Bankrupt But Secure

United Airlines

Bankrupt But Secure

By Roy D. Follendore III

December 9, 2002

Something is very wrong with America's value system. We just do seem to want to acknowledge fiscal economic security with our physical welfare. Today's bankrupt United Airlines is a case in point. It is a wonder to many of us exactly how the felling of two buildings can translate in the American psyche as an opportunity to remove ourselves from our fiscal responsibilities. By this I mean that it is completely understandable how people and organizations go broke, particularly when they go after opportunities that have what seem at the time low risk advantages. But at moments when we are supposed to be conservative, considering our national welfare and protecting our assets, it seems insane to charge after solutions that do little but assure that our industries and our infrastructure will fail.

Good leaders understand that they must keep a vigilant and watchful eye on the big picture. The idea that an entity like the United States is a part of planetary body of events is without a doubt a critical aspect of our welfare to consider. But good leaders also understand that their stewardship for the responsibilities that they carry begins with maintaining the opportunities of individuals and businesses to successfully compete. Somehow the buildings of New York not only fell down on the streets of Manhattan, they fell down on the world's largest airlines. We have asked the question what caused the World Trade Center to collapse. We should now be asking ourselves what caused United Airlines to collapse.

The one thing that is most obvious about the economic failure of United as well as the rest of the airlines is the simple fact that they can not get enough passengers to fill up their seats. Customers have reduced their demand for airline travel even though flying is actually statistically safer than it has ever been. People have become acutely aware of the crazy tactics and policies that they have to endure in order to get from one point to another. The security policies pushed upon airlines has driven away customers. It is no wonder that at a time when a paperclip, a fingernail clipper or a box cutter some poor soul uses in his day to day business can literally cause the evacuation of a terminal or an aircraft no one wants to fly. If a box cutter on a key chain, or fragile plastic picnic cutlery in an onboard bag lunch can stop the operations of an aircraft industry then may God help us all. Right now a naked streaker could close down an airport. How far we have advanced since the 70's. To all of the potential customers, common sense seems to have flown out of airports far more often than aircraft. Somehow someone seems to think that customer inconvenience translates into good security.

It is too easy to get off of the problem and remain the specifics of why the philosophy of airline security has caused so much destruction. The simple idea that having to spend hours more at a gate with the uncertain possibility that some insignificant security event will set off a series of actions that cause hours more delay tells passengers what they need to know. It is more economic to drive to many of the place we want to go than to fly. Better yet, it is better to postpone the trip or simply telecommute. Unless one intends to stay for an extended period, why dump money into a transportation concept that does not save time? Security delays translate into millions of potential air miles that would have caused United Airlines to make a profit. The billions of economic loss that fell to the ground in New York are a drop in the bucket with respect to the total economic loss to rest of this Nation. Much of this loss can be directly attributed to an insufficient understanding by the so called "security experts" about the the impact of their decisions.

When security experts choose to take a specific action, they become both responsible for understanding and responding the positive results as well as the negative impacts of their actions. When bureaucrats choose to take over security they are only looking at their personal agenda for which they have been assigned responsibility. The Federal Government has all but nationalized the airline industry since 911. Some leaders are publicly saying that the only way that airlines can stay in business is to become nationalized. But it did not have to come to this. The economic failure of United Airlines has been completely unnecessary. Common sense could have prevailed if we had just put a few people with common sense and true philosophy of what security means into positions of authority.

.