Airlines Kill "The Quickie"

It used to be I could fly from Chicago to New York or Chicago to Washington in a day. Out in the morning. Back the same evening. Plenty of time for work in between. We called these trips "quickies" in our house because for my 4-year old the experience of these trips - and my related absence from home - was the same as if I was just working down the street in our global headquarters.

But in the past 12 months, that changed. After missing two important meetings due to cancelled flights or airport closures, I decided that if it was something I absolutely, positively had to attend, I'd have to go the night before. But now, with the repeated wholesale flight cancellations, even planning to go the night before isn't always enough. These days to be absolutely, positively certain to make a meeting, I have to start trying to get there at least 24 hours in advance. 24 hours before my meeting, I'm at the airport just trying to make a 1 ½ hour flight. And, I know I'm not alone in this.

It's expensive, a productivity killer and tough on families.

I'm not blaming anyone. That's not the point. The point is that we can't possibly hope to win in a global business environment if we can't even reliably transport Americans to and from meetings in our own country. I am not willing to compromise on safety and I am all for actions related to protecting the traveling public. But, the whole system is clearly in need of a major fix. We can't afford another year like this. So, as a plea from one hard working, frequent traveling American, could everybody please just get together and sort out this mess!

Comments

[Robert59]

Perry,

My mind must be in the gutter. When you wrote about airlines killing the quickie the first thing I thought of was they've declared war on the ultimate quickie, the mile high club.

Shame on me.

[OneTruePatriot]

Ever hear of the internet? Unless the meetings your attending involve the exchange of bodily fluids there is virtually no need to fly anywhere to attend a meeting. Conferencing, video, charts and graphs, it's all available with really little technology. flying to attend a meeting today is a vanity thing that managers do to convince themselves that they are still relevant.

[Robert59]

I agree to a point. My last video conference was 10 years ago. Drawbacks to it were a rigid schedule. We had our slot and when our hour and a half was up, it was up. You couldn't take the meeting elsewhere or break off into small groups with the attendees who weren't there and discuss things, come up with an alternative solution, and present it the next day.

Nothing will completely replace face to face interaction.

I've also seen meeting abuse where people who really want a paid vacation insist what they are discussing is so important it requires a million dollars be spent so a bunch of men can work for half a day, play golf the other half, then drink and swap lies into the late evening. It was alot of fun, but not a good use of money.

Speaking of your name, why do you consider yourself a True Patriot? Not flaming, just curious.

[Rockwell]

Luckily my company has a shuttle service that flies us between our major locations. We get dropped off at a regional airport right on the tarmac. We board the plane within minutes and just have to show our drivers license. The pilot takes our luggage and loads it right there while we watch.

That's the way flying used to be. Quick, simple, pleasant.

Flying on the public airlines today is a grueling, grubby, squalid, humiliating ordeal. A completely soul-sucking experience.

[DC8P4DCEFE]

the stiff security has also stopped 'quickies' in the lavatory when on a long flight.

[dadw5boys]

Take a bus you fools for a short distance or rent a car.

Good lord whinners!!!!!!!!

[Dunnage]

The airline industry has nothing to do with customers or shareholders. That leaves management and holders of debt.

[joebaggadonuts]

How about taking the high speed commuter train? Oh that's right, we decided we didn't need them in America. Good decision, eh?

[tommy_slothrop]

Sorting this out responsibly would involve raising prices, closing airports and more airlines going out of business. More importantly, it would mean the end of tax-deductable business travel.

It nice that you get to travel at the drop of a hat and not loose any time with your daughter. But children in Iraq have been fried alive in a war to enable our military-industrial complex to maintain a presence in the Persian Gulf to ensure a reliable supply of fuel for your travels.

I suggest more reliance on video conferencing or restructuring responsibility so that someone on the East Coast can perform the duties that require you have to go there so often.

[inajetik]

this is incredibly ridiculous. why would this require increases in fairs and closure of airports? as someone who travels internationally for a living... why can 3rd world countries solve these problems buy america cannot? this is embarrassing. America is the laughing stock of the entire traveling world. the real problem is the airlines not prioritizing their limited resources... and them putting too many flights in one airport which does nothing but delay the system...the ny airports are a prime example of this.

[Foryourconsideration]

OH SNAP ;o) Exactly. Your words are tough medicine we need to hear. It's gonna cost lots of $.
You illustrate a paradigm shift from "us" as being our intimate family and friends to "us" as being humanity. We consume at our own peril, as well as the world's.

I agree, our technology can help us be better world citizens.