Better Flight Status Information Isn't Worth the Expense
[This is a guest post by an anonymous airline insider.]
How many of you have been frustrated by the lack of updated flight status information when you fly? Probably most of you, and if you flew United Express, it might have been my fault. Of course I didn't do it on purpose, but it's a fairly archaic system. What's worse? It's not worth fixing.
When Brett asked for volunteers for guest posts during his vacation, I offered to discuss my views on communication between the airlines and its customers during irregular operations, when the weather goes bad or some other event causes massive delays and cancellations. Customers are frequently dissatisfied with the information (or lack thereof) provided to them from the airline. This is especially true during irregular operations, where it's not uncommon for passengers to be waiting at the gate five minutes before departure time, seeing "on time" displayed on the gate information sign, but seeing no aircraft in sight.
Brett asked me to discuss what it would take to provide better information to customers and what the business impacts would be. Is there a bottom-line benefit in providing customers better information? Probably not.
I've worn many hats throughout my aviation career, and one of the most memorable was the time I spent working in hub operations at Chicago/O'Hare for a United Express affiliate. You see, I was the guy responsible for keeping United's reservation system updated with our latest estimated departure times and reasons for delay.
In station operations, when things go smoothly, it's pretty mundane down there. Answer a few calls from pilots when they're close to landing, verify some automated flight times, all pretty routine and easy stuff for the four guys in the room at the time. But when irregular operations happen, all hell breaks loose. Literally. Nothing is for certain. We have to manually update every late flight -â€" and during irregular operations, that's every flight. The company doesn't give us extra bodies, although they usually would pay overtime.
As we're working that flight, we're trying to update others -â€" no basic task when you've been given twenty of them in front of you. And if that's not enough work, you're dealing with local and nationwide customer service representatives calling to "check on the latest" because hey, they know the info isn't terribly accurate. On one particularly bad day, for about 30 straight minutes, every time I put the phone down, it would immediately ring again. One of our local agents even asked me, "Why aren't you guys answering your phone down there?" (I had been-- for half an hour straight.)
I'd say that good communications during irregular operations is tough for two reasons. First, the IT systems we had weren't the most efficient. It would have been nice to have a batch update process that could auto-delay every flight based on certain parameters. Second, our information was flat out lousy. Irregular operations are so dynamic that it can be very difficult to convey accurate information in a timely manner.
But, if we had "perfect" information to give, should the airlines invest in better technology or more bodies to communicate in a more timely manner? For that matter, should the airlines invest in technology that would help cultivate that perfect knowledge? Quite honestly, I don't think so.
I simply don't see the return on investment. In fact, I don't see how giving passengers better information actually saves (or generates) the airline any money at all. How would it? The tickets are paid for, and most of them are non-refundable. "Everybody knows" the airlines provide lousy information, so it's not as if customers will flee to the competition for that sole reason. At least two airlines, if not more, are in business solely because they can attract attention by advertising a very low base fare. Where's the marketing benefit in telling customers, "Hey, if your flight's delayed, at least we'll tell you!"?
On top of that, I have concerns about giving too much information -â€" it's a very real possibility that a customer can misunderstand what's been said, and cause the already over-worked gate agents even more work. So in the end, I just can't see any benefit whatsoever to the airline for offering better information.
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The author wishes to remain anonymous