Last weekend, Spirit Airlines shut its doors for the final time—leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

While some press reports called this “sudden,” it was certainly not unexpected. The airline had filed for bankruptcy twice within a year and was known to be in financial trouble. A proposed government bailout didn’t materialize and that left no choice but to close down the low-cost airline once and for all.

What’s amazing to me, though, is the number of passengers who were shocked to find their flights permanently cancelled. Many of these people had bought tickets in the last few days, not way in advance of the financial collapse.

Spirit was known to be the bottom of the low cost flight options. Everything was an extra fee—including checked bags, carry on luggage, seat selection, and onboard snacks. Many of the fees wound up costing hundreds of dollars more than the original ticket price. It’s a wonder they didn’t install credit card readers on the bathroom doors too.

The problem was the model was never sustainable. We all want to get a great deal, but there’s a minimum cost to provide air travel that has to be covered for an airline to just break even. To stay in business, airlines have to make a profit above that.

A recent Spirit fare was $25 from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Even before the recent fuel price hikes due to the Iran war, no airline on the planet could afford to fill flights at that price point.

We’ve seen low cost, bare-bones airlines come and go before, including ValuJet, Hooters Air, ATA Airlines, and, across the pond, AirBerlin and WOW. Fighting to be the lowest cost provider in any business is a no-win proposition: You spiral downward and downward when competing on price until there’s nowhere else to go.

Yet even as Spirit departs, United is reconfiguring its cabins to include more premium seats. So obviously there’s a market for quality service, and people are willing to pay for perceived value.

Spirit may no longer move us, but quality and a great customer experience still fly.

Let us help your business rise to the top.

linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com

It’s so tempting to let all the great technology and systems available to us manage our lives and businesses.

But what happens when we let the systems do the thinking, rather than allowing the people involved apply their knowledge and expertise?

For the last two months, my bill from a mail order pharmacy was significantly higher than it should have been. The error was the same both times: my order for two bottles of a medication was double charged, so that I was charged for 2 x 2 bottles (4 total), rather than just two.

There was also an extra charge on a test for our dog at the vet that needed to be shipped to an outside lab. The vet’s computer system was pre-set to include the shipping charge when the test was ordered. The problem was this had been programmed to include both a regular shipping fee and an express charge—when the test only had to be shipped once.

In both instances, the people involved had relied on the system set up for them. They were not getting paid to think about any of these details—the thinking was being done for them. The charges were pre-entered; they just had to add them to the order. And, in both instances, because the information entered was incorrect, everything from that point forward was wrong.

Both of these situations were straightforward and simple to fix. But what happens when we are talking about an AI-based system that compares mammogram results to thousands of others in a database, or one that reviews medical databases to diagnose a hard-to-identify illness associated with a specific list of systems?

Even the best, most advanced AI systems are only as good as the information they’ve got available to them. When the data entered is incorrect, or the models the AI tool is relying upon have an inherent bias or use improper assumptions, the results are therefore off as well.

Automating tedious processes sounds terrific—except we run the risk of getting more bad results faster, rather than better quality results. Garbage in, garbage out.

In the rush to AI this and AI that, let’s not throw our experience and expertise out with the trash.

Let us help your business rise to the top.

linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com

On Tuesday, Congressman Eric Swalwell resigned his congressional seat and dropped out of the California governor’s race after multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

Over the last week, a number of women on his staff have come forward to say they were assaulted by Swalwell, with allegations ranging from inappropriate sexual messaging to assault and rape. Over 50 staffers signed a letter stating that they supported their colleagues’ allegations.

What’s amazing about this is it appears that this was an open secret in Congress. People knew about this and ignored it. Yet, not only was Swalwell a congressman, he was also one of the leading candidates in this year’s race for California governor. He also has been extremely vocal about condemning others who were alleged to have committed sexual assault. Huh?

We’ve heard so much about the Epstein files, with much handwringing and consternation about who might be implicated in Epstein’s escapades with young women. Yet, even as that maelstrom continues to brew, no one thought to consider what elected officials like Swalwell were up to?

How many other members of Congress are guilty of similar offense, but given a pass by their colleagues? (Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales resigned on Tuesday as well. He allegedly had an affair with a staffer who later committed suicide by setting herself on fire.)

How long will we let this go on? As long as we are willing to overlook this kind of behavior, nothing will change.

As Albert Einstein supposedly said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Time to change the script. If you know something, say something.

Let us help your business rise to the top.

linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com