30/07/10, 05:42:39 EDT

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Directravel CEO Provides Strategy to Ease Travel Delays

sev.prnewswire.com

In answer to the open call from President George W. Bush, Chairman and CEO of Directravel, Vincent E. Vitti, today announced the following strategy for easing travel delays:

Recent articles in newspapers and magazines as well as stories circulating across the internet have helped increase consumer awareness of the performance crisis facing the travel industry. The continued pattern of delays is not only a serious inconvenience for travelers, it impacts business productivity and tarnishes the reputation and credibility of the travel industry on the whole.

Flight delays are caused by a multitude of reasons, as we all know, many of which are not the complicit fault of the carrier. But it's the larger problem of "System Failure" that is the airlines' fault. Uninspired management and misguided concern for the traveler is shown time after time. A major cause of this chaos is the airlines' continued compulsion to over-schedule flights to a "theoretical maximum" in high yield periods (late afternoon and early evening).

It's when "theory meets reality" that the problems begin. Thunderstorms, heavy rain, snow, fog and wind are not unexpected events. They will occur; the unknown is when.

Existing flight schedules work only under perfect conditions. There is no flexibility within the current schedule to accommodate re-routed or late flights, so residual delays compound the problem and effect travelers system- wide.

Many have offered possible solutions. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has said that a "congestion pricing model" that includes surcharges for flying during high volume periods is under consideration. This model would again penalize travelers, since any additional costs will inevitably be passed along to them, and there is no guarantee that this will alleviate the problem.

As a member of the travel industry for more than 25 years and a frequent traveler, I have experienced the after-effects of these delays both first hand and through my clients, friends, family and associates. That's why Directravel is developing a unique approach to address the problem. By applying a "Flight Performance Algorithm(TM)" to the database of flight records we are compiling a more accurate predictor of future delays. The "Flight Performance Tracker(TM)" system will provide these statistics to our clients booking thru DirectLink(R) Express and to Travologists(TM) in our offices.

We would be pleased to offer this tool to the FAA to apply to the industry along with the following multi-pronged approach intended to reduce delays:

STEP 1. Redefine "ON TIME." Currently, flights are graded on a Pass/Fail basis. If there is less than a 15 minute arrival delay, the flight is considered on time; if there is more than 15 minutes, it is late. This provides no incentive for the airlines to avoid lengthy delays. Once a flight gets past 15 minutes, they would seem to be motivated to "forget" that flight and try to keep others from receiving a fail grade.

What is needed is a multi-level approach to measuring performance that is weighted to ensure continuing concern after flights miss their departure time.

A On time within 15 minutes Grade of 10
B Late 16 to 30 minutes Grade of 7
C Late 31 minutes to 1 hour Grade of 5
D Late 1 hour + Grade of 1
F Cancelled Grade of 0

An overall average grade by airline or route will give the traveler a much better awareness about actual airline performance. A variant of the model could factor in flight length, airport difficulty and seasonal weather outlook.

STEP 2. Mandate that on-time performance statistics be made available to consumers at the point of purchase so that it can become a point of selection during the trip planning process. This would require that flight performance ratings be shown on consumer internet sites not just on the travel agent displays, as is currently required for "on-time %". All travel documents, itineraries and e-tickets would have to include this information.

STEP 3. Hold airlines accountable for maintaining acceptable performance levels. Rather than assessing a surcharge for flying during peak hours, penalize them for poor execution. If they are unable to meet an acceptable performance (and the determination of what is acceptable is something that carriers can help establish), they should risk losing flight slots. Conversely, airlines running smoother operations should be allowed a greater number of prime time slots.

STEP 4. Encourage airlines to move flights to regional airports by reducing peak hour slots at congested facilities. In the New York area, this would be a shift towards Stewart/Newburgh and McArthur/Islip. Similar opportunities exist throughout the country. This will improve airline performance without increasing ticket prices.

What this essentially boils down to is allowing airlines to react in the interest of their bottom line without penalizing travelers. It will put the focus back on customer service and force carriers to endeavor to do a better job. By allowing consumers to make an up-front, educated decision with the aid of historic delay patterns for a particular routing and carrier, they will have the power to choose a flight not solely based on ticket price but on performance.

Sure, advanced GPS for aircraft and improvements in flight control computer systems are needed but they are expensive and a distant solution that will not alleviate the current crisis. Taken together they are no substitute for innovative management with thoughtful government oversight to protect the traveling public.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 17, 2007