United incident just another dent in airline reputation

Air travel is all about trust.

We trust aircraft are well maintained and pilots are trained. We trust the crew to avoid bad weather, to land smoothly on well-maintained runways. In short, we trust that the largest, most complex and safest air transportation system in the world will work for us.

And, when we purchase a ticket, we believe we have a good chance of leaving on time, arriving on time and picking up our bags. 

{mosads}What no one expects is to be bumped involuntarily from their flight. But in 2015 that is exactly what happened — about 46,000 times. Another 510,000 people were bumped by mutual agreement, involving compensation in an odd auction where staying on the ground goes to the highest bidder.

There’s plenty of talk about the person dragged from a commercial airliner this weekend so his seat could go to a crew member in transit. It is an aberration to be sure — why does one of our largest airlines need to get four employees to an overnight location? Couldn’t others have covered for them the next morning? — but it raises a larger set of questions. 

While it is in our interest to have strong and economically viable airlines, trust with the customer erodes when we wonder whether the ticket we’ve purchased means we actually have a seat.

It’s sparked outcries around the world. 5 key questions about the United controversy answered https://t.co/LUmevO5FOb pic.twitter.com/0O1RpQfPrf

— CNN International (@cnni) April 11, 2017

Trust is something that is hard earned. While I greatly respect the airline community and the efforts they make to get millions of passengers safely from departure point to destination, they are always balancing their economic interests with levels of service to those of us who travel. Recently, the economic strength of our airlines has been pretty good. But trust took a real hit this week.

Basic economy: fewer perks, higher prices https://t.co/eFkOHU2KjW

— Investopedia (@Investopedia) March 24, 2017

We are all accommodating today to pay for a bag, pay for a meal, pay for whatever is an added convenience. I suppose we may start paying for a “no bumping” ticket before long. With all of the technology and data available, the airlines need to work out a process to maximize service to paying customers.

Craig Fuller is the chairman of The Fuller Company and works on aviation policy matters. He served in the Reagan/Bush administration from 1981-1989. He is a member of the APCO Worldwide International Advisory Council. Follow him on Twitter @CraigFullerTFC

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