Recorded in the bathroom of Doubletree Club in Santa Ana, CA, this week we focus on what’s going on with the airlines. A listener story about the trials of getting from Wisconsin to Pittsburgh shows the importance of person-to-person interactions to the travel experience. Does Northwest’s latest cost cutting effort foreshadow the rise of the virtual airline? Also, how to define boundaries of personal space at 35,000 feet. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.
Here are the show notes from TravelCommons podcast #20:
- Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
- Recorded in the bathroom of the Doubletree Club Hotel in Santa Ana, CA
- The Chicago White Sox and the World Series have made for some late nights this week
- Direct link to Udayan Tripathi’s Life in London podcast
- Direct link to Dan O’Leary’s HotelCoffee podcast
- Bridge music — Before They Make Me Run by The Rolling Stones
- Listener’s story about difficulties with United Airlines on a trip from Tokyo to Wisconsin to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and back to Tokyo.
- Cost cutting efforts that replace people with technology makes the remaining person-to-person interactions only that much more important
- Bridge Music — Even Better Than the Real Thing by U2
- Northwest Airlines talks about outsourcing flight attendants
- Is this a move toward a “virtual” airline?
- Bridge Music — Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers Band
- How to define my personal space inside an airplane
- A “seat gripper” invades my personal space
- Closing music — Ramblin’ Man by the Allman Brothers Band
- Feedback at comments[at]travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
- Direct link to the show
1 comment on “Podcast #20 – Travel is a People Business; Personal Space at 35,000 Ft”
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Hi Mark,
I fully agree with you that the traveller’s experience has a huge impact on the decisions they will make.
In the show you mentioned that you found the cabin crew on Virgin to be really excellent despite being on three year, non-renewable contracts. I have to admit that some of the best cabin crew I’ve ever seen have been on Easyjet flights. Easyjet is a budget airline serving short-haul routes in Europe. I know that they pay less than the big flag carriers, and it seems to work for them. And I *have* seen an Easyjet stewardess leap to clean up a pool of vomit a child created just after landing.
That being said, I do not believe that any one element of the travel experience can be overlooked. I stopped flying with Easyjet when Luton airport (just outside London) made it far less convenient to collect rental cars. I also stopped flying with BA because they lost my bags on three out of four flights. This is despite BA having the best cabin crew I have ever experienced on any airline (and a very good cup of tea).
I have most recently been flying with KLM and Air France. On the whole, I prefer KLM for the convenience (I’m based in Amsterdam). All their staff are polite and helpful – and some are wonderful. Air France have the disadvantage of Paris CDG as their European hub. It has to be Europe’s worst airport. Even Moscow’s Sheremetyevo is better! What Air France have is the best airline food I’ve ever experienced. All accompanied by excellent bread and the most wonderful butter. I find the cabin crew slightly supercilious, though.
Of course, this just means that everything is a compromise, and that compromise is normally about who I *won’t* use, rather than who I will. It’s very difficult for a company to provide a consistently excellent service in these days of tiny margins and intense competition. I’m just not sure if the consumers really benefit from this state of affairs.
Keep up the good work!
-leo