THE INTREPID TRAVELS OF THE ITINERANT CEO UPDATE - CHICAGO

By

Dr. David J. Height

The Christmas of 2007 has past and the New Year of 2008 has now dawned. Therefore I thought that I would start out my first article of the New Year and wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year! May this year bring you much success and happiness!

In this article I wanted to devote my musing to one of my pet peeves – The American Airline Industry. I will start by recounting a situation that occurred during my annual familial Christmas travels.

My son, who lives and goes to high school in Switzerland, came home for the holidays. Usually we take time and ski either in Colorado or Europe. We decided this year that because our son lives in Switzerland we would remain in the United States and celebrate Christmas with our dear friend Auntie Bea Davis in Chicago and then with my family in Northern California.

To this end we booked a trip to Northern California and flew on Chicago’s supposedly finest airlines (I will let you guess who). Our first encounter was with the well conceived however poorly executed notion of the eticket. After standing in line for an interminably long period of time, it was our turn to present our etickets for scanning and luggage tags. Behold, upon receipt of the baggage tags our luggage was thrown into a pile in the middle of the check-in area – so much for a systematic check in. I remember casually mentioning to my wife that this is a “disaster waiting to happen”. And yes it did. Upon arrival in Oakland we along with a number of our fellow passengers experienced “the lost luggage happenstance”. The excuse given you might ask: “The flight was blocked out”- whatever that means. Of course the airline is more than happy to take your hard earned money and luggage. Your luggage arriving with you is another story.

This is not the end however. It gets worse. We like most traveling families, watch our expenses and therefore booked economy class A320 Airbus tickets. I am 6’5” and my son is a strapping 14 year old 6 footer. A rather unpleasant traveler seated in front of my son fully reclines the seat. This now means that my son has no leg room. When the passenger is asked to move the seat forward (with great politeness, I might add) the traveler refused by saying: “I paid for the seat call a flight attendant if you don’t like it”. I did. In no uncertain terms I was told by this altogether unfriendly flight attendant next time to buy first class seats and then called a GRINCH! So much for their expensive advertising - “Fly the Friendly Skies”.

The Coupe de Gras occurred on the return trip back to Chicago. Again we were booked in the economy section of an A320 Airbus with me in an aisle seat. A very polite gentleman occupying the middle seat asks to get up so that he might use the facilities. I stand in the aisle to let him pass. A flight attendant with a first class meal in hand berates me because I am blocking the aisle and she cannot get by. Excuse me I just stood up! As it turns out the flight attendant was in a hurry to eat her first class lunch in the basically unused aft galley. Of course my hunger had already been sated with a bag of stale pretzels. Fortunately another flight attendant witnessed the incident and actually apologized to me for her co-worker’s rudeness. My hat is off to this very polite flight attendant.

I believe that all of us can share similar stories of this airline. The fact remains however the mainstay of the airline industry in general and this airline in particular is the intrepid road warrior. This and other airlines have gone at great length, since deregulation, to create, maintain and woo the business traveler. Having emerged from bankruptcy and contemplating a major merger with at least one other airline I believe this speaks ill of this particular airline. In speaking with other CEOs of various companies I have found that their experiences with this airline are almost identical. The consequence being these CEOs (and I include myself in this group) have made the simple decision to avoid this airline whenever possible. I for one even will make a trip and use connections to avoid the airline and their horrible service.

In our business headlines is the continual threat of conflagration about ready to burst on the scene between management and labor. Labor maintains unfair share dividends are being paid to the major shareholders. Management needs to cut costs. Coupled with all of this and looming on the horizon is the always potential of increased fuel costs. Grow up airline and deal with it and quit taking it out on your main source of revenue!

On a personal basis your hard earned money is spent with an airline that seemingly could care less about you, despite their advertisements. For the business traveler we need to arrive at our destinations refreshed and ready to work. Instead all we receive is additional stress from the airline. I heard it best when a flight attendant explained to me what a tough job they had after all “We have to fly, watch out for your safety and serve drinks and food”- Interesting. I have to fly eat my bag of stale pretzels and drink my water and then GO TO WORK! Somehow this airline has forgotten all of this.

The summation you might ask? Guess who suffers the most?

YOU!

(Dr. David J. Height resides in Chicago with his family. He is the President/CEO of SPPGROUP USA and TNI Group International. www.sppgroupusa.com and www.tnigroup-international.com)