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Published On: Jan 19, 2009 02:43 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jan 19, 2009 02:43 PM
Why flying is like the beautiful swan gliding along the peaceful lake...
... or at least that's how the
airlines would like you to see it. In reality that swan's feet are paddling
under the surface like crazy!
The history of commercial flight is less than a
century old, and it still carries with it many of the traditions of the old
luxury cruise ship days of yore. Just look at the flight crews' uniforms, as
well as the language of
flying:
Port, starboard (and the matching red and green navigation lights), galley, even steerage in some cases for coach fliers are terms you'll hear used. Even aircraft used to ferry (!) freight only are referred to as freighters. The terms for how airliners move in the air currents (yaw, pitch, roll) are also inherited from the shipping industries. Airlines have always tried to hold on to some of the mystique of international travel, at one time only affordable to the very wealthy travelling in single class cabins.
The Boeing 747 ended all that, making international travel much more affordable. Now of course we see the airline system divided up into the legacy airlines which were borne of those early days, like United, and the new comers who departed with the old ways and introduced new ways to fly, like Southwest and more latterly, JetBlue. These are examples of no frills, inexpensive airlines.
In Europe, Ryannair and EasyJet function similarly, and the major traditional airlines have had a hard time competing, having to resort to "airlines within an airline" to go head to head with the upstarts, or start-ups. UnitedExpress, and Ted, are examples of how United has tried to compete with Southwest and Frontier Airlines.
Commercial airline operations are some of the few industries where day to day unexpected events are "expected", and where so much of daily operations is out of the airlines' control.
Huh?
Think about it. Most business thrive in predictable circumstances. Component parts arrive just in time for assembly according to exact procurement scheduling, worker absenteeism is factored in, contingencies are planned for but expected on a rare but manageable basis.
Big swings in customer purchasing practices occur over months or years due to changing economic factors, or the introduction of new technologies.
But in aviation, only some of these factors are predictable. There are many others that can affect the daily operations of an airline. Some of these can be accounted for readily - absent employees mean there are always pools of standby crew; aircraft are scheduled for maintenance before there are issues of predicted wear and tear; spares are kept handy for occasional malfunctions, and engineers on call to install them.
But the actual flight schedules, despite being developed by well-trained staff using state of the art hardware/software can see all the planning grind to a halt due to weather, power black outs, wild cat strikes, and incidents unrelated to their own operations. These are not mistakes on the airlines' part, but stuff that happens.
So, while fliers might experience turbulence in flight, airline employees can often experience turbulent days handling the effects of unexpected yet impactful events.
Weather can be a major roadblock to smooth, punctual operations. Flights and their passengers and crews can be delayed, sending the whole system cascading into ever lengthening delays which can affect the entire operation, especially in smaller airlines. Even the giant airlines don't have planes sitting around "spare" to be brought into immediate service in the case of delays. Even if there were, there may in fact be no available crew to fly them, since they too may be delayed on connecting flights. Certainly the bigger the airline, the more frequent may be its flights between destination points and so the backlog of stranded passengers can be minimised. One flight a day schedules can mean real trouble, with airlines having to potentially transfer their passengers to rival airlines if space allows.
Other delays may be caused by unhappy late passengers, security checks, and all manner of small but additive events.
(Update June 21, 2004): Look at this Melbourne Age article for an example of how incidents can cascade through an airline's operations requiring lots of passenger TLC.
For myself, as a long-time international traveller, I accept that if my flight departs and arrives on time, my baggage meets me at my destination, and my time spent with customs is relatively brief, I have done very well. And if for every 3 or 4 such flights, I get one that doesn't quite work this way, some of it in the control of their airline (most of the time out of its control), I allow myself to accept my fate as being that of a 21st Century flier.
I'm afraid that unless you fly first class, it isn't glamorous any longer. It does resemble a bus ride, and cheap fares mean many infrequent travellers run up against the odds, and the informal rules of flying, in ways that can make flying a tiring, worrying experience. More frequent fliers learn to accept the possibilities, including that from time to time even high status fliers don't always get the service they are entitled to... Personally, I work firmly but extremely pleasantly to have my entitlements met (according to the airline's own rules) and ask for compensation when they are not - that is, it is agreed the airline is in error due to a system failure. The bigger the cost to me (luggage damage for instance) the more I will insist on appropriate compensation.
If you want to get a behind-the-scenes peek at how airlines operate, and see why that airline employee smile isn't always available, how about looking at the reality TV shows, Airline and Airport? In the US, Airline was modelled on the UK series of the same name which used EasyJet. In the US, Southwest was chosen for the warts and all coverage.
Port, starboard (and the matching red and green navigation lights), galley, even steerage in some cases for coach fliers are terms you'll hear used. Even aircraft used to ferry (!) freight only are referred to as freighters. The terms for how airliners move in the air currents (yaw, pitch, roll) are also inherited from the shipping industries. Airlines have always tried to hold on to some of the mystique of international travel, at one time only affordable to the very wealthy travelling in single class cabins.
The Boeing 747 ended all that, making international travel much more affordable. Now of course we see the airline system divided up into the legacy airlines which were borne of those early days, like United, and the new comers who departed with the old ways and introduced new ways to fly, like Southwest and more latterly, JetBlue. These are examples of no frills, inexpensive airlines.
In Europe, Ryannair and EasyJet function similarly, and the major traditional airlines have had a hard time competing, having to resort to "airlines within an airline" to go head to head with the upstarts, or start-ups. UnitedExpress, and Ted, are examples of how United has tried to compete with Southwest and Frontier Airlines.
Commercial airline operations are some of the few industries where day to day unexpected events are "expected", and where so much of daily operations is out of the airlines' control.
Huh?
Think about it. Most business thrive in predictable circumstances. Component parts arrive just in time for assembly according to exact procurement scheduling, worker absenteeism is factored in, contingencies are planned for but expected on a rare but manageable basis.
Big swings in customer purchasing practices occur over months or years due to changing economic factors, or the introduction of new technologies.
But in aviation, only some of these factors are predictable. There are many others that can affect the daily operations of an airline. Some of these can be accounted for readily - absent employees mean there are always pools of standby crew; aircraft are scheduled for maintenance before there are issues of predicted wear and tear; spares are kept handy for occasional malfunctions, and engineers on call to install them.
But the actual flight schedules, despite being developed by well-trained staff using state of the art hardware/software can see all the planning grind to a halt due to weather, power black outs, wild cat strikes, and incidents unrelated to their own operations. These are not mistakes on the airlines' part, but stuff that happens.
So, while fliers might experience turbulence in flight, airline employees can often experience turbulent days handling the effects of unexpected yet impactful events.
Weather can be a major roadblock to smooth, punctual operations. Flights and their passengers and crews can be delayed, sending the whole system cascading into ever lengthening delays which can affect the entire operation, especially in smaller airlines. Even the giant airlines don't have planes sitting around "spare" to be brought into immediate service in the case of delays. Even if there were, there may in fact be no available crew to fly them, since they too may be delayed on connecting flights. Certainly the bigger the airline, the more frequent may be its flights between destination points and so the backlog of stranded passengers can be minimised. One flight a day schedules can mean real trouble, with airlines having to potentially transfer their passengers to rival airlines if space allows.
Other delays may be caused by unhappy late passengers, security checks, and all manner of small but additive events.
(Update June 21, 2004): Look at this Melbourne Age article for an example of how incidents can cascade through an airline's operations requiring lots of passenger TLC.
For myself, as a long-time international traveller, I accept that if my flight departs and arrives on time, my baggage meets me at my destination, and my time spent with customs is relatively brief, I have done very well. And if for every 3 or 4 such flights, I get one that doesn't quite work this way, some of it in the control of their airline (most of the time out of its control), I allow myself to accept my fate as being that of a 21st Century flier.
I'm afraid that unless you fly first class, it isn't glamorous any longer. It does resemble a bus ride, and cheap fares mean many infrequent travellers run up against the odds, and the informal rules of flying, in ways that can make flying a tiring, worrying experience. More frequent fliers learn to accept the possibilities, including that from time to time even high status fliers don't always get the service they are entitled to... Personally, I work firmly but extremely pleasantly to have my entitlements met (according to the airline's own rules) and ask for compensation when they are not - that is, it is agreed the airline is in error due to a system failure. The bigger the cost to me (luggage damage for instance) the more I will insist on appropriate compensation.
If you want to get a behind-the-scenes peek at how airlines operate, and see why that airline employee smile isn't always available, how about looking at the reality TV shows, Airline and Airport? In the US, Airline was modelled on the UK series of the same name which used EasyJet. In the US, Southwest was chosen for the warts and all coverage.
A&E BROADCAST HISTORY:
January 2004-Present: Mondays-10:00pm-11:00pm
If you can't locate the US TV stations which show these programs, here is a site which gives you the synopses of the series so far shown in 2004 (There are more episodes to come). Just reading it will give you the idea... You can see the link here. Enjoy!
Posted: Monday - June 21, 2004 at 01:31 PM |