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Maximum Hassle
Cheap Charlie · July 28, 2002

We have all heard the moans and groans of the major airlines - namely American, United, Continental, Delta, Northwest and US Airways. They are all groaning the same song and they are all losing money at unprecedented rates.

In the meantime, the non-major airlines are singing on the way to the bank. Southwest, Airtran, Jet Blue and Frontier are reporting profits and other airlines who have changed from the complexity of yield managed airfares to easy-to-understand, consumer-friendly pricing have not been faced with declines as large as those registered by the majors.

Given these factors and given the new hassle factor that has come into play with the capricious passenger security systems enacted since 9/11, the major airlines have decided to respond aggressively. Unfortunately they are managing to get everything backwards.

At a time when logic would indicate that every effort should be made to win back wary business travelers, the major airlines' uniform response has been increased stubbornness and rigidity in relation to rules that they, themselves make. They have slashed senior fares; increasing fees for excess luggage, unaccompanied minors, ticket changes, paper tickets, gun cases, pets and more; and turned their ticket agents into an extra-fee-collection Gestapo. And the airlines have forbidden their employees from thinking on their feet or exercising any discretion with passengers.

So much for customer service and wooing back wary travelers.

The most valuable travelers, from the major airlines' point of view, are the business travelers. Here you would expect the bulk of discounting and incentives to be focused. Wrong. Leisure fares have dropped to historically low levels while business fares have not been revised downward as much.

One of the most-often cited irritants for business travelers (and leisure travelers as well) has been security hassles--first at the check-in counter, then at the baggage scanners, then again at the gate. The airlines together with TSA (Transportation Security Administration) have increased their vigilance over knitting needles, nail clippers, manicure sets, corkscrews and razorblades. On my latest trip through JFK, I learned that even books are now suspect since they leave a dark impression on most airport x-ray machines.

At the same time that individual travelers are faced with more and more bewildering ignominies, Department of Transportation bigwigs are backtracking on deployment of explosives detection machinery and approvals of most airport security programs. The TSA motto seems to be, "maximum hassle, minimum effect."

Another irritant for frequent travelers is the time needed to check in and then wend one's way onto the plane. Here the major airlines seem to have eliminated common sense from their security equation. I have, in previous columns, regaled readers with stories of security apparatchiks meticulously patting down and wanding former Vice-Presidents Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

The Wall Street Journal on July 29th had an almost not-to-be-believed article written by George McGovern about his experiences while traveling on business. In his article McGovern complained about the "dutiful employee on guard at the ramparts of freedom," in Sioux Falls, who refused to check him in for his Northwest flight because he had missed the airline-mandated 30-minute deadline. The same problem faced him at the Portland, Oregon, airport with Delta.

In Sioux Falls George McGovern was in what amounted to a deserted airport with no security line or delays in sight. In Portland, Oregon, he missed the 30-minute cutoff by seconds. He pleaded his case in Sioux Falls, but (in McGovern's words) "she (the ticket agent) was not to be moved from the grip of bureaucratic devotion." In Portland, he was told that "even if they (the ticket agents) wanted to check me in the computer would not let them do it."

So, as the smaller airlines gain market share, the major airlines fiddle with their fees and fiercely dig their heels in when it comes to customer service and employee discretion. And now, I hear, the majors are hiring high-priced consultants to tell them what they may be doing wrong. All the while, the majors are still losing lots of money and now losing once-loyal core customers.

Go figure. It is more of the same old story, this time from the airlines - maximum hassle, minimum effect.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.