an opportunity for airlines

Fellow blogger Bill Baker is pointing to a problem. A problem that you're already familiar with. It's the situation that everyone talks about, but nobody does anything about.

First, imagine this scenario:

You call up to make a dinner reservation for two weeks from now. The person on the phone takes your reservation and asks you to place your order. Then you are asked for your credit card and it is immediately charged for the amount of your order.

Two weeks later, you show up to consume what you have already paid for, only to be told that the restaurant can not serve your food tonight. Further, they will not give you a refund because they think they can squeeze you in for dinner two nights from now.

Of course, Bill is writing about the airline industry. And while his personal quest is focused toward JetBlue, he's clearly pointing to an industry issue. And he's actually attempting to do something about it. He's filed a small claims case against JetBlue, and is documenting the entire event on a blog My JetBlue Lawsuit.

What Bill points out is an industry problem and and a horrible trend. From his blog:

"Today, service has deteriorated so much, that the airlines are trying to convince us that's just the way it is. If a flight happens to arrive any time close to the schedule, consider it gravy."

Bill's blog is getting a lot of attention. He's not the only person that feels taken advantage of. Early on, JetBlue stepped up and changed perceptions of how an airline could deal with their customers. It will be interesting to see if they (or any of their competitors) will step up to the plate and deliver a valuable customer service that breaks the trend which continues to make air travel a torturous experience.

Bill's not the only customer that would gladly pay twice the price for a product/service that delivered what it promised. Airlines: here's your chance.