.  Last year there were 111.  No change.

I have heard it said that commercial air flight is going to go back to its roots if the current trends are any clue.  That it will only be for the rich.  But my take is that the rich expect to be treated respectfully, to get there on time, to have drinks and food, and to feel they are being catered to.

So I just don't know. Service and pricing get worse, the number of passengers increase.  Profits are only $4.5 billion.  The only thing the airlines aren't charging extra for at the moment is discomfort bags.  In my opinion that is the best business decision they have ever made.

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