Why Does the Travel Experience Kind of Suck Now?

your guide to corporate consolidation, enRICHed Member's Lounge #29

Let’s imagine a totally hypothetical and definitely not relatable scenario: you go to the airport to get on a flight with some airline, like “American Airlines.” Right? So this so-called “American Airlines” makes you pay for your first checked bag, which is annoying, but you do it anyway, because that’s totally normal. It also has a bunch of “service fees” and random other additional costs tacked on top of your already-expensive ticket. Ugh! Annoying, but okay. You then get through security and get to your gate, only to find out that the fight has been delayed five hours. That means you’re going to miss your connecting flight, and you’ll be stranded in Dallas overnight. No way. You ask the staff if they can rebook your flight, and they tell you that you can call the helpline to get a credit rebate, but the helpline redirects you to a separate line that never calls you back. So as you’re hanging around the airport with your $6 water bottle, you ask if you can please speak to someone, anyone, about your delayed flight since this was not your fault and totally outside your control. They shrug and tell you that there is nothing they can do, and frankly, this is actually kind of your fault, because you couldn’t reach the helpline. You refrain from flipping out in the middle of this terminal and swear that you’ll never fly with them again. But unfortunately, the next flight you take is only serviced by one airline—that’s right, “American Airlines.”

From the recent chaos at airports to the rising cost of airline fees, there’s been a lot of reason to be anxious about flying lately. Playing the game of getting a low cost fare, worrying that the airline has gotten you to overpay for your seat, getting to the airport only for the flight to be delayed, and of course, getting no refund or compensation for all that trouble. Of course, there are a ton of reasons why this is happening—from the current FAA administration to the freak weather incidents affecting radio systems—but what if I told you that this actually has something to do with corporate consolidation?

Today in the member’s lounge, we’re going to look at mergers & acquisitions and how it’s affecting your everyday lives.