Feb 13, 2005
On the Pain of Air Travel
Via Paul Musgrave, Chris Busch asks a simple question about air travel: Why is it so unpleasant?
Contact lenses began as literal glass lenses placed directly upon the eye. They were expensive, uncomfortable, and dangerous. Incrementally, the technology improved and improved:"If people can wear lenses all day, they want to wear them all night, too, and that raises new safety hurdles. Soft lenses are easier to fit and wear, but they also require more care, leading doctors to worry about maintaining sterile conditions. Disposable lenses, which come packaged in sterile solutions, attempt to deal with that problem... The challenge then becomes to push costs down far enough to make such lenses affordable... Each problem solved leads to new demands and, sometimes, to new problems. It is an open-ended series (pp 60-61)."
With each new innovation, the price may rise for a time. Then comes a new challenge: Competitors now seek to produce the innovative product at a lower cost. Once they do, the race is on to find the next big innovation.
I think a similar situation is occurring in air travel right now.
It goes without saying that 9/11 made many people afraid to fly, although 9/11 only aggravated a challenge that many carriers were already facing: Virtually everyone I know now shops around for airline tickets using online travel services. Not so long ago, these time-saving, bargain-finding devices were completely unknown.
Online travel services allow us to find the cheapest fares more easily than ever. They also erode brand loyalty by suggesting to us that we might go with an unknown upstart carrier simply because its fares are cheapest. At one time, I might have asked whether my favorite carrier went to a given destination--and I might have been satisfied with its price simply because I did not bother to inquire further. Now, though, I can be as ruthless as I like in finding the best deal, and it costs me absolutely no additional trouble or effort.
Online travel services have provided a great boon to air travelers--but with it comes the new challenge of convincing these same travelers to demand new amenities with their flights. While these services have spread considerably, the realm of travel amenities has if anything grown even faster: We now want gourmet coffee, WiFi, satellite radio, cell phone connectivity, and all sorts of high-tech comforts.
Eventually, I suspect that airlines will come to recognize this, and perhaps a few of them will carve out niche markets catering to the traveler who is willing to pay a bit extra. Of course, the most successful carriers will be the ones who figure out the trick of providing these amenities at the least additional cost, and of properly publicizing their achievement.
So sure, it does look like a problem--for the moment. But it's also an opportunity for future entrepreneurs. If any of them are reading, they should take this as a notice: It's time to get to work. The rest of us stand ready to reward your efforts.
(And of course, if anyone finds a way to make a passenger railroad profitable again, I would much prefer going by train. The legroom and the better scenery are each reason enough by themselves. Moreover, the amenities that tech-savvy travlers now want would be vastly easier to provide on a train. This is to say nothing of bigger restrooms, better food, and the chance to get out and stretch your legs at every station if the mood so strikes you. Heck, with advantages like these, why do we bother flying at all?)
[Crossposted at Positive Liberty.]
As I looked around the gate lounge while waiting to board a flight to LA today, I noticed that no one seemed to have any semblance of a happy look on their faces. I think it's because almost no one looks forward to the flying experience anymore, even when the flight is on time like it was today (way to go American)...As a matter of fact, I do. In The Future and Its Enemies, Virginia Postrel discusses (pp 59-61 of the paperback) how contact lenses came to be the convenient, inexpensive, easy-to-use wonders that they are today. And I think that there is a parallel to be found in the airline industry.
As far as I can see, airlines haven't changed much at the gates for decades. Maybe they could try to change this part of the flying experience at a few gates and see what the customer response is. Who knows, maybe the good experience revolution might even spread onto the planes someday.
Anyone else got some ideas?
Contact lenses began as literal glass lenses placed directly upon the eye. They were expensive, uncomfortable, and dangerous. Incrementally, the technology improved and improved:"If people can wear lenses all day, they want to wear them all night, too, and that raises new safety hurdles. Soft lenses are easier to fit and wear, but they also require more care, leading doctors to worry about maintaining sterile conditions. Disposable lenses, which come packaged in sterile solutions, attempt to deal with that problem... The challenge then becomes to push costs down far enough to make such lenses affordable... Each problem solved leads to new demands and, sometimes, to new problems. It is an open-ended series (pp 60-61)."
With each new innovation, the price may rise for a time. Then comes a new challenge: Competitors now seek to produce the innovative product at a lower cost. Once they do, the race is on to find the next big innovation.
I think a similar situation is occurring in air travel right now.
It goes without saying that 9/11 made many people afraid to fly, although 9/11 only aggravated a challenge that many carriers were already facing: Virtually everyone I know now shops around for airline tickets using online travel services. Not so long ago, these time-saving, bargain-finding devices were completely unknown.
Online travel services allow us to find the cheapest fares more easily than ever. They also erode brand loyalty by suggesting to us that we might go with an unknown upstart carrier simply because its fares are cheapest. At one time, I might have asked whether my favorite carrier went to a given destination--and I might have been satisfied with its price simply because I did not bother to inquire further. Now, though, I can be as ruthless as I like in finding the best deal, and it costs me absolutely no additional trouble or effort.
Online travel services have provided a great boon to air travelers--but with it comes the new challenge of convincing these same travelers to demand new amenities with their flights. While these services have spread considerably, the realm of travel amenities has if anything grown even faster: We now want gourmet coffee, WiFi, satellite radio, cell phone connectivity, and all sorts of high-tech comforts.
Eventually, I suspect that airlines will come to recognize this, and perhaps a few of them will carve out niche markets catering to the traveler who is willing to pay a bit extra. Of course, the most successful carriers will be the ones who figure out the trick of providing these amenities at the least additional cost, and of properly publicizing their achievement.
So sure, it does look like a problem--for the moment. But it's also an opportunity for future entrepreneurs. If any of them are reading, they should take this as a notice: It's time to get to work. The rest of us stand ready to reward your efforts.
(And of course, if anyone finds a way to make a passenger railroad profitable again, I would much prefer going by train. The legroom and the better scenery are each reason enough by themselves. Moreover, the amenities that tech-savvy travlers now want would be vastly easier to provide on a train. This is to say nothing of bigger restrooms, better food, and the chance to get out and stretch your legs at every station if the mood so strikes you. Heck, with advantages like these, why do we bother flying at all?)
[Crossposted at Positive Liberty.]