People — at least the smart ones — in the path of a hurricane as formidable as Hurricane Gustav have to drop what they are doing and make preparations for the storm’s arrival. Airlines are no different. Here are some insights and some tips from an airline employee’s point of view that might help you.
1. Protect yourself.
Airlines are not much different from you and me. They want to protect their property. Airplanes cost a lot of money, and you can bet the airline is not going to have one anywhere near the path of the storm. You’d be surprised how many people show up late in the game and are surprised there are no more flights operating.
2. Count on some compassion.
The airlines — at least the ones that are customer-friendly — will allow customers to rebook flights to or from cities that are in the path of the storm. That wasn’t always the case. I remember the day when nonrefundable meant nonrefundable meant nonrefundable and many airlines took the stance that “Gustav isn’t our fault, so why should we waive the rules?” I hope we never return to that. First of all, it’s just not compassionate. What’s more, I remember how the telephone lines in my former airline’s customer relations office lit up like a Christmas tree with people objecting to such a rotten policy — and the company go so tired of us waiving the change fees carte blanche that they went ahead and pushed the ability to make those changes out to the front line.
3. Plan ahead and get out of the way.
The airlines don’t want you stuck in, or unable to wiggle out of tickets to, a city about to get hit by a hurricane any more than you do. But you’ve got to take some responsibility. I’ll wager that if you go on any airline’s Web site right this minute, you’ll find a “travel advisory” or “travel alert” that tells customers they can rebook their flights to or from places like New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., Jackson, Miss., etc. within a certain window of time. The early bird catches the worm, and customers wanting to get on an earlier flight out of an affected city will be vying for space on flights with those previously booked and with people who got the idea to leave ahead of them. The airline isn’t going to call customers with reservations during the time the storm is supposed to hit to ask them if they want to leave.
Before I move on to number 4, I’m going to step onto my soapbox for a minute or two, so bear with me…
Some customers really don’t think. Last week, in my “Ten types of airline customers” column, I wrote about one called “Mr. Stupid Pax.” Don’t be that guy.
Over the years, through hurricane after hurricane and blizzard after blizzard, there were scores of customers, usually the ones headed into the storm, who would always get mad at the airline for “letting” them do that.
Come on. Airline employees are not going to stand at the door to the airplane and say to each person boarding, “Do you really want to fly to New Orleans today?” There are legitimate reasons people want to head into the path of a storm. Maybe they’re going there to aid a loved one who can’t help him or herself. Or to protect property. Or maybe the person is a rescue worker going to help out. Who knows?
The bottom line is that the customer has a responsibility to use his or her brain and watch the news. Hurricane Gustav is such a big deal that it has replaced John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin on the front page of CNN.com. I just checked as I was writing this, and the first 14 stories are about Gustav. You have to scroll down to number 15 to get to anything about Palin.
You’d be amazed at how many people honestly get mad at the airline and complain, “You should have told me I was flying into the eye of a hurricane.” I never did quite get the courage to say back to Mr. Stupid Pax, “You should get your head out of your ____.”
So, where was I? Oh yeah …
4. There are always heroes among us.
Frequently, airport conditions deteriorate to the point that there are hundreds and hundreds of customers waiting desperately for a flight out. My airline was known for flying in extra aircraft to get customers out of harm’s way. How did they do this? Well, they “robbed” airplanes from other flights, probably angering other people, but in the bigger picture, it’s better PR.
During Katrina, Continental Airlines, with the financial help of Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, operated several animal rescue flights out of Louisiana. Employees took time to prepare the cabin for non-human passengers, and many an animal got to partake of that traditional visit to the cockpit we all remember as kids before Al Qaeda messed that up for today’s generation.
I noticed an article in my former company’s newsreel about the airline’s station manager in Jacksonville, Fla. Instead of staying at her home, protecting her own property and her own family, she stayed at the airport throughout Tropical Storm Fay to be certain that those customers stranded in the airport were safe and that the company’s facilities were protected. That’s heroic.
Gustav is quickly approaching us. I hope everyone — airline employees and customers — stays safe.
