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It’s no secret that airlines struggle with scheduling. As a customer, it’s easy to come up with simplistic explanations for why traveling in the winter can feel like a nightmare. But the reality is more complicated, and the need for airline scheduling optimization becomes critical. This article will walk through three touch points in the decision process for adjusting flight schedules in response to weather events.

“But it’s sunny here!" is a common observation from travelers exasperated by weather delays. But even if you don’t believe weather is delaying your flight United Airlines will now text you a live weather map to prove it, part of its series of detailed messages it sends to customers for flight disruptions: everything from mechanical trouble to airport congestion. Weather hundreds of miles away can still impact your flight departure, especially hard-to-predict thunderstorms that can delay inbound aircraft or force some flights to take longer routes. United will put the new tools to the test over the July 4 weekend when record numbers of travelers are expected to fly. https://lnkd.in/etjxDEK7

Recent anomalies—such as the door blowing out on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet or a tire falling off of a United flight—are scaring passengers, Charlie Warzel writes. But flying has, historically, never been safer. Globally, the odds of a passenger dying on a flight from 2018 to 2022 were 38 times lower than they were 50 years earlier. So what’s behind air travel’s current image crisis? https://lnkd.in/emxr6vin One issue is that the experience of flying is worse than ever, Warzel argues. Although flight demand has crept up to near pre-pandemic levels, staffing has not leveled with it; partially because of the pandemic, roughly 10,000 pilots have left the commercial airline industry, adding to to shortages of mechanics and air traffic controllers. “Pile on unruly passengers, system outages, baggage fees, carry-on restrictions, meager drink and snack offerings, and … merely coexisting with other travelers who insist on lining up at the gate 72 hours before their zone boards and you have a perfectly combustible situation.” “Then there is the second factor: vibes,” Warzel writes. Ominous flight videos are going viral on social media; algorithmic bias may show the videos even to users who are not specifically seeking out the genre. An uptick in interest in these stories can lead to an increase in their coverage, which can make routine issues feel more prevalent. “This distortion—between public perception of an issue (planes are getting less safe!) and the more boring reality (they’re actually very safe)—is exacerbated by the intensity and density of information. It is a modern experience to stumble upon a meme, theory, or narrative and then see it in all of your feeds,” Warzel continues. “Today’s air-travel anxiety sits at the intersection of these vibes, anecdotes, legitimate and troubling news reports, and the algorithmic distortion of the internet, creating a distinctly modern feeling of a large, looming problem, the exact contours of which are difficult to discern.” 📷: Dennis Stock / Magnum

The approach detailed below (and the post itself) is a great example of a company understanding the role that emotion plays in decision-making (in this case for customers in a B2C context). By providing the actual weather map, they are reducing some of the feelings of helplessness that delayed travelers experience, simply by arming them with more information. It doesn't help travelers reach their destination faster, but by mitigating customers' anxiety and frustration, United is creating positive emotional associations that can influence future purchase decisions. United is also subtly providing delayed travelers with a common enemy (the weather) that they and the airline are sharing. It creates a sense of affiliation, and it reduces the likelihood that all the travelers' frustration gets vented on the airline. And finally, it creates a sense of status for customers. It's almost as if the airline is saying, "Here, we'll let you see what usually only we get to see, because we know you're smart enough to understand it." Scott Kirby also achieves this when he says in his post that he wants his team to treat travelers the same way they would treat him. How a company makes people feel will always have a more powerful influence on their decision-making than what a company makes them think. It's a very basic principal (which applies equally in B2B and B2G), yet its surprising how often corporations get it wrong. Well done to the United Airlines communications, marketing and customer experience teams in this case.

Read about Passenger Information System Stats... #passengerexperience #passenger #passengertransport #passengers #statistics #transportation #informationsystems #passengerinformation

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a live radar map says it even better.   Sometimes, flights are delayed for weather even when there are clear skies at the airport. The reason is usually that departing (or arriving) aircraft would be forced to fly through a line of thunderstorms that are unsafe elsewhere along the flight path. United Airlines is committed to full transparency for our customers. For years, I’ve asked our teams to pretend that I’m on the flight and have called and asked why there’s a delay. I want them to proactively tell customers exactly the same thing that they would tell me. That’s been easy for me to say but really, really difficult to do given the complexity and real-time nature of the flight network. Technology is moving this closer and closer to reality. Our teams are using gen AI to help write the real-time text updates we send customers whose flights have been delayed, and for those customers impacted by weather we’re now including a radar map that shows how it’s affecting flights. We’re the first and only U.S. airline providing these kinds of specific messages and sending them with assistance from gen AI tools. Weather radar maps are an important step in transparency but there’s a lot more to come. We are committed to building the best airline in history for our customers, and while that usually means running a reliable operation, when something does go wrong – including the weather – we want to be open and transparent with you.

Actions speak louder than words, yes, but words --- communication is still critical in building positive relationships. Without transparent, empathetic, proactive communications, you're a rudderless boat bobbing in circles. Kudos to United for elevating their proactive communication strategy, giving flyers a glimpse at the bigger picture. It may be sunny where you are, but weather can still impact your flights. When people -feel- informed and in the loop, you leave them without doubt. You pull back stress levels and questions, building trust and a better report. Actions speak louder than words, yes, but words are the foundation of actions. Words/communication relay how and why the actions matter and convey the direction your going. United's move here will also provide that even a little can go a long way.

Please call/text me if I can help you grow your team by using A.I. - 512-913-1811. I have people who have increased IT productivity and transformed it by 25% and increased revenue by 30% by implementing A.I. Yes, they are A.I. experienced IT copilots. Let's chat! If you're a hiring manager, I want to be your go-to partner for all your staffing and hiring needs. Better call, SOAL! Air travel during the summer is rarely easy, but this year's record-shattering heat is throwing new challenges at airlines and passengers. The extreme temperatures are forcing carriers to reduce weight so they can take off in the lighter air, The Wall Street Journal reports. Airlines are also taking additional steps to cool the cabin before planes taxi and take off. The need for this was highlighted earlier this month when passengers on a Delta Air Lines plane leaving Las Vegas endured 111-degree heat for three hours due to a taxi delay. The Transportation Department is investigating the incident. https://lnkd.in/gK9a2X-r

Extreme #temperatures in parts of the #US and around the world are forcing #airlines to reduce #fuel loads, shed passengers or baggage, or wait for daytime temperatures to drop in the evenings, to fly some #aircraft. High temperatures reduce the performance of engines and the lift #airplanes wings are able to produce, which is leading #LasVegas-based #Allegiant Airlines to warn that they will delay flights if there’s a threat to passenger safety. Earlier this month, several #Delta passengers voluntarily got off a flight from Las Vegas to #Atlanta after aircraft weight issues in the heat caused delays, #Bloomberg reported. “Additional protocols have been put in place to address the operational impacts #extremeheat has on aircraft, including loading less fuel to account for weight and balance and schedule refueling along the route when needed,” Delta said in a statement. Last week, a Delta flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta sat on the tarmac for four hours in 115F (46C) heat, without #airconditioning, causing some passengers to experience heat-related #sickness. The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, called the incident “shocking”. #AmericanAirlines has also responded to the issue saying it is taking extra steps to make sure it has cooled air on jet bridges hooked to planes and to perform early maintenance on auxiliary power units, the smaller engines that give power when larger engines are shut down. “Though we’ve had a very small number of diversions and delays related to high temperatures, the plan we have in place has allowed us to avoid significant impact,” an American Airlines spokeswoman told Bloomberg. The complications that high temperatures can cause a plane’s performance is due in part to some flight manuals in some aircraft do not go above 120F. “When exposed to extreme heat exceeding its maximum operating temperature, passengers aboard the airplane could be at risk,” according to Monroe Aerospace. Last week, park service officials in Death Valley, where temperatures can reach 130F, warned hikers that rescue #helicopters would not be able to fly to their aid during daytime. A heat dome over the US south-west has caused temperatures in Las Vegas to soar to 116F on 16 July and #Phoenix to hit 119F. Extreme temperatures in Phoenix in 2017 also forced cancellation of some 60 flights, primarily by smaller regional jets and older aircraft, over the course of three days because safety calculations weren’t calibrated for 120F temperatures. Industry expert Robert Mann told the #Guardian last year that #flights “have to wait until the sun goes down, the temperature drops, and they can take off”. Mann added: As temperatures increase, there are going to be more occasions, at more places, where certain flights are going to have to take payload #limitations or stop en route because they had to short-load the fuel.”

Your aircraft is cruising, you have settled down to a nap or catching up on your emails or social feeds or chatting with your co-passenger or maybe reading a book or some tv program .. drinks and food has been served …. It’s a long 4 hour flight .. it’s been the same airlines you have been flying for the last 10 years .. the same smell, the same stink ( you know what am talking about), the same serving experience, sometimes good and sometimes bad .. nothing changed!! .. it’s time to land now, the aircraft starts a descent .. and in time touches down hitting hard on its belly .. you could feel your lumbar spine all shaken … the aircraft wriggles itself hard on it brakes and then quickly roll all the way to the gate .. as the pilot switches off the engine- pop comes a message “ tell us how did we do today” .. this time your spine speaks for you, as you wait to get off, you push the survey button .. unfortunately the airline has stacked the survey with premeditated questions .. you lose patience and cancel the survey. The airline has no clue what happened. Am sure the airline has spend good money to link customer, travel details, landing sync , messaging their number, analyzing survey and responding to it . But someone forgot to spend money on the ease of feedback. The only time a customer would like to give feedback is when it’s a bad or good experience. To make it easy just let them tweet (max of 250 words) about it than long drawn age old survey questions. Technology today can help with analyzing text and driving real time responses. Technology needs to enable the critical step in a process, the outcome for which the whole investment was done. #customerexperiences #feedbackmatters #simplify #technologyuseitright