Communicate. If there`s one thing the airlines had better start doing, it`s to communicate with passengers.
I`m not talking about when the captain comes on the horn and gives passengers a history and geography lesson on Nebraska or Indiana-never mind that you can`t see the ground because of cloud cover or because you are sitting in an aisle seat or the wrong side of the plane.
The kind of communication I mean is leveling with passengers about flight delays, mechanical problems, near misses and other problems that make flying today an ordeal.
For example, several weeks ago I was on a Sunday evening flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago. The flight left Pittsburgh on time and landed at O`Hare International Airport at 8:55 p.m., five minutes early.
”We got you here faster than a speeding bullet,” the captain said,
”but now we have to wait five minutes for a gate.” And so the passengers sat. Fifteen minutes passed. Forty-five minutes passed. In that time the plane moved twice. The captain said nothing. The passengers were getting restless. Finally the captain explained that ground traffic was backed up because of a thunderstorm that moved across O`Hare.
It was 10 p.m. when the Boeing 727 finally was at a gate. The flight took 55 minutes, the wait for a gate 1 hour and 5 minutes. No apologies from the airline.
The attitude seemed to be, ”Hey, guys. We got you here. What more do you want?”
When I spoke with the airline, a spokesman said the carrier had a 71 percent on-time at the gate record, which means that 29 percent of its flights are not on time. But 71 percent is about par for the airline industry.
In retrospect, I was grateful the flight was not involved in a near miss, like at least six other flights were in a recent week, not including the one involving President Ronald Reagan`s helicopter.
Following a near miss over California (50 of this year`s 610 near collisions occurred over southern California), passengers complained that the airline involved never apologized or explained the incident that scared the hell out of them.
Having experienced several flight cancellations and delays in the last four months, I would have appreciated candor from the carriers rather than limpid or no explanations. I believe airline passengers can deal with the truth, whether the incident involves a flight delay caused by a mechanical problem or a scary steep dive to avoid a stray aircraft.
The airlines must do a better job of talking to their passengers if carriers expect confidence and loyalty from passengers.
Airline TV commercials that tout clean planes and friendly skies appear to be avoiding the real concerns that build consumer confidence, such as on-time performance, baggage handling and consumer responsiveness to problems.
If you look at the Air Travel Consumer Complaint Report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), you get the feeling that airlines should be trying to find ways of pleasing their customers. The July report, for instance, showed a total of 6,250 airline complaints compared to 1,023 a year ago. Of the total, 2,658 involved flight problems (cancellations, delays or any other deviations from schedule), 1,358 about baggage (lost, damaged or delayed), 635 about customer service and 558 about ticket refunds or fare adjustments. The numbers are based on informal consumer complaints the DOT received by mail or telephone.
The complaints received by the DOT undoubtedly are a fraction of the total, with many going directly to airlines and travel agents while the vast majority simply bad-mouth the airline to anyone willing to listen.
The top 10 complaint-getters per 100,000 passengers were Continental
(45.90), Northwest (28.11), Pan American (26.40), Trans World Airlines
(22.23), Eastern (19.92), Hawaiian (13.62), Transtar (11.71), Midway
(10.31), United (10.11) and American Trans Air (7.24).
The complaint situation is getting a hard look by Congress and the DOT. The DOT cautioned that ”complaint volumes can be drastically affected by widespread publicity. Beginning in early 1987, newspapers, magazines and the electronic media have focused greater attention on airline performance.” In other words, consumers who had problems knew where to write (DOT Office of Consumer Affairs, 400 7th St. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590) or call
(202-366-5953).
”The department believes that much can be done by the airlines to improve service and performance,” the DOT report said. It cited a letter sent by Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole to 36 major, national and large regional carriers reminding them of the department`s consumer rules and policies, particularly in the areas where we have been seeing more complaints. . .
”DOT also has established a special task force to meet with officials of all the largest airlines and to work directly with the carriers to solve problems. If such action is not sufficient, the task force will make recommendations for any enforcement action against any airline found to be violating federal regulations.” The DOT also was expected to issue on-time and other performance reporting requirements for airlines late last week.
On Capitol Hill, the House Public Works and Transportation Committee proposed a new DOT report that would be available monthly to travelers through all airline ticket agents.
Under the bill, as reported recently in Travel Weekly, the DOT report would disclose such telling statistics as:
– The average number of minutes by which arrival times are later than scheduled arrival times.
– The percentage of flights that arrived more than 15 minutes late.
– The percentage of canceled flights.
– A list of any flights canceled more than 5 percent of the time.
– The percentage of persons with confirmed reservations who were involuntarily and voluntarily bumped.
– A list of each flight on which more than one percent of the persons who held a confirmed reservation were bumped, with separate percentages of voluntary and involuntary bumpings.
– A list of each airport where the carrier has scheduled more than 75 flights per day, and the percentage of passengers who missed their
connections.
– The number of passengers, per 100,000, who reported lost or damaged baggage.
– The total number of complaints filed by the DOT against any airline.
While Congress talks and the DOT and airlines communicate, travelers should take the advice of Rep. Norman Mineta (D., Calif.), chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee: ”I believe that the solution to delays and other deficiencies in airline service is for consumers to demand better service and to vote with their pocketbooks by taking their business to those who will provide that better service.”
Now also is the time for the Reagan administration to spring loose the $6 billion unobligated surplus in the Aviation Trust Fund and modernize the nation`s airways, instead of letting it pile up to offset the nation`s budget deficit. The public deserves safe airways as well as candor from the airlines.
