A picture I snapped while waiting on the runway at JFK.
It's about time the media started treating air travel as the travesty that it is. After spending countless hours waiting, being treated inhumanly while going through ineffective security lines, and bumped and ignored like we don't exist, people are paying attention.
-->My daughter, five at the time, was sent through explosive sniffers at the Las Vegas airport. She was separated from me with no explanation and sent through this hulking machine. They didn't tell her what was happening or what to expect. Naturally, it scared the crap out of her!
-->After spending $350 *extra* to get my flight from Austin, TX, home moved up a day, I was bumped. Then bumped again. Then was forced to stay overnight in a hotel. Then I had to get up at 5 am to get back to the airport. Then, when going through security for the THIRD time in two days, I was told I couldn't go through because my clear plastic baggie was not *quart* sized. I got kicked out of line, and had to go to the gift shop and spend $.25 to get the right sized baggie, then go through again. I never got the $350 back, even though I paid to get home early.
-->Recently, my daughter and I took a last-minute trip to Toronto. The tickets were exorbitant (thousands). The night before the flight home, we got a message - your flight home has been canceled. You have been booked to Des Moines through Texas and will now arrive home 28 hours late. When called back to try to get on a flight that wouldn't result in my daughter missing through, they offered to split us up. They insisted both legs of the flight had been canceled. After an hour of arguing, they magically found flights that got us home earlier - but couldn't give confirmation that we'd been booked. My boyfriend and I woke three kids up at 5:30 am to make it to the airport for an international flight that may or may not work. It worked - we got home an hour early. WTF?!
\Enough of that, anyone who travels has plenty of stories. I write this because now - for the first time *ever*, I have begun to seriously figure out what we as a company can do to avoid air travel. I would guess on average that as a company, we take 20-25 round trip flights a month. Our average monthly travel costs are around $15,000. As a virtual company, we *have* to travel. Or do we?
It's not the financial costs that are bothersome, it's the time and the hassle. Sometimes it's a minor hassle, sometimes it's nearly inhumane.
I wish there was an airline that COST MORE and GAVE MORE. Commentators go on and on about "well, look what you paid for". Well - let me pay a bit more and treat me better! Duh.
Customer service is totally and completely non-existent in airlines. On a lucky day, it might be possible to come across a nice person behind the counter. More likely it's someone who resents you for being in front of them.
It's obviously not the people - I don't see any ads saying:
"Are you a complete ass? Come work for us!"
It's the cultures. These CEOs should be ashamed of themselves. Yes, it's tough. Whine, whine, whine. Figure it out. That's your JOB.
You know, it would be really tough if the entire industry collapsed. We work with global clients and do workshops all over North America and even beyond. We need to travel.
But if it took the spectacular collapse of the entire airline industry in order for there to be a Phoenix come out of the ashes, fine. I might eat my words if I get stranded in Cincinnati, but sheesh. The industry has it coming. Besides, after 42 hour trips home from the last workshops, I bet many of the Lullabot's would argue that total collapse doesn't look all the different from right now anyways.
