the occasion to experience a foreign airline.
As someone who rarely travels he took note of the difference
between US and foreign carriers and saw the experience with
foreign airlines and facilities was superior to what he saw in
the United States.
Even pleasantries and courteous security clearance, often non-
existent on US carriers are standard on most foreign carriers.
This got me to thinking, "why is this?" which also immediately
led me to two answers, 'quality' and 'competition'.
'Quality' directed me to Edwards Deming, the 'Godfather of
Quality' who offered his concepts of quality control to Japan
which sought help after World War II.
It is interesting Deming's quality concepts were developed
in the United States, used by the military and led to Japanese
products made with improved quality and at a lower cost.
(Remember transistor radios?)
This was the foundation that eventfully lead to superior cars
imported from Japan.
It took until the 1980s before domestic auto makers to seriously
addressed quality issues, and only due to the superior quality coming
from Japan and later Europe. Not until 1981 did an American auto
company, Ford, to call on Deming, and only when its business was
in trouble.
'Competition' is the other key factor required to improve the travel
experience here in the United States.
With only three major domestic carriers due to consolidation of more
than a dozen, there is little inclination to improve quality of service.
Only true competition on domestic routes can influence the level of
service American, Delta and United will offer.
Foreign competition, as there is in most industries, will drive domestic
airlines to raise the lever of services, reduce the cost of airfares or
suffer the same fate Detroit did.
Yet, this has not been occurring and American air travel, as over 800
million passengers bare the cost, in both lousy service and prohibitive fares.
There has been talks about opening domestic routes to foreign airlines
but little more than 'talk'.
I found one of the obstacles is getting other countries to reciprocate, by
allowing US carriers to fly in their 'domestic' routes. Others obstacles
include US unions concerned about non-union jobs and even US carriers
that do not want the competition, probably because they know they could
not successfully compete with foreign air carriers.
In closing, at least we know there is a consumer driven effort to transform
the airline industry as 'quality' and 'competition' transformed the auto
industry.
This is a link found describing the desire to improve and the obstacles
to making it a reality.
Feedback appreciated. Feel free to enter in comments section below, or email, ajbruno14@gmail.com "Point of View" blog http://ajbruno14.blogspot.com/
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