Two Home Towns

I had an interesting week of contemplation. It began with me wondering about the future of air travel in the United States and ended with me wondering about the future of the United States in general. On top of my own miserable flying experiences, two of my best friends sent me separate messages regarding the insanity of modern air travel. One was with regard to inept behavior by the TSA, the other was this article warning of the impending collapse of the air travel infrastructure in the United States. At first I was seeing things through the lens of my own experience only, but by the end I was seeing it through the eyes of two disheartened flight attendants as well.

My reflections started on Tuesday morning on the way to Dallas from Salt Lake City. About 45 minutes after leaving the runway the American Airlines flight I was on lost cabin pressure. It was not a sudden Hollywood-style mass hysteria “whoosh” of cups and blankets or anything like that. Just our ears popping inexplicably after we had leveled off. Without a word the captain quickly banked hard to starboard and rapidly dove down to a much lower altitude. We then crept back to Salt Lake very slowly, and boy did it get hot in there. Apparently when the air pressurization system isn’t working on a Canadair regional jet the AC quits too. After we got back on the ground we waited a couple of hours for another plane and then another hour on the runway for a fueling crew to show up. No problem with the gas mind you – the tanker was right off to the side of the aircraft the whole time. Just no gas jockeys. For an hour. In the end we made it back to Dallas fully pressurized and cooled the whole way, but not until about 10 pm – a good five hours later than my itinerary. I wish I could call that sort of delay exceptional, but I can’t. It’s now just another day in the skyways of the United States.

And then there was Thursday. I flew Southwest out of Love Field down to Houston. Since it had been seven years or so since I’ve taken a flight out of Love I showed up more than an hour earlier than necessary to allow time for learning my way around. Boarding and departure from Love were very brisk – similar to what I vaguely remembered of the Southwest flying experience pre-9/11. Returning from Houston Hobby, however, was not.

By the time my customer meeting in Houston was over, enormous black thunderstorms were pounding the city with torrential rain. It was a portent of what the rest of my day and evening would look like. The terminal at Hobby was a page out of the Hollywood playbook with hundreds upon hundreds of disgruntled passengers standing around their gate areas waiting for a plane. We all waited in that discomfort unique to an agitated crowd for quite a while – some of us for many hours. I did the best I could to be a productive worker for my employer while waiting, making a number of calls and using my invaluable Verizon Aircard to catch up on email. By the time I got back to the apartment in Uptown it was four hours beyond the time I was supposed to be home. Of course weather delays have always happened – even a long time ago when the airline system was not operating at full capacity every day. But they were more bearable back then. Every other kind of delay was – by comparison to the present – a rarity. No longer. Adding it up in my head I estimated that fully a third to one half of my flights thus far this year have been either delayed or cancelled.

While adding up my air travel misfortunes waiting at Hobby I couldn’t help but wonder – “How bad does it have to get?” that is, how bad does the average person’s flying experience have to become before people just refuse to do it anymore? I can picture situations in the future where talented employees of successful companies start demanding a less intense travel schedule as part of their employment negotiations. Unlike the imaginations of some people, business travel has never been glamourous. In the past 20 years, however, I’ve seen it gradually progress from being moderately inconvenient to somewhat unpredictable to generally unreliable. This progression can’t continue. Eventually something’s gotta give.

On Friday morning I headed back to Atlanta from Dallas to spend some time with my daughter this weekend. I had it timed pretty much perfectly, clearing security and nabbing breakfast just in time for boarding to start. I finished my bagel while the plane boarded and my coffee as we climbed up to altitude. For air travel in 21st century America, things were going exceptionally well. As we reached cruising altitude I waited for the seatbelt light to go off. And I waited, and waited and waited. The flight was level, the ride was smooth. It was a tall cup of coffee and I needed to go to the bathroom pretty badly. Why did we have to stay seated? I had noticed this pattern before. Sometimes it seems like it takes forever now for the light to go off. I waited as long as I could before becoming extremely uncomfortable and finally got up anyway. I don’t like doing that but enough was enough. Sitting in the cabin these days it often feels like the captain just doesn’t remember that there are people in the back. People that might like to go to the bathroom once on a two and a half hour flight.

After leaving the lavatory I noticed that two flight attendants were still seated in the galley, not having started beverage service. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk to them. I had to ask their opinion. “Hey,” I said, “I’ve been flying for about 20 years and it sure feels like the fasten seatbelt light stays on a LOT longer than it used to. Is it really that way? What do you think?”

Boy did I get lucky. I could not have chosen a better pair to talk to about the realities of modern air travel. They were both long time veterans, one having been a flight attendant for more years than I’ve been alive – literally. They sadly remember plenty of differences between the old days and now. I won’t disclose anything else in order to protect their identities. I doubt their employer would like what I heard.

Yes, the fasten seatbelt sign is actually taking longer to come on than it used to. It’s “purely the captain’s discretion,” but after hearing what flight attendants endure these days I wonder how much that’s really true. For those of you who think that the airline industry is “de-regulated” let me assure you, that is a fantasy. The de-regulation of the late 1970s was narrowly targeted at the elimination of both price controls on tickets and route controls on which markets an airline could serve. As for the details – the very fine details – of how airlines operate? Print out the regulations on paper and I wonder if a 747 could lift them all.

Did you know the FAA has cabin inspectors that watch flight attendant behavior very closely, looking for infractions for which they fine them individually? The two that I spoke with told stories about colleagues who were fined for infractions that might surprise you. Infractions such as offering to refill a drink or hang a coat for a first class passenger after the cabin door had closed. Infractions like failing to notice that a passenger did not have a carry on item properly stowed. The cost to the flight attendant? $1,000 per incident and, no, their airline does not cover that expense. It sounded so outlandish to me that I did a fair amount of online research to try verify it. While I couldn’t find reliable sources recounting fines for those specific infractions, I did find several items related to FAR (Federal Airline Regulations) and personal fines on flight attendants like these on the APFA website:

APFA received notice from our FAA Certificate Management Office, that FAA inspectors can and will impose personal fines of up to $1100 on flight attendants who are up during taxi, performing non-safety related duties, such as taking preferences, passing out pillows and blankets, etc… This policy is outlined in FAR 121.391(d).

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The FAA has advised us that they may assess a personal fine and/or civil penalty up to $10,000 for noncompliance of FAR 121.391, which states: “During taxi, flight attendants required by this section must be at their duty stations with safety belts and shoulder harness fastened except to perform duties related to the safety of the airplane and its occupants.” Please continue to perform your safety duties immediately following the safety demo and take your jumpseat in order to avoid a possible personal fine by the FAA.

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The FAA has been conducting random manual checks systemwide and this week they visited New York checking in and out-of-base crews. Two flight attendants were found to be non-compliant with out-to-date manuals and are facing personal fines of up to $13,000.

Pretty steep by anyone’s standards, but especially considering that flight attendants earn in the range of $40,000 per year after they’ve accumulated some experience.

My two flight attendants related other stories such as being required by regulation to speak to passengers in mechanical phrases that strip any modicum of courtesy from their relationship with the flying public. For example, if they see a passenger like me up and about the cabin while the fasten seatbelt light is on they cannot say something friendly like “Be careful, the fasten seatbelt sign is on, you really need to have a seat for your safety.” Nope. They are required to say “Are you aware that the captain has the fasten seatbelt sign illuminated?” Furthermore, if an FAA cabin inspector witnesses them failing to make you verbally acknowledge the statement – you guessed it – the flight attendant can be fined. The apparent rationale for the FAA’s required interrogate-and-acknowledge conversational style? A release of liability from the passenger, that is, making sure that the passenger is not only warned, but that they can no longer hold the airline accountable for failing to warn them about their safety. And yes, passenger lawsuits are a problem not just for airlines, but flight attendants two. My flight attendants told a few stories about their colleagues being sued by passengers for all manner of things. Spilling coffee, accidentally dropping a piece of carry-on luggage, you name it.

So with the Feds watching on one side and passengers that have a lawsuit jackpot mentality on the other, is it any wonder that my two flight attendants looked sad and weary on Friday morning? Is it surprising that they miss the days when they could be polite to passengers without looking over their shoulders? Think about this too – all of those delays that we experience in the airport? Well they experience them also, and they only get paid when they are flying, not when they are waiting with the rest of us in the terminal. On average it is now taking them 12-16 hours away from home to earn 8 hours of pay. It wasn’t always like that.

Doesn’t that explain a lot? If you ever catch yourself thinking that flight attendants are wound up tight and act rudely, consider that they just might lose a huge portion of their annual income to a Federal fine if they aren’t. Think about the fact that as much as you might hate flying for your job, flying is their job – and the glory days of their career are long gone. It’s no wonder that the friendly skies went with them.

With all of the Federal micromanagement of flight attendant behavior you might be forgiven for thinking that the government must be doing an outstanding job of making sure that passengers are actually safe when they fly. But you’d be wrong. Remember Southwest Airlines’ violations of safety standards that came to light earlier this year in Texas? The ones that prompted American Airlines to voluntarily cancel thousands of flights to avoid the possibility that FAA inspectors might consider their compliance with certain maintenance directives to be lacking? Consider that Southwest got by with skirting the regulations for a while because Douglas T. Gawadzinski, an FAA manager allowed them to. While flight attendants can get fined for not being rude, this FAA jerk was allowed to retire even after the FAA acknowledged that he was interfering with his staff’s attempts to point out that Southwest was flying unsafe airplanes. So, the FAA cabin inspectors harass flight attendants while their maintenance inspector counterparts on the ground let planes take to the sky that shouldn’t – without consequence. Apparently the FAA wants to make sure that we’re good and miserable before we die in a plane crash. If any part of you thinks that the FAA must be doing something right, check your credulity at the door and read this cover story article from the September 10, 2007 issue of Business Week. Pay special attention to the items related to revamping the incredibly out-of-date air traffic control system. Only the Feds have the power to update this system, and everyone acknowledges that it’s the one thing that they could do to make a big difference for everyone. The one thing – and they’ve utter failed to get it done FOR DECADES! Some of my favorite quotes:

The entire [air traffic control] network runs on software known as Jovial, so old there are only six programmers in the country who know how to write it.

The catch: The current completion date [of the new air traffic control system] is now estimated to be 2025.

The parties involved include the FAA, NASA, and the Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce Depts., along with the White House. “It’s very challenging,” Leader says. “Not because anyone is against it. There are just so many agencies.”

So many agencies. Remember that the next time you think the government should “do something” to solve a problem. And particularly when a politician tells you the way to get it done is by adding a new government agency. Case in point? How about the Transportation Security Administration?

After all, despite the fact that the FAA can’t do it’s job, at least we won’t die in a terrorist hijacking, right? I mean we might die of frustration, or because unethical FAA managers collude with unscrupulous staff at airlines to ensure that nobody does their job, but at least the newly-formed TSA will ensure that we won’t get blown out of the sky, right? If you really believe that you’re dreaming. The TSA has repeatedly demonstrated that despite rifling through our checked bags, forcing us to disgorge our carry ons for the x-ray machine, take off our shoes and do the hokey pokey while we turn ourselves about, it can’t even find bombs or guns when they are planted in luggage on purpose! Much worse than that, they have been caught sabotaging inspections of their effectiveness by alerting staff to the presence of inspectors. But the all time Most Infuriating Government Agency award goes to the TSA not for those offenses, but their forceful attempts to keep them hidden from the American public. Folks, these people aren’t keeping you safe. They are being paid to violate your privacy and dignity for the sole purpose of allowing politicians to sell you the illusion that they’ve “done something” in the wake of 9/11. Now that they have that job they are doing everything they can to protect it – including concealing information from you that you should have as a taxpaying citizen of this country. For a long while when I was in Houston on Thursday I sat in some chairs next to security where I could see my plane’s ever-further departure time scroll by on the plasmas. At one point I saw something which caught my eye. A very thin and frail old woman in a wheel chair was crying as an airport employee rolled her away from some younger people who waved goodbye. It was clear that as she left them behind she was all alone. I wondered what it must be like to be that old and that sad and it tore at my heart. I then realized she was being wheeled to security, where they put her through all of the same garbage that everyone else is put through, including lifting her up and dragging her through the metal detector. My sadness flashed into rage. How absurd, how arrogant, how useless and demeaning. This woman was a threat to no one and she was being treated in a ridiculous fashion for show. By people that do an important job badly at the direction of political leadership that values plausible deniability and political correctness more than actual effectiveness. Nobody has captured this exact psychology and its ultimate political implications better than Peggy Noonan did in her piece titled The View from Gate 14. I can’t recommend enough that you read it.

Where does all this end? This is way more than me whining about the ever-worsening hassles of business travel here in the US. Moving people and things around is a serious matter. It is the lifeblood of our modern economy. After all, there is a direct correlation between efficient, reliable transportation and the comforts of modern society. Think back to the age of sail for a moment. How much harsher was life for average person when crossing oceans took months and cost a life’s savings if not a life outright? Much worse of course. International trade as such used to be an expensive rarity compared to the present time, and as a result the prices of everything everywhere were higher. The poorest people among the industrialized countries today live like kings compared to their 17th century counterparts, and efficient travel and transport has everything to do with it. Today companies like mine routinely buy and sell up and down the supply chain without a second thought, searching the world over for new suppliers and customers, serving ever larger markets with the value that we add. What makes it go? How does all that happen?

It happens because people like me get on airplanes. We fly across the country and around the world. We look our customers and suppliers and business partners in the eye and immediately we know more than a thousand phone calls could ever tell us. Instantly we can determine whether a next step contains a greater measure of opportunity or risk. We take this information and we make decisions. We grow our business and life improves, not just for us, but for everyone we do business with. What happens when we can’t afford to do that as often as we have in the past? It’s not hard to figure out. Things will slow down. Our lives will improve less frequently.

At least in America.

Last month an old friend of mine sent me an excerpt from a Thomas Friedman column published in the New York Times on May 8th. I don’t always agree with Friedman, but I often do, and having traveled on some of the exact same paths that he has over the years I feel like I could have written this myself:

We (United States) are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to subprime values: “You can have the American dream — a house — with no money down and no payments for two years.” …

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.’s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore’s ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children’s play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin’s luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money from Singapore? Maybe it’s because Singapore is investing billions of dollars, from its own savings, into infrastructure and scientific research to attract the world’s best talent — including Americans.

Amen brother. When I travel overseas these days, espeically in Asia, I can’t help the feeling that the rest of the world is blowing by us in ways we don’t even understand.

And you know what? Their planes run on time. Seriously. I can’t recall a single instance of a delayed or canceled flight when I’ve traveled in Europe and Asia. I’ve got a lot of stamps in my passport, folks. [Update - wait, I can. Once. Charles DeGaulle Airport, FRANCE.]

There was a time when railroads were the backbone of the American economy, allowing the inexpensive movement of people and goods with high capacity and unprecedented speed. I wrote about that era once here after a visit to the Southeastern Railway Museum earlier this year. Of course that era is history, the railroads now being left to the niches of transportation that can’t be filled any other way. What the highways, skyways and waterways can’t or don’t care to transport is today left to our skeletal railway system – a mere vestige of what was once a mighty symbol of an ascendant America.

In Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand chronicled the decline of American railroads as a plot device but – as she was fond of pointing out in her interviews and non-fiction work later in life – every absurd regulation described in the book was actually implemented in reality. After the enormous growth of government during the Great Depression, the regulation of railroads stifled innovation and killed investment in rail transport. The Federal Government’s version of the FAA and TSA from the 1920s-1950s spent its energy on “improving” the safety and viability of the American rail system. Meanwhile the post war proliferation of cheap automobiles and trucking siphoned away the business of the everyman passenger along with much of the freight market. The increased practicality of air travel hit hard too. The prestige mode of movement was no longer a ticket on a luxurious Pullman railcar, but a seat on an airliner. American rail might have adapted to these changes had it not been tied down by the bureaucracy of Federal regulations on the railroad industry. The results of that arrogant folly are invisible, because the American rail industry of yesterday is gone – it’s no longer there to see, and for generations born afterward it was never there to remember.

How ironic it is then, that today we have much criticism of the United States’ lack of a meaningful rail infrastructure. Wonks and pundits lament that we don’t have a rail system that could provide public transportation at lower cost and with less energy consumption than travel by air or automobile. They cast aspersions at our national enlightenment and lament that our government won’t “do something” to make things better. If only they realized that long ago the government did far too many useless or even harmful things. If only they knew that today it is repeating the performance, but not with railroads this time. No, once the railroads expired our friends in government moved on to air travel, and they’ve been “improving it” now for decades. The results are visible for all to see.

And so when I drove away from the airport in Atlanta my mind was filled with images and impressions from the past year. Frustrated business people like me, the crying old woman about to be scanned like a potential terrorist, the endless things I read about the state of air travel, the two flight attendants enduring day after day of frustration that they can’t do their jobs like they should and might get fined or sued regardless. All while hoping that they can make it long enough to hang up their wings and retire before their employer goes bankrupt. All while politicians make promises from teleprompters.

We’re all going to pay for this.