Op-Ed: Now We Must Support Our Airline Partners
The horror of last month's tragedies that unfolded in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., has profoundly affected and changed our lives as Americans forever. The unnecessary loss of life and the crippling effect this will have on our economy as well as other countries is mind-boggling. Our travel industry also will undergo major changes in the way Corporate America travels. You can expect a more comprehensive checkin process with longer wait times and lines. You can expect the major conveniences that travelers have insisted upon, such as curbside checkin, electronic ticketing, fast tracking, checking in at airline membership lounges, interlining baggage transference, etc., to come under scrutiny and reevaluation. You probably can expect less scheduled air flights and airline layoffs of thousands of professionals.
Airport security no doubt will have to be taken over by the U.S. government to ensure that security training processes and procedures all remain consistent throughout the United States. This also will protect the integrity of the system from compromise due to external pressures for cost cuts or lack of trained professionals due to minimum wages. More stringent security measures, processes and policies that should have been enacted years ago finally will get some necessary attention and funding. Security critics often have said it would take a major catastrophe before our government and the airlines would make the changes and spend the money needed to improve airline security. Unfortunately, they were right.
We can help to ensure that those who were tragically killed did not perish in vain, by insisting that our government totally revamp and invest in our nation's security and completely take over the function of airport security. It's time that trained professionals handle this vital function, and if this means a security tax on all air tickets or using a portion of the taxes already collected on all air tickets, it's the right thing to do. In light of the tragedy that occurred, I am confident that no one will complain about paying taxes or fees for a higher level of security. By having the U.S. government take over this airport function, the financial pressure on the airlines to provide this security service also is eliminated.
Our airlines, which already were battered by the poor U.S. economy prior to the events of Sept. 11, will be teetering on the verge of financial failure or succumbing to it. The U.S. government will have to get involved to safeguard the stability of our nation's air system from collapsing—a goal no doubt the terrorists understood and strategically pursued.
What can we do as an industry? We as travel professionals did our part early on by first helping to get our business travelers home to their loved ones. Now we can concentrate on helping our airline suppliers and business partners to regain some financial stability by supporting them and once again booking travel.
Travel is an important part of the way America does business. There's more on the table than saving corporate expenses: Our rights and freedom of travel are threatened and under attack. When airlines and corporations fail economically, the terrorists have won. It's imperative during these tough times, as we get asked by management of our respective companies for travel recommendations and temporary policies, to be the voice of calm, rational thinking and not to overreact.
Some U.S. companies understandably have put into place a "don't fly U.S. airlines" policy. I understand the rationale behind that policy, but I implore those who have done so to reconsider. Having worked in the airline industry for more than 20 years, I can assure you that all U.S. carriers will be extremely safe because of the forthcoming security enhancements, procedures and changes that will be implemented over the course of the next few weeks.
Quite honestly, our airline supplier partners need us more than ever in their darkest hour. We should be there for them to ensure they succeed and continue to operate and not allow these cowardly terrorists to achieve their goals of financially crippling American businesses. We should continue to book them, support them and keep America flying. That is our way of helping, our way of saying to these terrorists, "You miscalculated, Americans do not back down to cowardly bullies."
In closing, let's all do our collective part to keep our companies traveling safely and help our business colleagues who have been victimized by these tragic events. Our industry is known as a unique gathering place where company professionals and their supplier partners meet, share and help each other. I have no doubt that we, as empathetic business professionals, will continue helping one another in the days and months ahead.
Kevin Iwamoto, Hewlett-Packard Co. global airline and car travel supplier manager, based in Palo Alto, Calif., also is president of the National Business Travel Association.