The power of transparency
I recently met a former flight attendant who knows a great deal about my preferred carrier, United Airlines. (She did not work for United, but for one of its partners.) As a 1K flyer on United, I was interested to hear the story behind the airline’s decision to offer Channel 9, the on-board audio channel that gives passengers the opportunity to listen to communications between the cockpit and air traffic control. As an anxious air traveler, I have come to rely on Channel 9 as a tool for relaxing during my flights. I frequently tell others that listening to the cockpit, while it might sound quite boring, is actually really great because the exchanges between the pilots and ATC are always so polite and professional, and reflect genuine competence. It is such a refreshing change of pace from typical workplace conversations, which often are laden with hidden meanings and political agendas, and sometimes try to cover up incompetence. In contrast, when a pilot is told by an air traffic controller to “descend and maintain 1-5-0″ or 15,000 feet, the response is always, “1-5-0, United 540″ or whatever the specific flight number might be. No arguments, no politics, no crap.
But things apparently were quite different before Channel 9. In the aftermath of President Reagan’s firing of air traffic controllers in 1981, there was significant vitriol between pilots and air traffic controllers at United. From what my acquaintance told me, I gather that yelling and cursing were commonplace in communications between planes and ATC. In fact, by the late 1990s, when Washington, DC’s National Airport was renamed for President Reagan, pilots calling ATC using “Reagan” would simply be ignored by the tower, creating a remarkably unsafe situation.
United management tried many approaches to ameliorate these problems without success. Finally, there was a brainstorm, and a decision was made: all of these conversations would be made available to passengers! The airline secured the necessary approvals and the whole game changed. Now, the air traffic controllers and pilots had a choice: clean up their act or face the wrath of the flying public. Obviously, they chose the former, because if they hadn’t, United certainly would not exist today. (Not that it’s out of the woods by any means…)
This story compels me to ask association leaders a question: what would your members hear in your HQ office or boardroom if they could listen in to their own association-specific Channel 9? Would they admire the professionalism and competence of your staff or board, or would they simply wonder what the hell is going on? Quite obviously, transparency has been a very powerful tool for shifting both thinking and action at United, and it can be for your association as well.
I think it’s a most unwise idea. All it takes is one passenger to misunderstand something they hear and they could panic everybody on board.
For me, Channel 9 was in part responsible for getting me back ON planes after a 10 year hiatus from a fear of flying. Today I fly US to UK 6 times a year and almost rely on Channel 9. I love listening to the competency, professionalism, precision, and it makes me feel better. As long as United stays as the SOLE carrier to offer Channel 9, they have my business. Are they?
[...] Patrick is writing about us! Me and the thousands of airliner geeks that hang out at airliners.net, and subscribe to Airliner World (and even Airports of the World). We listen to channel 9, and some of us even prefer to fly on United for that reason. We know about Passur’s Airport Monitor (and wish it was available at our local airport). We have been known to hang out at PPruNe. We probably have one or two (or two hundred!) models from Dragon Wings, Gemini Jets, or Herpa on our bookshelves. We loved Pushing Tin, and when we watched United 93 we were humbled and impressed by the way that it captured the gestalt of commercial flying and the heroism of the moment – but we were also distracted by the anachronistic details. We all have our favourite photographs of airliners, as well as our personal stories. [...]
Interesting article. I fly United whenever I can, in large part due to Channel 9. I’m not an anxious flyer by any means; I just really enjoy hearing what’s going on. Why did we make that turn? In bad weather, where exactly are we? What’s that other aircraft doing? The added information, to me, makes the flight that much more enjoyable, and even delays and other unplanned occurrences are easier to take if I just have some idea of what’s happening.
Point well-made regarding transparency. Granted, in many instances there’s a competitive advantage to be gained/lost by managing information. In a customer-service context, however, I believe the vast majority of clients would prefer transparency and, as I alluded above, would be more understanding of unplanned events if they were simply kept “in the loop.”
Getting back to Channel 9, there are occasions where the Captain elects not to make it available to passengers. It’s disappointing to me, but it’s also entirely at the Captain’s discretion. On one such occasion, I chatted with the cabin crew about the lack of Channel 9, and evidently the reason for not making it available is that a Captain fears a passenger(s) will fret if, say, a radio call from air-traffic control is missed (as does happen on occasion). I can’t argue with that logic, but it’s still a shame. Such “nervous Nellies” will end up finding something else to fret and complain about anyway.
In any case, bravo United, and may we all learn something about their willingness to be transparent with their customers in this respect (even if they surely aren’t in others).