Learning From Overbooked Flights
This weekend I had tickets to see Andrew Bird and St. Vincent at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where I was also planning on catching up with a close cousin of mine and his girlfriend, whom I rarely get to see. It has been on my list for a long time to see a show in the venue that housed the Grand Ole Opry in its formative years, and my wife and I were psyched for our little getaway that we had booked back in July.
However, thanks to U.S. Airways (and I suppose to the poor practice of overbooking by the airline industry in general), those plans were dashed. The culprit: multiple severely overbooked flights in a row, no takers for a consensual bump with a future voucher, and general mayhem and confusion on the part of the terminal employees. Of course I could give you a detailed blow-by-blow, but my own particular experience isn’t really the point – we’ve all been through it, so you more or less know the horror story. What is more important are some of the overarching things I thought about as it was all unfolding that would have either avoided the situation altogether, would have made it more bearable, or can serve as warning signs when designing experiences elsewhere.
1. Don’t Make Your Customers Suffer For Your Own Business/Industry Shortcomings
Look, as a business person I know that it is common practice for airlines to overbook flights, and I know there are algorithms to determine by how much they should oversell to generally have full planes without too many people getting hosed (like I did). I also know that the organization takes a hit that really adds up when there are unsold seats on flights. However, as a passenger with plans, I DON’T CARE about any of that. It’s not, and it shouldn’t be, my problem – I have no sympathy for any of that when I’m standing there watching my plane take off and I’m still on the ground. I’ve gotten used to not getting meals anymore and having to pay for everything I consume or “borrow” on the flight, but when the fundamental thing I’ve paid for – transport itself – is denied to me based on something that in no way is my fault, it simply feels like a swindle. I can’t think of another industry that gets away with behavior quite like this…why does flying always feel like a game of roulette? Why do we willingly continue to pay for something that we know (weather aside, even) might not be worth the paper it is printed on once we’ve packed our luggage, taken time off, gotten ourselves to the airport, and paid for parking? Why are we always pretty shocked and bemused when it goes smoothly and we end up where we’re supposed to be on time? I realize we’re not talking about something as simple as running a lemonade stand here, but as consumers we’re also paying really good money for this service…why is all of this emotional strain being put on the customers, for something that the business can’t effectively figure out? The industry needs to find more effective ways to manage schedules, cut costs and/or maximize efficiencies, to make sure that we actually get what we pay for and can be confident in our purchase. Without that, you’re certainly not going to increase the amount of people lining up (and emptying their pockets) to say “thank you sir, may I have another?”
2. Don’t Burden Expensive and Important Transactions With a “Luck Factor”
Our flight was oversold by 12 tickets, and we were numbers 8 and 9 – having checked in at the airport a little less than 2 hours before the (domestic) flight. Some people have said to me, “well, you should have checked-in online during the day”. Well, it just wasn’t that kind of day – we’ve all had ‘em. Regardless, that is airline apologetics, and we shouldn’t be in the business of giving them an “out” – would you say that to your grandmother who doesn’t really get what “online” even means? It isn’t OK that we’ve learned the rules to their flawed game so therefore we can exploit it at the expense of those who haven’t – that is just unfair. A ticket purchased in July shouldn’t require another mad-dash of confirmation on the day of the flight three months later to make sure it’s still valid.
3. Set The Rules, and Stick To Them
I wasn’t happy about the oversold situation but I wanted to be clear about the rules, so I asked. “You said we’re numbers 8 and 9 on that list, right? So if 9 seats free up, we’ll be on that flight? Right?” I was told that was correct, by the attendant who was being actively badgered by a woman who announced that she was 12th on the list and HAD to be at work that evening in Nashville. So explain to me then how that squeaky wheel got on the flight and we were still standing in the terminal? Because the rules were broken. Look, I know it can’t be easy to listen to that one (or those few) nut-job(s) jabber on about how much more important the flight is for them than for anyone else. But rewarding that behavior not only destroys your organization’s credibility in anything they “officially” say or do, it reinforces those behaviors in the future (and therefore makes your life even more difficult) – because in this instance you can bet you’ll read that little “tip” on a travel blog.
4. If You Can’t Avoid It, Have A Very Clear And Well-Communicated Contingency Plan
OK, we’ve already established that it’d be great if the need for the whole ugly practice of overbooking could be squashed somehow. However, in the end we’re talking about an industry that is really hurting, so we may already be at wit’s end as far as that is concerned. OK, but how to mitigate that then? U.S. Airways chooses to keep this practice as quiet and ill-explained to its passengers as possible in hopes that it’ll only affect a small percentage of them and things will generally just clunk along as they do now. Interestingly enough, as a result it is not only completely baffling and frustrating to passengers when they get bumped, but also to U.S. Airways employees – who obviously don’t know what the correct next-steps are, what the lines of communication should be (witness us being sent to 4 different desks, having to re-tell the exact same story 4 times to people who had no idea what we were talking about and generally treated us like we were criminals trying to steal something from them), or how to maintain their composure in the midst of what is no doubt a frustrating experience for all.
Until Next Time, Nashville
What it all boils down to is this: we missed an important family visit and a concert. The airline owes us more than just the price of the flight refunded, but at least we did finally receive that several days later (I wasn’t too confident even that would happen). I was ticked, but even more ticked when I thought about things that other people have missed as a result of these practices (or, at best, just bafflingly terrible experience design). I posted my plight on Facebook and heard from people who had missed weddings, funerals, and more. This isn’t buying a TV, bringing it home, and finding out it doesn’t work – this is denying people visits with their friends, family, and attendance at major life events. You cannot possibly provide me with an excuse good enough for that.
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By Berg, October 16, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
Sadly, a very common tale of woe and yet totally unnecessary!
Airlines suffer from the same ailment that most large companies fall prey to – they seem to totally forget what the original purpose was for starting the business in the first place which is to actually provide a needed or desired product or service! The lust for profit and continued growth, along with the evil necessities of competition in a highly saturated market, all but choke out the core values and basic principles that drove the founders to build these companies through there own sweat and capital. In addition, this behavior blinds them from seeing the real root cause issues and keeps them on a continuous wheel of adding poorly conceived and executed “band aids” to address systemic and fundamental problems.
At best these companies are a total drag to deal with and the product or service is sub-standard and, at worst (as evidenced by Russ’s story), they are one small step removed from being a total scam!
And let’s not even talk about how insane it is that the price of a ticket for the very same flight can vary by as much as 200% over the course of several weeks! And why is it that I have to go through the same check-in, security, boarding, baggage processes to take a 70 minute flight to Boston as someone traveling 18 hours to India? Why not use smaller jets taking off and landing at smaller airports for the majority of domestic flights so as to simplify and expedite the travel experience – not to mention cutting the cost, hassle, and congestion by orders of magnitude!
And so on….
Yeah – they sure don’t get it!!!