I love to travel. I hate jet lag. Right now I’m suffering from a bit of jet lag after returning from a trip 10 time zones away, so I’m having trouble sleeping. It allowed me to think about ways the airlines could make life so much better for travelers. Yes, I’d like more leg room and a bigger seat, but I understand that costs a fortune. Here are things that could make travel a bit better for not much money.
1. Tell us when our bag missed the flight.
Before we took off a few weeks ago, the captain came on the loudspeaker and said, “a couple of people decided last minute not to fly with us, so we have to remove their baggage.” Well, what if they did the reverse? Everything is computerized, and bags get scanned. Couldn’t they tell you, before you land, that your bag didn’t make it? That way, instead of standing at the baggage claim until it stops moving and then filing a missing bag report, you could save the time by filing the claim immediately.
To keep reading, click here: Two Easy Things the Airlines Could Do to Make Us Not Hate Them
Give me your easy airline fixes in the comments.
Great HR related advice. You get paid for this? It appears you know as much about airlines as you do about HR.
This column covers a wide variety of topics that are both directly and indirectly related to HR. Suzanne definitely knows what she’s talking about.
Is this the only column you’ve read? Try reading a few more before making random snarky comments. Better yet, just don’t make them at all.
Give the guy a break. Parker gets lonely, and needs some attention from time to time.
Yea, actually, I think Evil does get paid for this.
What’s a matter? Are you jealous?
I love your baggage idea! I would even be more patient waiting 45 minutes watching the Atlanta baggage carousel go around if I could be confident that my luggage would eventually come out. (@Parker: What? HR people don’t travel on business?)
We used to fly to PEI from Houston every other summer. Our luggage NEVER made it with us. My Uncles would start filling out the lost luggage form before we landed. They would give the form to my dad to add the tag numbers, before driving us to Nana’s house. It would be delivered before 10 am the next morning*. It would have been a lot easier if they just admitted that the small plane couldn’t handle my parents 1970 hardshell large and heavy bags + Dad’s golf bag. Then we could have filled out the form in Halifax and they could have sent it on the van, across on the ferry like they always did.
*one time several bags actually got lost. I guess the tag came off and instead of going to PEI it was sent back to Dad’s office in Houston. He had used his business card in the luggage tag because he didn’t want to advertise our home address. The airline refused to pick up the luggage and send it to us on vacation because it had been accepted. (They left it on the doorstep of the business sometime between closing and opening.) Dad’s boss arranged for it to be shipped to us.
Sorry to hear about dealing with Jet Lag but I wanted to add another suggestion for airlines especially when traveling between airports to make connecting flights. I don’t know about you but I always pre-book my seat when I get my tickets so I don’t want to find my seat taken when I come aboard or check in because of overbooking or someone trying to change seats. Pre-booked seats should be removed from the roster if selected by the person so that one knows their seat will be there. Nothing will irritate a passenger more than to board a plane and find their seat occupied for whatever reason. No changes should be made unless plane has to be switched. Especially if you didn’t pay a discounted price but the fair price. Let the bargain seekers get the leftover seats not what they feel like taking. Plus the airlines really need to enforce the pet travel rules concerning service animals. There’s a big difference between a service animal with proper certification and training and “I need to have my pet with me emotional support animal” Service animals do not roam freely and are very well behaved in any circumstances.
I do not agree with not blaming the airlines for TSA, not only because airports have the option to replace TSA with private screeners, but because the airlines pushed TSA on us in the first place, partly because it makes it easier for them to gouge the public. And remember, the 9/11 hijackers got their weapons aboard by paying airline employees to sneak them in — a possibility that TSA does nothing to prevent. TSA is a scam and I’m never going to fly again until it is abolished.
Very hard to read this article due to all of the pop up ads that covered over half of the page!!!