Comments on: Travel Tales

By: Vance Butler

Vance Butler — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:46:07 +0000

Mark,
Having worked in the airline business, it’s really a matter of having employees that CARE (most due to their own pride, not by management) We many times had weather and mis-connected passengers to deal with. It only took a few minutes of extra time to send a message to the destination station and let them know what to expect or which passenger was going to be disappointed to not get their bag. Today’s situation is exacerbated by under-staffing, stressed employee’s, passengers with sometimes unrealistic expectations, checked bag fees, etc it’s ugly and very little relief in sight.
I feel your pain as I made a similar trip recently and had my bag spend some extra time in EWR too!

By: Mark Rosenthal

Mark Rosenthal — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:44:31 +0000

Kris -
Oh I fully agree.
I certainly was not proposing a software solution. They already have that.
The question is one around process.
But before there is a process, they must be clear on purpose.
Right now the airline industry (with a couple of exceptions – who are ironically the most profitable players) is focused on costs, not customers. That translates to “inaction until action is forced” as a culture.

The other players are fortunate that Southwest has no aspiration to become a dominate global player.

By: Kris Hallan

Kris Hallan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:45:19 +0000

Your “What if…” describing an alternative solution sounded just like the IBM commercials that always end with “I’m an IBMer…”. The commercials always act like some improved software will interconnect everything and generally make everything better. They are great commercials but…

I’m always pretty jaded by the commercials because they talk about the IBM software and everything they do as if the software will make everything work better. The software makes everything simpler, more visual, and faster. Much like lean tools however, it all falls in the hands of the people using it. They still have to have a stake in what is happening and have some clear direction on what good is. All of the great tools are meaningless without well developed people who care about a customer. The airline industries are a prime example of their being plenty of information and no one is given the autonomy and training to use it all.

By: Mark Rosenthal

Mark Rosenthal — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:29:45 +0000

With today’s bar coding systems, the likelihood of the bag getting on the wrong plane is much less than it was in the past – as long as the correct tag is on it. (I always pay attention to the destination code when they put the tag on the bag – caught an RNO tag going on my SEA bag once. (The guy going to Reno was saved too…)

Rather, what happens today is the bag doesn’t get on the plane at all as was the case here. Usually it is because there wasn’t enough time in a tight connection.

Other things that disrupt the flow are when the original leg after a connection is changed – you missed the flight, etc. At that point, your bag is categorized as one to get onto “next available” rather than a specific flight. That was likely what happened here.

By: Tom Warda

Tom Warda — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:31:12 +0000

What always amazes me about the lost luggage people is that they almost always are able to find your bag pretty quickly. “Yes, it’s in Burbank.” If they know with such certainty where it is, why couldn’t they have prevented it from going there in the first place?

By: Zane Ferry

Zane Ferry — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:21:46 +0000

What about the extra pretzels, Mark? The complimentary beer and wine?