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Flying through Chicago? Rats!
By Lauren | May 7, 2008
My goal in setting up this blog was not to pick on the air travel industry, but they make it so easy, Just last week, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would seek $10.2 million in fines from Southwest Airlines for safety violations. The agency claims that Southwest flew 46 planes almost 60,000 times after the FAA ordered that they be inspected – four years ago. Southwest says it’ll fight the fines, which strikes me as unbelievably arrogant. Considering the legal damages Southwest would have faced if one of those 46 planes had gone down anytime in the past four years, $10.2 million is, at worst, a gentle rap on the wrist.
And then, there was yesterday’s story from CNN about sanitary conditions in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, one of the nation’s busiest hubs. Someone from CNN got the idea of dropping cookies in the airport (something any child might do), and the rats and mice came scurrying out, caught on camera for the traveling public to see. And if that wasn’t bad enough, CNN reported that the rodents were found in parts of the airport where food is prepared, which means that they pose a safety risk not only to Chicago travelers, but also to the airport workers who prepare the food.
What am I missing here?
Is it honestly asking so much to insist that an industry that serves everyone from young families to high-powered business moguls provide basic safety, in the air and on the ground? Is the federal agency that regulates the industry so incapable, underfunded or both that it can’t protect the people it’s supposed to serve? And are the folks who run the airports so incompetent that they can’t (or won’t) even keep rats out of the kitchen unless forced to do so by a regulator?
Maintaining a clean, safe and healthy environment for customers and employees is a fundamental tenet of good business. The air travel industry shouldn’t wait for orders from the FAA to get these problems solved.
Topics: Business Ethics, corporate responsibility, customer relations |