David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
NOT Traveling Blog, 2nd
Week Of May
In 2014 I was voted
by USA Today readers as one of the top ten business travel bloggers in the
USA. Now mind you, I turned out to be number ten on the list of ten, but I did
make it on (with my thanks to all those who voted.) Now that we’re all stuck at home and not
traveling, I had to think about what to do with my blogs. I could stop writing them entirely – waiting
till we all get through the current COVID19 pandemic / crisis. I could wax nostalgic and/or complain about
past trips. Or, I could focus all of my
efforts on my day job – growing the use of collaboration technologies –
especially in light of how many people are now forced to use those tools for
the first time. In reflecting upon those
choices, what I decided to do is compile an ongoing list of observations during
the crisis. Some of these may amuse,
some may inform, some may sadden and others may help. My goal will be for you to have seen
something in a different light than you did before you stopped to read the
blog. I was going to apologize for how
disjointed these thoughts may seem when put together, but then it dawned on me
that feeling disjointed is our new normal – at least for a little while.
So, in no particular
order:
·
I’ve
often blogged about how insanely greedy and out-of-touch the people running the
US airlines are. Whether it was
collecting “fuel surcharges” long after the price of oil returned to normal, or
supporting airport rent-a-cops pummeling a passenger by falsely claiming he was
“disruptive,” they frequently show you who they are. This week we’ve seen two more examples. Firstly, Frontier
airlines recently announced a “more room” policy, where passengers could
pay a fee starting at forty bucks to ensure the middle seat next to them was
empty. When they say (in their best Vito
Corelone voice) ‘…if you want safe travel then we’ll make you
an offer you can’t refuse….’ it makes them sound just like the petty thugs
they actually are. After the outcry
(that any human being with a heart and a soul should have expected), their President
and CEO Barry Biffle said: “We recognize the concerns raised that we are profiting from safety and
this was never our intent.” If they
didn’t want to profit from a move that charges people for safety then why did
they do it? I wish these CEOs would just
admit when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar and resign.
·
The
second incident is one of the rare instances where airline CEOs are arguing
with each other. American
Airlines CEO Doug Parker called out his competitor United Airlines for
accepting funding under the $5 billion CARES act (loans/grants from the
government that were written requiring the airlines not to cut employee
pay or enforce involuntary furloughs until at least the end of September) but
then announced that it would be now be cutting employee hours from full-time to
part-time – equaling a 25% pay cut. He’s
probably upset that one of his competitors is being a bigger pig than him. I’ve repeatedly said that we should let the
airlines and their current management fail, make their stocks worthless (punishing
the investors and the executives that have been deferred to over passengers /
customers for far too long) and then just rebuild a more fair and customer
centric system for air travel. That would
be capitalism working as it was designed.
·
If
you’re a knowledge worker like me – working from home and on so many video
calls that you feel physically ill sometimes – then you’re not alone. Stories have begun popping up in the news about
“video fatigue” (or the more colloquial “Zoom fatigue” that acknowledges the
tremendous growth of Zoom into the conversational lexicon.) Users unfamiliar with days full of
videoconferences and remote collaboration are experiencing real symptoms of
eye-strain, neck fatigue and general stress that can all be associated with
long stretches of collaboration technology use without appropriate guidance. I recently hosted a webcast that explored this phenomenon
and offered some concrete tips on how to avoid it. If you’re experiencing any of these issues please
take the time to watch it and make some of the needed changes in your own
environment. I’ve been working remotely
for nearly two decades now and I can promise that when it’s done correctly it
is a far better model then unnecessarily commuting to and from and office every
day.
·
I
got my March 47th T-shirt in the mail the other day. It came out very well:
You can order
one here. It was a daunting process
to find a custom T-shirt firm that was open and quickly shipping, and would
just accept the design. Again, I don’t
make any money with this, it all goes to the company making them.
As always please feel free to write to me with comments or
items I should add to a future Not Traveling blog (or if you just need someone
to write to.) Stay safe, be well, hug
those you’re sheltering with (but no one else) and do your best to stay
positive. We’re going to be in this for
a long while.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.