I shared last week about my 2023 travel experiences. As we look forward to 2024, there are five things that “those in charge” need to do to make travel markedly better.
Treat Your Customers with Respect
Too often, passengers are herded bewildered into long lines and then alternately shouted at or ignored. I believe this stress and the points above are helping to contribute to a lack of civility from passengers who push back at staff and each other. Can we send all staff globally to Tokyo Haneda or Singapore Changi Airport (pictured) to watch how people can be treated right?
Standardise Baggage Rules and Monitoring
Today’s baggage rules are ultra confusing just within one airline, let alone across the whole industry. Worse, they are then administered haphazardly. For example, an airline accepts a bag of a certain size, and the next day the same airline wants $100 for it. What one airline says is okay for business class check-in, another one refuses. This just creates stress and unpleasantness.
I’ve been distressed watching other passengers who genuinely got it wrong being reduced to tears as they fork over hundreds of dollars. I also get mad when I see other passengers deliberately getting away with transporting huge amounts of luggage.
I’d mandate all airlines to allow one check-in bag of 23 kilograms with the same dimensions globally, and one small carry-on. After that, start charging.
“Visa Free” online clearance processes
We are now seeing the proliferation of electronic arrival processes, including
- European Travel Information and Authorization System
- Singapore Arrival Card (SGAC)
- Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC)
- Canada’s Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA)
- USA Electronic System for Travel Authorization.
These electronic systems are all designed to keep track of visitors from countries who do not need visas to enter a country or a region. They all require me to type out all the information that is already in my passport and then add information that the airline holds (flight number, travel date, etc.). What’s the point of a passport if we have to duplicate it? Is it really visa-free entry if we have to pay a fee and apply for entry into a country? Worse, it doesn’t speed up the immigration process at the other. Rethink these please.
Stop the Understaffing of Immigration and Security
Whenever I end up in a long line at an airport or border, I count up the lost productivity and wasted vacation time. It must be billions of dollars across the world every year. I am lucky because I can skip many of these lines, but that seems unfair that some of us can benefit from programs and schemes and the rest have to waste their time in endless slow lines. Globally, we are paying more We pay more and more in taxes, charges, and security fees every year. Let us see some benefits from it.
Out of Control, “Resort Fees”.
Invented in the USA and now spreading across the world, these new hidden charges are what you pay at check in. Sometimes, you are clearly advised that they will be collected at check in. Other times, they appeared in very small print on the reservation confirmation. Many times, guests are completely unaware of them, as in many jurisdictions it’s not a requirement to tell guests n advance about them.
These fees are also known as a “destination fee,” “facility fee” or “amenity fee”. In theory, they cover the features of your hotel not included in the room rate (such as the pool or the gym) and are charged on a nightly basis.
We have been complaining about these fees for a few years now. Just outlaw them.
What do you think ?
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