The Airline Surprise
Hey-oh! I'm back!
It has been a hectic start to the year with internship search in full swing. Coupled with school resuming, I was lucky just to read along with all the posts and comments. But things are nearly back to normal so I thought I'd jump back in the fray.
Last week I had a really early flight to catch, and a connection to make, in order to make it to a final round interview. As I ran off one plane and checked for my gate assignment, I saw the dreaded word that is all too common these days -- CANCELLED.
Sweeeeeet.
So I go to the counter and they are expecting me. They have me booked for a new flight. Or should I say flightssss. Their propsed connection put me in two hours after my interviews were scheduled to start. Minor problem. But they quickly found another set of flights that would get me in 55 minutes before interview start time. Doable. Done.
Made the first flight. Had to run all the way across the airport (and if you know Philly airport, that's a good mile run) to catch my next flight. Was one of the last to board, but made it.
Interviews went well, yadda yadda yadda, and on my return flight the next day, my connecting flight sits at the gate for an hour as we wait for 'an oxygen valve'.
My story is not unique. This happens nearly every flight, for every flier, right?
How can this be? How can we pay hundreds for a service or a product and get 1 out of 10 things we paid for? Ok, you got me here alive. Thank you.
These days, more than ever before, it's a complete surprise if you have a flawless flight.
Imagine if every market worked like that.
What if it were a huge relief that your snickers bar actually had peanuts in it? Or that your that the 3D movie you go see actually is 3D? Or that the concert you attend actually has the musician playing that you paid to see play/sing? I could go on.
Is this all we're going to get from the airline industry now? Just a now-and-then surprise that all goes flawlessly?
And while they can cancel a connecting flight while I'm in the air, and pay me nothing, I have to pay them $150 to change my flight. Seems reasonable, no?
Time for some innovation and fresh blood in the airline industry.
But until then, maybe we bump the highway speedlimit to 100mph.
On the bright side, the trip made for a great story. And it made me a memorable interviewee - I got the job offer.
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19 comments:
Well, would you prefer to take off without said valve?
I have had the pleasure f work travel every other week since September, not too many problems, except for idiot fellow travelers.
One trip to Philly, direct from SLC we had a delay, then an equipment change, cause there was some sort of hole on the fuselage, lots of people grumbling, pissy cause they were late, um, yeah, I think they would loved to fly on a plane, 2,000 miles, with a hole.
ANother time, last summer leaving Louisville for a flight home, several flight were canceled due to a domino effect from elsewhere. Lots of very vocal angry people, corning an understaffed ticket desk. So, we let people who were in a hurry in front of us, people with more critical travel plans, we were very nice to the agents and as a result, they booked us First class all the way home.
So, yeah, it sucks, but unless you have a lot of free time, or a boat, it is faster and they will do what they can to accommodate you.
Take the job, you know, cause there aren't any out there :)
Is it a job with an airline company?
Oh. And congrats!
'Bike, your comments about annoying travelers is precisely why 'the airport test' is so effective as a form of job interview.
Also, your argument about 'unless you have some other way of traveling, deal with it' -- isn't that what Microsoft basically said via their poor operating system?
If it goes on long enough, competition and substitutes will work things out.
(And, yes, it the job is with JetBlue.)
Well, that really wasn't an argument, more of a statement of reality.
I was in the Philly airport last friday, got there too early, was lounging in a rocking chair, the Fire alarms went off, people started to walk around aimlessly, security did nothing, I made my way to an exit, but waited with the rest and the alarms stopped, then I thought, OMG, if they emptied the building, that would have a crazy effect on travel throughout the country/world.
That is one way in which air travel is different than most other markets.
first, congrats on the offer. Allison Clements had an internship there and is considering a full-time gig there I believe.
second, I agree with you - in fact - I think everything related to the airport could use some significant innovation. Having said that, I think you had some bad luck, though I do think flights in the east, especially flights touching NYC and Chicago, have much worse luck than others.
I fly about once a month and it's been a while since the last fiasco I can remember - 2008 June going to Chicago. And this is flying Delta.
Speaking of fire alarms, I have to apologize to fam and friends who were jolted by my JetBlue comment.
It was a joke intended for Adam. I'm terribly sorry.
I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to stop Adam dead in his tracks. :)
duped!
I was going to cheer the infusion of "new blood" into the airline industry!
This video seems appropriate for this topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
Relevant part starts at 2:00.
Really relevant part starts at 2:45
My favorite and most relevant part is 3:23
*removed and posted again due to poor spelling* Hey guys, Ryan Peterson here again. Bitner, congrats on the offer. I am so proud to see you doing so well that it brings a tear to my eye.
You made one comment that I think should be addressed. You said that the airline only delivered on 1 of 10 and that was getting you to your destination alive. I would suggest that out of the other 9 expectations, that one would be top on my list. Perhaps other expectations should be weighted. So, in a Snickers, they left out the nuts and nougat but they made sure not to add arsenic. And the wrong musician is on stage, but the pyrotechnic show will not cause a catastrophic explosion. Anyway, I just thought I would post my thoughts that if I pay my 200 bucks and the flight sucks but I get there in 1 piece, I am, in a way, still grateful to have that still going for me.
But is "I didn't die" a real valuable measure of a product or service?
Maybe it is, if say, 40% (or even 5%) of airline passengers die. But getting someplace alive is the overwhelming rule to travel. The alternative is a razor thin chance and a media frenzied anomaly.
I just think that airlines have realized they can cut costs by treating people like cargo. Which, I suppose is really what we are.
(But I see your point, and it is well taken...)
People likely would standup, lined up with 3 inches in front of them, if the flight cost 50 bucks round trip, then they would complain, cause complaining is what people do.
Complex systems, with distributed controls are un-predictable.
Could it be better, of course, but, you expect any l;arge carrier, who is perpetually in the red, to invest in those changes, while they end up being at the mercy of those who don't adopt the change?
The air travel economy is interesting. I read an opinion somewhere that the only thing that keeps it going is the Airports, they are like little cities, building revenue off of trapped travelers.
Do airports benefit airlines? I thought airlines themselves operated somewhat independently of those them, seeing as the airports themselves are government entities.
Do all the airlines get a cut of the revenue?
I think it's the other way around. Airlines pay for the ability to have gates for their use, which is typically why airlines like Southwest who make a living keeping costs down are usually at gates in the nethermost parts of the airport (and are cheaper to rent).
Dave- thanks for the video.
How is it that we have been able to master the miracle of getting a massive plane with a hundred+ people in the air and back down safely, but we can't seem to figure out how to operate the other time-sensitive logistics around getting in and out and up and down? How can something you pay for just get cancelled on a whim when if you try and change/cancel, you pay through the nose?
Just sayin it's ridonkulous.
But, yeah, per the video, I'm spoiled and impatient. Lesson learned. :)
Petey - even with recent airline incidents, death by flight is one of the rarest forms of death. So it's largely a non-issue. Just like arsenic in snickers. Point is, given the amount of money paid per ticket, you would think you would get darn near what you pay for. Say you pay $300 for a nice hotel room and the room is occupied by someone else, you get moved, then you have a lopsided bed and the leather loveseat has cracks all over it from all the use, and the TV checks in and out of service. You are alive in the morning when you wake up. Are you walking away grateful, waiving your hands like 'Yeah' swinging your hips like 'Yeah'?
I think your analogy is flawed for one key reason.
Airlines don't have control over the airspace. That is like if Snickers couldn't control their peanut supply.
Because the government controls airspace and allocates it inefficiently, airlines can't be held to the same standards that we hold Mars to.
"What if it were a huge relief that your snickers bar actually had peanuts in it?"
The ones that don't, they just put the Milky Way wrapper on those and call it good.
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