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Some months ago I read The Wisdom of Crowds by New Yorker writer James Surowiecki. I thought I’d already written about it, but I was mistaken. Anyway its content’s apparent from its title. That is, a group of people collectively make wise and accurate decisions; and the bigger the crowd, the better the decision. Today’s topic’s at the intersection of crowd wisdom, and the airline Ryanair about which I’ve written in disparaging terms [1, 2]. Well, folks, Ryanair’s at it again. According to this item in last Tuesday’s Age, from today Ryanair has no airport check-in facilities. So its passengers have to check in via the internet, and Ryanair’s charging them £5 (A$9.10) per person per flight for the privilege. Anyone arriving at the airport without a boarding pass will be unable to fly or will have to pay £40 (A$73) for one at the ticketing desk. Blimey! Vis-à-vis the wisdom of crowds, this Age blog quotes airlinequality.com – ‘the world's most authoritative source of customer reviews of airlines’ – which is none too complimentary about Ryanair. Indeed on airlinequality.com, the crowd rates it a mere two stars on a 5-star scale. See here what fine company it’s keeping. Ryanair must be really bad – because even our own Jetstar scores three stars. Despite its lowly two stars and its growing list of passenger imposts Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, is growing at more than 20% a year. What do you make of that, Mr Surowiecki?
A year ago, Qantas was among the most profitable airlines in the world. Last week Qantas predicted it’ll lose A$180M in the first half of 2009; and a leading Australian aviation expert has claimed Qantas will not exist in its current form if the downturn that’s crippling the industry lasts another six months. The message? If Qantas is in deep strife, world aviation is too. If I ran an airline, I’d want to get as many bums on seats as possible – not fiddle round with marginal fees and surcharges. These imposts are mostly small, and they’re apt to disaffect existing and future passengers. That is, as an hypothetical airline CEO in 2009, I’d seek to maximise my airline’s passenger-friendliness. Whilst I’m no airline guru (but I hereby disclose Sweetheart Vivienne and I own 118 Qantas shares, currently worth A$234), I didn’t understand why Ryanair said it wanted to charge for using its aeroplane toilets. (To my knowledge it hasn’t yet begun doing so.) Neither can I comprehend why United Airlines is dealing so harshly with obese passengers. Naturally, Ryanair’s thinking of something similar. It’s true heavier travellers cause planes to use more fuel, but the increment is minor, and airlines are cutting or removing fuel surcharges. All this’s yet another example of: The older I get, the less I understand how the world works.
Sweetheart Vivienne and I periodically bemoan the excesses of the neoconservative, economic rationalist, privatising, corporatist vandals of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These low-life scum, who slime around in the private and public/government sectors, are responsible for untold economic and social harm. Sweetheart Vivienne says they’d privatise and charge us for the air we breathe, if they could get away with it. Though I’ve always thought that far-fetched, now I’m not so sure. This week the European airline Ryanair announced it’s considering charging to use its aeroplane toilets. In recent years airlines, especially budget ones, have slugged customers/guest/clients/punters for credit card transactions, checked-in luggage, seat allocation, in-flight food and drink, blankets and fuel surcharges. I realise the global financial crisis is affecting their business dreadfully, and they need to maximise revenue because their costs are reasonably fixed, i.e. not closely related to the number of bums on seats. But there is a line, and I think charging for toilet use is beyond it. I’m much more outraged by loo charges than selling food. Eating and drinking on planes is discretionary; but regarding the toilet, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Anyway charging to use the toilet might result in lower sales of overpriced on-board drinks. Which would serve Ryanair right.
Some months ago I read The Wisdom of Crowds by New Yorker writer James Surowiecki. I thought I’d already written about it, but I was mistaken. Anyway its content’s apparent from its title. That is, a group of people collectively make wise and accurate decisions; and the bigger the crowd, the better the decision. Today’s topic’s at the intersection of crowd wisdom, and the airline Ryanair about which I’ve written in disparaging terms [1, 2]. Well, folks, Ryanair’s at it again. According to this item in last Tuesday’s Age, from today Ryanair has no airport check-in facilities. So its passengers have to check in via the internet, and Ryanair’s charging them £5 (A$9.10) per person per flight for the privilege. Anyone arriving at the airport without a boarding pass will be unable to fly or will have to pay £40 (A$73) for one at the ticketing desk. Blimey! Vis-à-vis the wisdom of crowds, this Age blog quotes airlinequality.com – ‘the world's most authoritative source of customer reviews of airlines’ – which is none too complimentary about Ryanair. Indeed on airlinequality.com, the crowd rates it a mere two stars on a 5-star scale. See here what fine company it’s keeping. Ryanair must be really bad – because even our own Jetstar scores three stars. Despite its lowly two stars and its growing list of passenger imposts Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, is growing at more than 20% a year. What do you make of that, Mr Surowiecki?
