A couple of weeks ago I left for a trip to the US. During my trip I had an opportunity to pass through a total of half a dozen airports and several flights. It gave me an opportunity to study the various processes that were used at the airports.
Let me discuss just 3 aspects of processes at the airports. Security. Amenities. Boarding. It seemed like in the European and American airports these were similar. Whilst there may be variations in quality and efficiency amongst them at a macro level the processes and levels of these services were similar. Very Good.
In India these standards were poor. The actual difference is not major. The impact however is major. The difference is in managing the processes efficiently and effectively.
Security
As you pass through Security, you get your boarding pass stamped. And a baggage tag on your bag stamped. As you move towards the lounge, a Security Officer physically checks that your bags and boarding pass have the stamps. Then again when boarding, yet another Security Officer checks that all your bags have stamped tags and that your boarding pass is also stamped. This is a pure waste of security officials. And an irritant to several whose tags fall off sometime between security and boarding. If your checks are good, then by definition everything within the secure area would have been checked. More importantly anyone can get as many additional security tags as required by having multiple bags when going through security and then putting them in side the larger bags.
AmenitiesThere are several people employed to ensure that the lounge areas including the washroom are cleaned and kept well maintained. I have yet to come across a washroom even in the brand new airports that do not have a couple of urinals not functioning. Or taps not working. And areas unclean. Even in the food courts, the table are perpetually unclean. I guess we are as much to blame as the staff. We are used to other people cleaning up our mess. I strongly feel that the most effective solution would be strict laws on littering and effective monitoring and fining. Nothing teaches us as quickly as paying a fine.
Boarding
An announcement is made and theres a mad rush to board. Once inside, there is no hurry and most people spend several minutes in keeping their bags, moving them several times, etc. instead of just allowing other people to go past and then completing their arrangements. The fact that most carry more bags and far heavier than that allowed does not help. Once again strict implementation of cabin baggage will majorly reduce the problem.
The bottom-line is that when it comes to spending or resources, we are investing as much as is required. What we lack is Efficiency and Effectiveness. And as soon as we are able to put in processes, especially processes that are relatively independent of human subjectivity. The good news is that we've come a long way. And there's just a short distance to where we'd like to be. And hopefully that will be in the near future.
Let me discuss just 3 aspects of processes at the airports. Security. Amenities. Boarding. It seemed like in the European and American airports these were similar. Whilst there may be variations in quality and efficiency amongst them at a macro level the processes and levels of these services were similar. Very Good.
In India these standards were poor. The actual difference is not major. The impact however is major. The difference is in managing the processes efficiently and effectively.
Security
As you pass through Security, you get your boarding pass stamped. And a baggage tag on your bag stamped. As you move towards the lounge, a Security Officer physically checks that your bags and boarding pass have the stamps. Then again when boarding, yet another Security Officer checks that all your bags have stamped tags and that your boarding pass is also stamped. This is a pure waste of security officials. And an irritant to several whose tags fall off sometime between security and boarding. If your checks are good, then by definition everything within the secure area would have been checked. More importantly anyone can get as many additional security tags as required by having multiple bags when going through security and then putting them in side the larger bags.
AmenitiesThere are several people employed to ensure that the lounge areas including the washroom are cleaned and kept well maintained. I have yet to come across a washroom even in the brand new airports that do not have a couple of urinals not functioning. Or taps not working. And areas unclean. Even in the food courts, the table are perpetually unclean. I guess we are as much to blame as the staff. We are used to other people cleaning up our mess. I strongly feel that the most effective solution would be strict laws on littering and effective monitoring and fining. Nothing teaches us as quickly as paying a fine.
Boarding
An announcement is made and theres a mad rush to board. Once inside, there is no hurry and most people spend several minutes in keeping their bags, moving them several times, etc. instead of just allowing other people to go past and then completing their arrangements. The fact that most carry more bags and far heavier than that allowed does not help. Once again strict implementation of cabin baggage will majorly reduce the problem.
The bottom-line is that when it comes to spending or resources, we are investing as much as is required. What we lack is Efficiency and Effectiveness. And as soon as we are able to put in processes, especially processes that are relatively independent of human subjectivity. The good news is that we've come a long way. And there's just a short distance to where we'd like to be. And hopefully that will be in the near future.
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