Flying the Unfriendly Skies

The Sunshine State. That's where my family traveled to during the first half of December, soaking up the warm temperatures and fun only Florida can offer this time of year.

Unfortunately, to get to and from the 27th state, I had to fly. During those trips I experienced:

*An hour and a half delay - spent entirely on the plane - on the way to Florida … with kids. On the return trip, the delay was two and a half hours. And they weren't necessarily weather-related delays.

*Our family was charged for checked baggage, despite the fact that we purchased tickets months before a checked baggage fee was imposed. I thought we were grandfathered in from the extra charge, but apparently not.

*Also, there was - of course - the new tradition of nickel-and-diming passengers for food and services.

In its survey of the airline industry released earlier in the year, J.D. Power and Associates said deteriorating levels of customer service provided by airline staff, and to a lesser extent high fares and additional charges for amenities, have led to the lowest customer satisfaction rating for the airline business in three years.

Sound familiar?

In October, J.D. Power released its findings of customer satisfaction among multiplatform companies. As usual, cable companies (with a few exceptions) ranked at the bottom of the regional lists provided by the firm. Satellite TV companies couldn't top the J.D. Power lists, losing the high positions in the customer satisfaction survey to telco video companies.

It may be an apples to oranges comparison when grouping video providers with the airlines. Nonetheless, would it hurt cable to point out its consumer-friendly triple-play bundles? Why shouldn't small dish services boast about their HDTV offerings?

And why not suggest that with these extras and others that the video business is better than the airline business … or any other consumer-centric industry?

Consumers could use a new perspective that compares the multiplatform business to other services. If that doesn't happen, I would be the first to say that cable and satellite TV companies aren't nearly as bad as the airlines.