Improve service or face the feds

By Jim Thomas -- Logistics Management, 4/1/1999

The good news is that someone finally is addressing the treatment of airline consumers. The bad news is that it's not the airlines.

Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater recently unveiled the Airline Passenger Fair Treatment Initiative, a plan that compels airlines to treat their customers fairly before, during, and after the flight.

The initiative "doesn't tell airlines what to do," states Gore. "Instead, it empowers passengers with all the information they need to make good decisions. These decisions will then drive the market and in turn, drive competition between the airlines."

The vice president claims this is not regulation. But that is like arguing that the Interstate Commerce Commission did not regulate trucking companies--it empowered shippers through making carrier tariff information available.

At a time when transportation has become increasingly deregulated, it might be worth investigating the conditions that prompted these regulations. With regard to airline service, where do we start?

Pricing might be a fair place. Forget the concept that airlines change ticket prices in order to maximize the number of passengers on each flight. The real issue is that consumers are frustrated by a system under which similar seats on similar flights vary in price by hundreds of dollars.

A lack of flight information also frustrates consumers. Flights may be canceled, delayed, or diverted while airport monitors report their status as "on time." Passengers often do not receive the bad news until they reach the gate, even though they had called for flight information in advance, checked in baggage, and read status reports on two or three monitors--all indicating that their flight was on schedule.

If you are unfortunate enough to get delayed while the plane is on the tarmac, you must sit--sit belted into the seat without food or water. Of course, why would you want food or water when they won't let you take a restroom break?

After reaching the destination, passengers are not always reunited with their baggage. Here is the best excuse I have heard for lost baggage, told to me by an airline customer-service representative: "While you were flying to your business meeting in Chicago, your garment bag secretly planned a vacation in Orlando."

Airline personnel do not appear overly concerned about these problems. The airlines might argue that they are not at fault. Weather or air traffic control or Federal Aviation Administration regulations or airport congestion cause most customer-related problems.

Airlines, however, could provide passengers with more accurate and timely information. Real-time information on flight delays and cancellations would allow passengers to make alternative plans before they crowd up to the gate. Airlines might provide notice of lower-priced tickets. They might offer food, beverages, and other amenities to passengers during extended delays. The Fair Treatment Initiative contains these provisions.

Any airline that takes this more customer-friendly approach might gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Capitalism prevails and all is well. Customer-service failure, however, can only go on for so long before it crosses into the realm of federal regulation. Those who champion deregulation should take heed.