It is a small story at this time, but it may unfold to have numerous ethical implications. This article deals with Airline ethics. As you will remember, on May 12, 2015 just outside of Philadelphia, an Amtrak train flew off a curve at high speed. It was reportedly going 106 mph and the curve was built to have a maximum speed of 50 mph. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, though the operator of the train is under suspicion.
The crash resulted in eight people losing their lives and more than 200 injuries. The accident closed the Northeast train corridor.
However, something strange happened to the air fares following the accident; five airlines raised their rates along the corridor. Which raises an interesting question: Is it ethical for businesses to take advantage of a temporary disaster? The airlines, Delta, American, United, Southwest and JetBlue have been accused of allegedly increasing ticket prices. In some cases, the tickets are said to have increased from about $400 to $2,300.
The Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx has opened an investigation of collusion and price gouging.
“The idea that any business would seek to take advantage of stranded rail passengers in the wake of such a tragic event is unacceptable,” Foxx said.
The price increases were allegedly increased at all airports in the corridor from Washington, D.C. up to the Boston-area airports. The airlines have adamantly denied any such strategy and yet the airfares seemed to have been “adjusted” after politicians began to make an issue out of it.
Letters to the airlines
Letters were sent to the airlines to explain themselves and their pricing. It is hard to know why those particular airlines were singled out, and at this point, it is hard to know if there was any collusion at all. However, what seems very troubling to me – at least if I were an airline executive – is that I have yet to see anyone rising to their defense. To everyone I’ve spoken with about the letters of inquiry, they are completely on board with the fact that the airlines were involved with a price gouging collusion.
It is hardly a mystery to me as to why the letters were sent, and why no one seems particularly surprised that the possibility of collusion could exist.
For so long a period of time, the airlines have ranked among the lowest of industries in customer satisfaction. In an article in USA Today (April 20, 2015) on airline satisfaction it was stated:
“The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which measures how consumers feel about hundreds of companies within 43 industries, found that airlines scored 71 out of a possible 100.”
This is, unbelievably, the highest the airlines have ranked in the past 20 years. Not surprisingly, the airlines are ecstatic. Think about it though, if your grades in school were a consistent 71, you would have been a low “C” student. The same poll last year, showed the airlines at about 69 on the same scale – that is failing.
The customer satisfaction polls pretty much agree that while the relative rise in customer satisfaction was found in the ease of booking reservations and ticketing, the inflight experience is still pretty miserable. There exists a contentious relationship between the airlines and their passengers. To back up that statement, on February 2, 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a report on complaints by airline passengers. In the period from 2013 to 2014, customer complaints against the airlines rose by a whopping 17.9 percent, from 13,776 complaints to 15,532.
It’s about reputation
The airlines have a captive audience, no thanks, ironically, to the decline of the railroads in the United States. City to city in the Northeast corridor, the trains far outperform the airlines in speed and convenience. The problem is that once you get away from that corridor, train travel is pathetic most anywhere else. The airlines have the audience and they know it. They are also taking advantage of it.
The airlines may not have raised their prices by so much as one dollar after the Amtrak crash, but their reputation has been so lousy for so long that even at the slightest hint of a price gouge and people will jump all over it.
How does a reputation get so slammed? Simple. A reputation declines because of poor ethics. If you have ever been trapped on a taxiway or heard any one of a dozen excuses for a flight delay or been on the receiving end of a rude airline employee then you have been treated to poor ethics in action.
I would imagine the barely passing grade of 71 will again plummet if it was found than collusion existed.
Bad ethics makes everything worse.
