The Evolving Experience of Air Travel

A new survey just released talks about customer service improvements the airline industry has made recently.

Passenger satisfaction with airline service rose 3.2 percent earlier this year, the first increase in six years, according to a University of Michigan study to be released Tuesday.

The increase came as the number of passengers dropped and airlines reduced flying. Also passengers checked fewer bags as luggage fees became more common, making it easier for airlines to keep track of the bags that remained. Enplanements on U.S. routes dropped 1.5 percent in 2008, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

And if fewer passengers are the reason for the improved satisfaction score, imagine how happy they'll be this year, when the FAA expects domestic boardings to fall 8.8 percent.

This has not been my experience.

I took my first business trip of the year this week and several surprises were awaiting me as I navigated through my itinerary. Atlanta was my airport of origin for this trip, and Delta my airline of choice.

My first whirl on the new airline roller coaster was the inclusion of Northwest in the Delta landscape. The kiosk application, which was pretty good when it was Delta, was now some Frankenstein Delta/Northwest application whose touchscreen was intermittent and navigation logic was erratic. Doesn't make me feel good about that merger.

My second surprise (though I had read about this change some time ago) was the $15 charge for a checked bag. I don't begrudge the airlines for finding ways to increase their revenue, but I can't help but think this mechanism is counter-productive.

For this business traveler, it's another punch in the face for my continued loyalty. Yes, the fee is passed through to their clients, but it adds another delay to an already long process of getting to the plane, it adds another receipt to be reconciled in the expense report, and it appears to provide incentive to those who already overcrowd the cabin space with bags that really should have been checked in the first place.

It would make more sense to me to charge those who drag their bags onto the plane. The cost of delays in boarding, departure, deplaning, and resulting stresses on airline personnel and travel guests has got to be greater than the cost of checking baggage. I'd like someone to point me to the research.

My third jolt at the airport came at the newly redesigned security check lanes. Looks like a step in the right direction. Except when the security guy at the metal detector tells us (in his most pedantic voice) to put away our boarding passes ("We don't check those anymore").

I agree that checking the boarding passes at that point is superfluous, but TSA people, you've been pounding the "please have your boarding passes out and available" into our heads for eight plus years now. Please don't give us attitude about this change, make it the positive development that it is. Sell baby, sell.

The only upside to the trip, and my fourth and final evolution, was experiencing the on-board wifi on the flight. I expected a high priced, slow speed, buggy interface to the internet, but was surprised to find a very fast and responsive, easy to obtain connection to the web. Still too expensive for my regular use, especially after the $30 fees for checking luggage, but nice to know it's there if needed.

So in the final analysis, the nickle and dime mentality has made further inroads for the airlines and their brands, the TSA has taken eight years to make minor improvements in the people handling part of their process (but the Disney effect is miles away), and technology takes one step forward and one step back in service of the customer.