Aug 112006
In the aftermath of the latest round of air travel restrictions, it seems to me there will be quite a few ramifications for the travel industry, if these restrictions stay in place for any length of time. Here are some of the ones I see, in no particular order.
- Full-service airlines will have a fighting chance again, as long as they actually provide the amenities that used to be expected for travel, such as food, drink (even if non-alcoholic), pillows, blankets, in-flight video systems, and magazines.
- Flights will be full of tetchy bored people whose electronic toys were taken away from them cursing the noisy bored children whose toys were taken away from them.
- Boeing’s decision to create a plane for point-to-point travel rather than hub and spoke looks like the right one. Flights from Heathrow and Gatwick (the big airports) were the target points rather than those from smaller airports; flights from smaller airports may be used as a way to get materials onto other flights (if there are no security checks between landing from one flight and getting on the next) but are less likely to be targets themselves. Taking flights from small airport to small airport will also avoid the longer security-checking delays at larger airports.
- Security screening of bags as you get on the plane is likely to start, to enable people to take some cabin baggage.
- Cheap airlines which have been trying to stop people checking luggage and only take on hand luggage are going to have a hard time.
- Companies that sell really good padded bags so you can check your laptop without worries will find a lot of customers. People should also give more thought to securing the data on their laptops when they check them, but most probably won’t bother. Insurance companies will have to cope with a lot of claims for lost and damaged laptops, iPods, etc.
- The mid-80s fashion for see-through briefcases and purses will be reinvigorated. I had one of these purses, it was actually quite handy being able to find things quickly in it.
- Air taxis will start to become popular as people try to avoid the increasing unpleasantness of commercial air travel.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and whether the various Air Transport authorities manage to come up with real, effective security measures that don’t inconvenience the innocent too much. I’m just glad I don’t need to travel anywhere much in the near future.
most business travel is unnecessary and will shift to substitutes (online collaboration, video conferencing, etc). should be a nice boost to productivity, the bottom line and the environment.
Here is some food for thought. Instead of checking bags I would recommed using one of the Luggage Forwarding companies, they are a bit pricy but it’s well worth the cost, especially if you want to avoid all the airport delays. I have tried a few of them and (Sports Free and Luggage Shippers) but I settled with Luggage Forward becuase they have better prices. http://www.luggageforward.com is their site.
Here is suggestion. Instead of checking bags I would recommed using one of the Luggage Forwarding companies, they are a bit pricy but it’s well worth the cost, especially if you want to avoid all the airport delays. I have tried a few of them and (Sports Free and Luggage Shippers) but I settled with Luggage Forward becuase they have better prices. http://www.luggageforward.com is their site.
Just for information — it appears Josh was posting from luggageforward.com, at least according to the reverse DNS lookup I tried on the IP address. I left his comments anyway (the links have the rel=“nofollow” attribute set) since the concept of forwarding luggage is worth thinking about.
Gregor, cutting down on business travel would be great, and I agree the world is slowly heading in that direction. It’s taking a long time though; using collaboration tools seems to be difficult for many people to get used to.
I think I can see the day, and it may not be far off, when the TSA/airlines will banish ALL carry-ons. Everything goes into the luggage bin that you can get in your pocket or purse. On the plus side, it will make getting on and off the plane a whole lot easier and that’s gonna help in curbing terrorism too.
Nice blog
I’m guessing this post was shortly after all the liquid restrictions were put into place, and people weren’t allowed to bring anything at all on board. Looking back, I’m extremely grateful the restrictions have gotten more reasonable, although I still think it’s a pain not to be able to take a bottle of water with me. When I went to Japan several months ago (before all this happened), they had a machine that tested the water bottles. Why can’t the U.S. get and use machines like those, if they exist?
I’m not sure I agree with your first statement about full service airlines. I doubt anything can save them. Their model is broken and just doesn’t work anymore. They can give away all the peanuts and Pepsi they want, people choose a flight based on price and schedule and the airlines just keep losing money…
That said, great blog!