Mr Victor A Forcenteain, our disgruntled corporate traveller, this month highlights his own dissatisfaction of the fragmented way the COVID-19 crisis is being handled and highlights the need to maintain our longer-term outlooks when devising short-term solutions.
"One of the benefits of flying business class is that not only do you get more space and some quiet, but you don't have to pay for horrible prepackaged food. Unfortunately all that seems to have changed with Covid-19. Recently I had to fly to Sydney and back twice and got offered a prepackaged muffin or a packet of crisps with drinks in a plastic cup! To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Surely there is more they can do to make it a little more in line with the exorbitant price I have to pay. Or alternatively maybe they could reduce the price until such time as normal service can be resumed.
"Single use plastics on planes is normally something that upsets me. I understand in these difficult days of health concerns single use probably has its benefits, but would it not be possible to go back to having decent cutlery and glasses as we did in the good old days? They are normally served in the premium classes so the argument that they could be used by a terrorist intent on doing harm doesn't really stand up, unless we assume they don't travel in business. I can't think that those little blunt knives and forks could be used for anything other than assist (and failing at that) in the eating of small amounts of pre-cooked food. Ever tried buttering a roll with a plastic knife when the butter has come straight from cold storage?
"Of course all these items would need washing but then it would appear there are thousands of poor airline staff who have now lost their jobs, not to mention the millions in other industries. Would it not be possible to get some of them back in employment and improve the service on board at the same time?
"Talking of which, most flights I have taken in recent weeks have been delayed with the reason given that there are 'insufficient ground staff'. Well how about hiring them back? I'm sure there are loads out there who would love to get their jobs back.
"Going back to single use plastic for a minute, I was once given a lovely PET bottle by Helsinki Airport. It has proved to be extremely useful as I take it on all my travels. There are water fountains at pretty much all airports nowadays so it's just a question of filling up once I'm through security checks. Then I have my own water for the flight.
"Maybe more airports and airlines should give out these PET type bottles. It would be free advertising for them and save a small fortune in single use plastic cups. Everyone should be encouraged to carry their own - I see many people already doing that so we need to try and spread the habit quickly.
"Another item that we should be encouraged to take with us is headphones. They are definitely a health hazard so airlines should ask us to bring our own headphones and only have some available for those that forgot or didn't have the foresight to bring their own.
"Nowadays I try not to check in any bags because the horror stories about lost and damaged luggage don't bear repeating. But just to say that in 2019 apparently 25.4 million bags were 'mishandled' and 1.27 million bags were irretrievably lost. (see 'Losing a suitcase during our travels is an annoyance, but what actually happens to those bags that never get reunited with passengers?')
"It's a horror story by any standard and airlines and airports must do better. At the very least they should improve the delivery time into the baggage hall. That can take an unbelievably long time and while it could be understood at busy and big airports, sometimes it's the small airports that take the longest time. According to Skytrax the top five airports for fast delivery are all in Asia - Kansai, Seoul Incheon, Tokyo Haneda, Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong top the table. Unfortunately no-one seems to have a list of the worst offenders, but I think we all know at least one."