At the end of 2022, in the midst of a recent US air travel meltdown, we published a story about how one might arm oneself against travel disruptions. The US air travel system recovered quickly – but passengers enduring that chaos won’t forget the experience quickly. Disrupted travel is an unpleasant experience. Traveler endures extraordinary stress when trips are disrupted and people behave very badly when going through travel disruptions. Here are 8 minutes of crazy air travel from 2021. Airline delays and cancellations could use a solution to protect everyone in the travel process, especially harassed customer-facing airport staff.
Air travel disruption is no small thing. FlightAware has this neat link. This page is updated daily and lists air travel delays and cancellations. For every cancellation imagine the volume of people directly impacted – say an average of 125 people per flight. For every 1,000 flights that means 125,000 people go through significant stress. As the 8-minute video shows, this often leads to violent and abusive behavior. And this happens every day.Â
In our previous post, we spoke about a UK-based startup called SWIIPR. Today we spoke with the firm’s CEO, Tara Spielhagen, about the business. The problem with travel disruption is not going to disappear. The travel industry and passengers can minimize the disruptive impact. A solution is within reach and appears to be viable and working. SWIIPR is working with several airlines and looks to be serving travelers at 200 airports by the end of January 2023. Â
Co-Founder AirInsight. My previous life includes stints at Shell South Africa, CIC Research, and PA Consulting. Got bitten by the aviation bug and ended up an Avgeek. Then the data bug got me, making me a curious Avgeek seeking data-driven logic. Also, I appreciate conversations with smart people from whom I learn so much. Summary: I am very fortunate to work with and converse with great people.
