The road to hell

The warning for United, and for that matter other airlines (had they been watching the papers or caring at all), came when the news of two teens wearing leggings were told they could not board the United plane. They should have seen the dissent coming. The public was stunned .. and United did not heed the warning. So when the passenger got dragged off the United plane there was absolute outrage, and rightly so. In quick succession other airlines were falling foul: either admitting the mistake of their ways (Air Canada bumping off the 10 year old boy) or stupidly, thinking they were immune (American Airlines freaking out of a baby carrier), or carrying on in in their normal arrogant way hiding behind policy (Delta and the man who badly needed to pee!). What is it with airlines and the arrogance? The shakeup is long long overdue. For too long passengers have put up with by and large the most terrible terrible service. Like many of you, I travel extensively and it is never a pleasure. It's bad enough having to deal with security but when you choose an airline, they seem to have forgotten who the customer really is. Sure, sure, when you travel First or Business, the wrath of indifference (and insignificance) probably does not come your way, but trust me if you're anywhere else in the plane, you're made to feel more like a pain in the side of so called customer service staff and and many time an irritation for those onboard.

Where does it all fall apart: training? over scheduling? greed? tired grumpy individuals that should have got out of the industry eons ago? Whatever the reason, it's time for change. And no amount of patch-up PR can solve it. Make the change already CEOs and COOs. Do it from the inside and don't hide behind a policy document!