Innovating the Airline Industry

I’ve make a lot of air travel during the last two months. (TPE-SFO-HOU-SFO-SEA-PIT-PHL-SFO-TPE) Among them, two are international flight, and the other domestic. This excess exposure gives me the advantage to take a closer observation of the airline industry in the high energy cost periods. It Is the worst of times, and it is the best of times. The hike in operating cost stimulates many innovation that try to squeeze any money out of consumers pocket while remain some level of service.

The one thing everyone shares in common is how to differentiate passengers with different needs, and then charge different amount accordingly. There are several ways to do it. For example, not everyone really enjoy a free drink or meal onboard right? So, those who want something to drink or something to eat now have to pay for themselves. The soft drinks range from $2 to $3 dollars, and the snack and meal range from $5 to $10. For me, diet coke seems much less appealing not being free. I guess it’s the same for most of the passengers. It’s common to see flight attendants having basically nothing to do in the cabin, because no one calls on them and they don’t have to voluntarily offer anything. The most important task for them now is to close the overhead carry-on luggage storage before take-off. Seems like an easy job, huh?

But wait. Did I mention the airline companies started to charge the first check luggage? For United Airline, the first piece is $15, and the second $25. The third piece is not encouraged so the price goes to $125. How do the customers react? They simple squeeze their whole luggage into carry-on. And this really cause a problem for flight attendants – because the overhead storage is stuffed with carry-on and they are forced to use innovative ways to actually close it. Or, sometimes, just brute force.

First checked luggage = $15, second = $25, third = $125 (United Airline)

The seats are also differentiated. Those unintentionally designed to have more “leg space” (e.g. the seats near the side exit or in the very front row) are now reserved for customers who are willing to pay a premium. The price is decided according to the length of the flight time. For short flight, it’s probably $15. For long flight like PHL to SFO, it’s $65. It’s like a sub-business class. In fact, United Airline is kind enough to give these seats a resonating name: Economic Plus.

"Who wants more legroom?" ad for Economic Plus Class (United Airline)

What’s going to be the next move? Maybe they could charge you for pillows and blanket? The privilege to sit in an aisle seat? Restrooms? (e.g. Business class can go as many times as they want. Economic passengers have a free first run, but any additional runs will cost $2.) My favorite will probably be seat belts, (Pay us $10 to be safe, otherwise we don’t give a damn) although this will probably be rejected by FAA committee. But I mean, think about it. There’s no limit to business innovation!

The next thing you’ll notice is that airline companies really are saving every penny they spend. Collaboration is formed across company to share flights with same destination in order to reduce non-necessary flights. I personally don’t really care for this change. The reason is when you hop on a China Airline flight, you will find yourself surrounded by non-Taiwanese. The airline company loses its home-like identity by cooperate with Delta and some other companies.

There are some operation details I noticed from American airline companies that haven’t been adopted by Taiwanese airline. One is the Self Check-in procedure, and the other the assignment of boarding sequences.

I really like the self check-in design. It is fast and efficient compare to the old ways. Simply type in the 6 character reservation number or a swipe of your credit card, the machine will know who you are and print your boarding pass. You then put your check baggage on the counter and wait for airline personnel to make confirmation. For the airline company, this means less personnel needed behind the desk. 2 or 3 assistants are enough to keep 8 to 10 check-in window running. It’s a win-win design!

The boarding sequence (range from 1 to 4) is automatically assigned to passengers on the boarding pass. During boarding period, the airline personnel will announce which sequence is available for boarding right now. I know there are similar effort like “we are now boarding row 40 to 50”, but the old way is not intuitive to passengers. The new boarding sequence has the potential to keeps the aisle unblocked and accelerate the boarding process.

I’m really interested in airline related business. I know there are some aerospace consulting firms that offer great solutions on airline operations, logistics, and airport operation. Lufthansa seems to be the largest (need confirmation). I hope one day I could be in business with aerospace industry. That could be another way to fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a pilot.

Work or Study?

During my two months travel, I visited several great universities, including CMU, the one I should be studying in given I made a different choice back in May. I never thought visiting the schools would be difficult for me, emotionally – but in fact it is. They are too cool and rewarding above my highest expectation. This shoots up the opportunity cost of choosing to work for BCG first. The level of tension reached a did-I-make-the-right-choice level.

I spent three days in CMU to get to know the school and faculties. I’ve been to several seminars and sit-In a couple of classes. I’ve met world-famous professors, and talked to brilliant, welcoming students. The stage is perfectly setup – perfect for anyone who is ready to leap in and have his/her skills polished, for anyone who wants to do pioneering researches, and have continuous stimulant from the environment. It is a place you know for sure you’ll get something back if you put all your heart in it. In addition to all that, just the sheer luxury of learning new and interesting things is enough to make any serious scholar (like me) “itchy”!

Besides the tempting environment CMU provides, the one-year program is actually very cost-efficient. You only have to pay like $50,000 a year, not two, to get a diploma that makes every CS student envy. You can be readily available within 12 months for huge company that offers good benefit – and they will definitely compete over a freshly trained CMU HCIer. You will have the privilege to become one of the alumni of the top university, and enjoy people wowing and win their respect when they see your resume and name card. You can get all that within one year and $50,000.

To exhaust the list, you can also say CMU provides a cushion to the English-speaking job market. One year in an English environment will definitely improve one’s English communication skills. You also learn how to interact and social with foreigners, which is really important in doing international business.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, I’m still glad I made the right decision to go for Boston Consulting Group. Simply put it, I’m basically done with studying. I’ve been studying for more than 15 years, I think I’m ready to move on to another environment and learn something new. Of course the courses are great and the environment is way better than NTU, but for me, the excitement isn’t like 5 years ago when I first entered university – I need something fresh and challenging other than more courses and reading assignments.

Besides, I don’t think I’m that ready to dive in the HCI field. When I applied MS, what I really want is a general CS master. The CMU MHCI, although the best among its peers, is too narrow for me. During my visit to CMU I’ve sit in several HCI courses, and I’m glad I’m there only for a couple of days, because there are some parts of the course I know are not critical to me. I know I won’t be an engineer, so a heavy year in coding and projects doesn’t prepare me for future challenges. I could imagine if I spent a year there, I’ll be constantly asking myself “why am I doing this?”

My decision is final after my ISMIR (International Symposium on Music Information Retrieval) experience. The symposium offers a window for me to see another side of the academic life. Generally speaking, the people are nice there, and the researches they do are definitely cutting edge. But thank god I’m not in an academic career! It takes a certain personality to do academic researches; I just don’t think I’m the right guy. Although I seriously doubt MHCI will require their students to go to any conference, the projects in CMU are probably similar in a way I’m not really interested.

The BCG seems to know that I’m in a process of deciding something. They sent me an email informing my first regional training. It is going to be in Bangkok and last for five days. They are also kind enough to show off our accommodation in Bangkok. The hotel looks spectacular! Those on-line training modules, although being overwhelming in volume, are arousing the energy within me. Well, after listing all the pros and cons, doesn’t it sound like we have a winner over here?

23rd Birthday! Ready to Move On!

今年生日最特別的地方是在國外度過，9/12當天我揮別Pittsburgh，朝向下一個目的地費城前進。本以為會是個寂寞的生日，但當天收到佑齊的生日禮物、阿拉的祝賀電話，到達目的地後還被Frank帶去吃了個生日Pizza，讓獨自旅行快兩個月的我受寵若驚。再加上收到BBS上大家的祝福，超級開心！謝謝大家還沒忘記這個在美國旅行的大胖子！

每年生日都習慣給自己寫些東西。從去年的生日到現在，可以說這十二個月真的是大起大落，發生的每一件事情感覺都對未來影響很大。從去年陸續開始準備申請學校、到放榜、收到CMU入學許可、被Stanford拒絕、到工作與念書的天人交戰、幸運拿到BCG Offer、最後確定先工作的決定。每一件事情不一定都順人意，但回顧這一年，我可以說我覺得自己真的很幸運，也對自己的現在和未來充滿信心。

我的23歲生日剛好介於剛畢業、尚未就業之間。如果說去年生日的主題是對過去的不捨，今年的主題應該就是對未來的期待。跟去年的茫然比起來，這一年的緩衝讓我能好好跟學生時代說再見。去年生日時對於「長大」還稍有排斥，但現在的我已經接受這個事實，也準備好在新的人生階段再接再厲。學生自有學生的自由，但如果繼續停滯不前，連自己都會覺得無聊了吧？我已經迫不及待的想去上班了！我把我的第一個工作看成一個碩士學位，希望能好好在裡頭學習、貢獻，把自己的基本功打好，以迎接任何課業之外會碰到的挑戰。

雖然在今天回去看那時候決定要選擇BCG還是CMU的那篇文章，會覺得這個小子十分狂妄，但我還是認為那些目標確實值得追尋。如果說四十歲的我能有所成就，那我一定會歸功於在22歲與23歲之間寫的那篇文章。

現在的短期目標很明確，但中長期的具體目標卻還要再好好想想。我想出了社會會更知道自己要的是甚麼，經過一段時間的工作，應該也更能知道自己的能力的極限。要不斷的提醒自己，不要只專注於眼前，要想得更遠。就算再累，也要定下心來看看過去、現在、未來，要一直有計畫、有目標的過每一天。

能撐過這一年，要感謝很多很多好朋友的支持。申請學校的時候，很幸運的得到了很多學長姐的幫助，也常有朋友互相打氣。因為自己得到太多，我也希望能將自己的經驗傳下去給想要申請國外學校的人，如果有任何問題我可以幫忙的我一定盡力幫忙。另外，在Stanford不幸落榜，面臨人生重要的抉擇時，謝謝很多人的經驗分享和建議，因為受到一些朋友提起勇氣面對未知的故事的鼓勵，也讓我走出低潮，主動出擊。最後幸運的得到工作，要感謝的人太多，最重要的應該是一路一起打拼的夥伴Jeffrey，還有願意給我第二次機會的BCG。

這段時間要特別感謝小傑在所有時候都對我很有信心(尤其在有人對我進行信心打擊的時候)。有個人一直在旁邊加油打氣對我來說很重要。小傑總有辦法把我從谷底拉起來，工作之後還請多多關照！另外也要特別感謝的是我的指導教授。他除了在研究上給我指導，也提供給我很多關於人生的寶貴建議，每次跟他討論完感覺都像拼圖再拼上了一塊，對未來的路也更加清楚。

我的爸媽在這一年也很辛苦。他們的兒子放著國外碩士不念說要先去工作曾經嚇到他們，不過還好最後有一個大家都可以接受的選項。謝謝我爸隨時提醒我要做最壞的打算，讓我在踏出每一步的時候都有心理準備，更謝謝我媽在旁邊提供所有的資源去幫助他的兒子了解所有選項，並且以包容、體諒的態度尊重一個23歲的小大人做出的決定。

23歲的暑假過得很充實，兩個月的旅行讓我更熟悉美國的環境，雖然英文不一定真的有進步，但是看了很多、學了很多。很期待回國之後與大家見面、分享自己的所見所聞。Taiwan, I’m coming back!

最後，不免俗的送給自己一段話。

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt, quoted on the HBS admissions website