Industry Musings

My boss forwarded me an e-mail she received from a friend of hers after that friend's husband experienced some airport delays. I'm just going to paste it in below because I think it's quite awesome.

Eric arrived back yesterday from a business trip to Vancouver. On Northwest Airlines he left Vancouver on Friday morning and arrived in Seattle. He was delayed there for many hours due to "mechanical problems", such that by the time he arrived in Detroit he had missed the final flight out to Fort Wayne. His luggage however arrived right on time ... in Minneapolis, which is a long way from either Detroit or Fort Wayne. So he spent the night in the Comfort Inn in Detroit with no luggage and a $5 meal voucher in his pocket and nowhere to spend it at midnight after the restaurant had closed. The first flight to Fort Wayne was not until noon the following day, so in actual fact his trip took 28 hours in total. He received a $35 future travel discount for his trouble.

Which brings me to muse... Why do we continue to allow Airlines to be the only industry permitted to take payment in full up front, without being required to either provide delivery of the service as purchased, or reasonable compensation?

Imagine, for example, if you had booked a catering facility for your wedding reception. When you arrive on the day and time, you are told that there are mechanical problems in the kitchen, but they are trying to make repairs as quickly as possible. Three hours later as the bridal party and guests are beginning to grow restless, it becomes known that the repairmen have now been working for 8 hours and by union contract they will be taking an 8 hour sleep break. But not to worry... they will be back first thing in the morning and if all goes well the reception should be off to a start before noon. Now, there is another wedding party booked tomorrow afternoon which will place both parties in an "overbooked" situation. But provided some people are willing to wait for a later reception, and others don't mind who they sit with for dinner, everything should be okay. "Don't take that tone with me, Ma'am. I'm trying to help you. This is not my fault. Those responsible are just faceless names on the Forbes List of Richest People who you will never be able to appropriately vent to. So just stifle your opinions and complaints, and if you are not able to do that, you will be held in a secure area for a time out until you learn to treat Catering personnel with the respect and courtesy they deserve. Where is your cake? Let me check. Ahhhh I've located it in Dallas, Texas. No problem. It will be delivered directly to your door sometime in the next 48 hours provided someone is home to receive it. If not, we will hold it for 4 days in the unclaimed cake department and then sell it off at our monthly unclaimed cake sale, and keep the proceeds. Here's a complimentary toothbrush and a razor. A refund???? Of course not. You purchased the advanced booking discount reception which clearly states no refunds under any circumstances other than death of both the bride and groom, but not one exclusive of the other. Previously anticipated death will not be an acceptable claim."

So here's what I think. They should start a new Airline to be operated as simply a human delivery service. It should promise delivery in say, 3-5 days, or a full refund. That way there would be no surprises, no disappointments. This Airline would be called "Iffy Jet".