Dear United: It Didn’t Have To Be This Way

ByHeather

Last summer I had a Delta flight out of La Guardia bound for Detroit. It was a Saturday morning and the airport was swarming with passengers, the gate area for my flight was like a mosh pit. As we approached the time to board, a gate agent announced that the flight was oversold by seven passengers. An audible groan rippled through the waiting area as we all clutched our boarding passes and jockeyed further for position in the boarding process. This was not going to be easy.

The Delta / traveler negotiation process began when the agent offered the usual $400 travel voucher for anyone willing to take a later flight. In a delightful New York accent, a lady standing beside me smirked, “They’ll pay more.” Sure enough, moments later the announcement came that a $500 voucher was now available to any travelers with flexible travel plans. I smiled as I acknowledged the prophetic power of my fellow traveler. As my plans did not feel flexible, I gratefully made my way onto the plane.

After the plane was fully loaded, with the last few passengers jamming bags into the overhead bins, a voice rang out over the airplane announcement system that Delta still needed one more passenger to give up their seat. This time, however, they had upped the ante. For one more traveler willing to give up their seat on this flight, the offer was now $1,300!

Before the announcer had released the button on her microphone, a loud whoop rang out from the bulkhead row of the economy cabin. A young woman jumped from her seat and in one smooth motion grabbed her duffle bag from the overhead bin and bolted off the plane, howling with delight the entire way back up the jetway. A chorus of applause and laughter broke out in the cabin as we all celebrated this woman’s quick decision-making and resulting good fortune. We were all happy for her.

In light of United’s fiasco last week I can’t help but imagine how things could have turned out differently for them. How much cheaper it would have been for them to simply buy their way out of their oversold situation. The cost of a few travel vouchers — even at a few thousand dollars a piece — would pale in the face of the damage done to their reputation and their brand. Not to mention, the inevitable law suits. As United likes to say in their safety announcements, we all have a choice when we fly. Guess what my preferred airline is?

Similar Posts

  • “The Market” vs “The Economy”

    ByHeather

    With all the volatility in the stock market lately it is a good time to remind ourselves that “the market” is not the same as “the economy.” The best that I can tell — at least as of the last few years — “the market” has contracted to a relatively small group of:

    • professional traders
    • automated computer programs
    • institutional investors
    • hedge fund managers

    This tight-knit circle trades amongst itself with very little relevance to what we think of as “the economy.” In contrast to this closed group, the economy is the vast sum of the creation and delivery of the goods and services we want and need.

    It seems to me that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 bears little connection to these things these days.

    Don’t be afraid. Now is the time to be bold. If you don’t like the economy, let’s go out and make one of our own.

  • Steinbeck on Writing

    ByHeather

    I think there is only one book to a man. It is true that a man may change or be so warped that he becomes another man and has another book but I do not think that it is so with me.

    — John Steinbeck, Journals of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

    East of Eden was the first book that I read by Steinbeck. It was moving and well written and rich with characters. Then I discovered Journals of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters and suddenly I felt I had been given a back stage pass to the mind of a writer.

    Steinbeck had already written Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939) when he set out to write East of Eden (1951). In the intervening years he lived through two divorces and served as a war correspondent. Despite the critical success of his earlier works, his standing as a major novelist had faded. As today’s quote reveals, Steinbeck also felt that he had not yet told the one story that was within him. His editor, Pascal Covici, did all that he could to encourage Steinbeck. Covici sent Steinbeck a number of notebooks and instructed Steinbeck to use them to write.

  • Reading

    ByHeather

    Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they are written.

    — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

    I have always been a deliberate reader. When I stumbled across this quote while reading Walden so many years ago, it simply gave me permission to enjoy the pace at which I read. Good writing is more than just conveying ideas or recounting a story. Good writing creates a mood, and images, and evokes emotions — and these cannot be digested while speed reading.

    One of my favorite writers is Pat Conroy, and my favorite book of his is Prince of Tides. When I read this poetic prose I am drawn in to the rich and colorful images Conroy is able to create. Every sentence feels like a sculpture carefully crafted.

  • Be Interesting

    ByHeather

    If it weren’t for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song.

    — Carl Perkins, Rockabilly pioneer

    I have been hesitant to post this quote because of its inclination towards banality. I mean, come on, how corny is “the stream would have no song?” But there is an underlying wisdom to this rockabilly adage. We do not grow if we are not challenged.

    Lately I have been intrigued by the idea of what makes people interesting.

  • Consumers Go On Strike

    ByHeather

    As the economy continues to sour, consumers have gone on strike. For the past few months, I have been contemplating the following economic and social trends that seem to explain why.

    • American productivity has risen almost 20% in the last decade (Source)
    • Real median income over the same period has declined (Source)
    • Executive compensation has risen astronomically (Source)
    • Consumer debt has risen substantially (Source)
    • Consumer spending comprises 70% of GDP

    Rising productivity is what enables companies to increase employee’s pay. Increases in pay result in the overall rise in our standard of living. However, in the last decade, this relationship between productivity and rising employee pay seems to have been fractured.

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.