Hiccups.

The true test of service delivery often ends up in the recovery. It’s hard to distinguish many companies via their service and the airline industry is a prime example. We have grown accustomed to long waits, unscheduled changes, delayed flights and harried staff who only have meal vouchers and alcohol as their weapons of disarmament.

I’m sitting in a lounge in Hobart with a flight permanently delayed ( isn’t that a cancelled flight ? ) watching road warriors load up on free booze and wondering if they will get home on time or at all. The clink of glasses is mixed with the tapping of technology as many try to find a way around the situation. It’s a hazard of the road that situations occur to test your stamina and mettle after a hard day.

The food runs out first, as the lines lengthen around the fridge. It’s much easier to buy a couple more cases of beer than to find fresh food at an airport late in the day. Some relax or resign themselves to the wait while others work the phones frenetically and raise their stress levels to where even alcohol can’t mask their disdain for the airline. An airline they will no doubt fly on again next week. It’s a rollercoaster brought on by a total lack of control.

So there it is, they don’t really mind the booze and the extra attention suddenly paid by the ground staff, it’s about not being in control. Ceding your control to a party you need to do business but someone they would just as easily disregard if they weren’t required.

Maybe they need to think more clearly and count the few incursions into their controlled world as being part of doing business because 95% of the time it all runs smoothly.

I’d bet on that if I was a gambler but then I’ve just been allocated a rare seat out of here!