Joe Hill is Finally Dead
September 19-Shedding tears for mammoth companies that run afoul of market conditions, especially companies with bloated union contracts, doesn't fit my view of business, and so when Northwest and Delta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 14, I hoped that they either got fiscally straight or went belly up.
Although many Americans recall an era when flying was a pleasure-nostalgia buffs pointing out that not so long ago you'd see people at airports in presentable attire may get tiresome, but facts are stubborn things-there's no point in complaining about the current miserable atmosphere one encounters when taking a flight. I fondly recall a dozen or so Concorde trips to London and Paris more than a decade ago, when the savings in time were even more inviting than the pampering aboard the sleek planes.
Back in '87, before moving to New York, I took a four-month worldwide tour on a first-class ticket that cost less than $5,000 and included stops in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Athens, Bangkok, Manila and Hong Kong. I was aboard the last flight of MGM Grand, an absurdly luxurious five hour flight to Los Angeles, with a private compartment featuring a door I could close to drown out the loud gossiping of Tom Hanks and Cybill Shepherd, who were sitting behind me.
Those are now stories of legend with my kids, on par with $8 tickets to see the Stones in their prime and hitchhiking from New York to Boston.
Anyway, the airline industry was in steep decline before 9/11, diving into a new world of rude service, cutbacks on amenities, long delays and haphazard baggage collection. Today it's even more of a trial with the security checks that vary from location to location.
I support the screening at airports-you wonder why Amtrak is so lax, barely checking tickets, let alone bags, when you get on a train-and don't mind being frisked or questioned by unhappy workers. Having the surname of Smith doesn't help me get to a gate on time, and when my 12-year-old is scrutinized from head to toe it does seem odd, but as the rock 'n roll ghosts Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang a lifetime ago, in another context, that's finding the cost of freedom.
So consumers gird themselves for a day of torture when flying now, and once you accept that it's easier to keep an even keel. Over the Labor Day weekend, we flew from Baltimore to Los Angeles on the no-frills, profitable Southwest Airlines, and while the trip truly lived up to its "Greyhound of the Skies" reputation (The Los Angeles Times, has updated the slogan to "airborne Wal-Marts"), I had very few complaints.
The most noticeable upside of Southwest-and this was true at both BWI and LAX (both busy airports)-was that the plane departed a mere 10 minutes after the scheduled time, a modern miracle if you ask me. Who cares about the awful food, cramped seats or a crew so impossibly chirpy you'd think they were auditioning for a sitcom or reality show?
About 20 minutes before we arrived in L.A., one stewardess affected a Beverly Hillbillies accent and told the packed cabin to break down the cardboard food boxes to help with the garbage collection ("We're in this together, y'all"). She warned that "you'd better check for them on eBay" for any possessions left behind. That kind of corniness was annoying, but it beat United's (my least favorite airline for over 20 years) habitual tardiness and sudden cancellation of flights.
Again, it's a pain in the ass to fly today, and Southwest makes you work for those low fares and punctual flights. There's no assigned seating, so a customer is forced to print boarding tickets on the day of the flight-the earlier that's done, the better the chances for keeping a family seated together-which is a far cry from when travel agents (remember them?) took care of such tasks well ahead of time. You learn to adapt.
Rob Walker wrote a prescient piece for Slate in August of 2001 about why Southwest was trouncing the "legacy" carriers. He cited the airline's ability to "hedge" fuel costs, the culture of "loyalty and trust" co-founder Herb Kelleher had instilled among consumers, and, most importantly, the fact that Southwest "pays its employees less, and gets more out of them than its competitors." No one likes lower wages, but employed airline workers are more content than those made redundant.
Walker concludes: "Does all this mean that Southwest holds the secret to airline success and will never be overtaken by a competitor or fall on hard times? Of course not. Hindsight is easy, and who knows what might buffet the airline business next." Less than a month after those words were published, 9/11 decimated the industry, but Southwest continued to be profitable.
And George Will, in a Sept. 16 Washington Post op-ed, took a carving knife to AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney, pointing out that Big Labor's relic-who's more interested in the fortunes of the Democratic Party than the dwindling members he supposedly represents-was arrested at a sit-in at New York University last week where he was protesting the difficulties of the "downtrodden serfs" also known as graduate students, who are planning a strike. Detailing Northwest's plans to emerge from bankruptcy with a leaner budget and decreased payroll, Will has little sympathy for young academics still living in a dream world:
"But if Northwest can fly without the brains and muscles of unionized mechanics, how likely is it that NYU cannot function without graduate student assistants? A strike, to be effective, must withdraw skills that cannot be replaced, and there seem to be fewer of them than there once were."