What does it take to prevent a fire mid-air?

The Story

On a flight from New York (not the same flight where a passenger relieved himself on an older woman), I also had the unfortunate experience of sitting with a male co-passenger who viewed the cabin as a ‘safe place’ to indulge in indecent conduct. This airline must have created a Code of Conduct with a section on serving alcohol, but apparently, they had not specified how much is too much. So, the cabin crew didn’t know when to say, “Sir, you have had enough.” The not-so-gentle man with an infinitely expandable bladder stayed in flight mode of unabashedly asking for whiskey; before dinner, during dinner, then a nightcap, and then just to knock a few back. While my eyes were wide open in apprehension that he would involuntarily relieve himself on his seat, his were on the hostess to see when she would pass by so he could check with her if she had some whiskey. On the other hand, I wanted to check if the airlines even had any rulebook that prescribes the Dos and Don’ts around passengers’ unruly behaviours. Yes, asking endlessly for alcohol qualifies as undisciplined behaviour, per the life’s Code of Conduct. Would you agree?

The Blame

I am a big proponent of not blaming the staff for not doing the right thing when the company must train the staff & crew adequately to know what is the right thing to do. On 7th Jan. 2023, four cabin crew and one pilot from the Air India AI-102 were de-rostered. The airline is reviewing its policy of serving alcohol on flights and various other concerns like incident handling and complaint mechanism. Allegedly, the crew mishandled the incident in many ways, which got due coverage in the articles that surfaced in the media. Facing backlash, TATA group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson accepted, “Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better…” Bhattacharjee, another co-passenger and a witness, post-incident, praised two cabin crew members who wore gloves, took the lady’s belongings to the lavatory and cleaned them. He says, “they went beyond their call of duty.” Yes, they made errors of judgement in attempting peace between the inebriated harasser and the victim, perhaps in the absence of adequate Code of Conduct training & dissemination. Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt by assuming the amount of liquor served is not precisely regulated, there were other instances of violating the CoC. Incident handling and complaint mechanism, segments of a typical CoC, were undoubtedly misguided.

The Error Ratio with Six Sigma

The aviation industry has an enormous impact on customer experience, as even a single delayed flight can have a chain reaction of people missing their connecting flights. Moving a massive number of people through check-in, security, boarding, and transporting their baggage at the same time, through a large number of gates simultaneously, is a series of structured interlocking events. But how structured can people be? These moving masses consist of people. One hiccup and people can miss flights and lose baggage. Throw in unruly passengers on board in the mix, and now you have aircraft, people and property in jeopardy. That’s why the aviation industry applies Six Sigma, which gives tools and techniques to ensure error-proof operations and a high customer experience. With 3.4 errors per million (99.999997% accuracy), you could say the method targets Zero Error. Then what possibly led to the violations of the CoC?

The Handling of Unruly Passengers

Indian government’s Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on handling unruly passengers are clear, but perhaps only inside an old thick paper manual. It’s an open secret that no one even reads the manuals/policies/protocols (especially those made by the government), ultimately, far less learning it sufficiently well to be at the ‘top of the mind recall’ during a mid-air crisis. I am confident it must be mandatory that Aviation staff & crew read and understand the policies but come on! It must get boring to go through piles of policies in the absence of engaging training. Possibly, this was the cause of the mishandling of the incident by the crew & staff on board & immediately after landing, and also by some officials in the following days w.r.t. appropriate & timely communication with stakeholders after the elderly woman filed the complaint.

The Hallmark of TATA

TATA is a brand that has consistently been ranked highly in Indian and international brand tracking surveys over the past two decades. They have always placed a strong emphasis on customer experience and have maintained an outstanding reputation. They have typically been prompt in responding to customer complaints and have handled them effectively. However, in this instance, they appear to have fallen short of their usual level of service. Even a single negative incident can have a detrimental effect on a brand’s image and customer trust, which are both vital components of TATA’s success. It’s possible that the recent change in ownership of Air India has led to a slight decline in service quality. The transition process can be complex and may have resulted in disruptions or mismanagement that ultimately affected the service provided to customers.

The Takeaway

It’s better to invest extensive time and resources in adequately training the employees with unique & engaging Code of Conduct training resources rather than firefighting!

Author: Sumali Nagarajan, AVP-Content & Training, Rainmaker

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