13 Ways Airlines Must Change In The Wake Of Covid

As I’ve said before, there is every reason to believe the travel industry will both survive and thrive after the current pandemic recedes. It is going to take longer than anyone could have imagined a year ago, and the all-clear horns won’t be sounding any time soon. But people are anxious to get back to some kind of normalcy by which they can travel to places they know and don’t know, dine at favorite and new restaurants and forge new adventures. 

On the assumption that the way to rebound from disaster is to not repeat the mistakes of the past, instead to innovate in ways that will truly appeal to potential travelers, the airline industry, more than any, needs completely to re-think policies that are the result of decades of putting profit over comfort and service. Indeed, it is laughable even to refer to the airlines as a “service industry.” The fact is, almost no one looks forward to airline travel, which begins with the agony of getting to the airport, getting on check-in and security lines, then enduring delays and cancellations based as much on algorithms as bad weather. 

Here are some critical things the airlines have to do if they have any chance of bringing back the kind of high traffic they enjoyed for the first two decades of this century.

One, re-engage with travel agents who have been left in the cold by airlines who cut off their commissions—especially since getting a human being to answer the phone at the airline itself is daunting. A good travel agent is an enormous resource, not just for the client but for the airline that gets his/her business based on recommendations, packages and fares only agents can arrange.

Two, stop the idiocy of changing fares daily, even hourly, to meet supply and demand. You don’t go to the supermarket expecting the price of ice cream or steak to fluctuate throughout the day or overnight, but on-line fares are a miasma of complexity. Commit to fares on a monthly seasonal basis and keep them there.

 Three, increase the number of business class seats and reduce their prices. So-called “Premium” seats above “Coach” are, by and large, a rip-off, although Delta’s premiums seats are a good model to follow.

Four, since the volume of air travel is not likely to return to the same levels as before, and jumbo jets sit empty on the ground, re-configure seating more to resemble what the relatively comfortable seating in the old 707s and 747s used to be like, rather than the sardine can configurations used today. Today’s aircraft are made to maximize numbers and profits, not comfort or convenience.

Five, restore food service as the norm for any flight over two hours. It had been one of the few parts of flying people looked forward to (even if the food was dreck), and people feel insulted being tossed a tiny biscuit or Twix bar.

Six, bring back having magazines available in all classes, not just the banal airline magazine that are now nothing more than ads for the destinations the airline flies to. And while they’re at, just cut the airline president’s page in which he/she hypes industry statistics and always insists they are improving with one thought in mind, to fly you safe and comfortably to your destination.  

 Seven, use this Covid lull time to re-think the logistics of the check-in and security lines. Sensible weight restrictions on how much a passenger can carry on must be adjusted upward, after years when bag size and weight has shrunk radically. And paying for baggage at all is despicable. Increase— rather than decrease, as they have been doing—overhead bin space, which is something every passenger complains about not having enough of.

Eight, make international rules about passing through detectors, so that in one city you have to remove your shoes, belts, laptops, iPhones while in another you do not. 

 Nine, get rid of—and some airlines have—flight change fees, which are possibly the most odious of money-grabbing swindles the airlines perpetrate.

Ten, get rid of “no refund” tickets, which are designed to disadvantage travelers in every way possible, not least assigning them the worst seats on the plane. Again, some airlines have seen the light on this one.

Eleven, provide enough seating in the waiting areas, not least because of the frequency of delays. 

 Twelve, logistically shorten the distance of one arrival gate from a departing gate for a connecting flight that the airline knows fifty people are going to rush to get to.

Thirteen, and perhaps most important, require airline captains and crew to make very regular, timed announcements about any delays and wait times, even if new information is not immediately forthcoming. Every five minutes is little enough to ask, simply to be re-assured that all is being done to re-assure passengers.

None of these recommendations will cost a lot of money. And many are merely returning to a time when service counted in order to court a passenger’s business. Today, with the exception of some of the Asian airlines’ exceptional business and first-class service, the concern of most airlines is to fight it out to be the least obnoxious among them. People want to travel, but they really hate the ordeal of flying to get somewhere. Until airlines realize that, it will take much longer for their business to bounce back.