Flying cheap movie

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Flying cheap movie

‘Profit’ is often the main motive to investors or businesspersons in all sectors of trade. It is therefore sure that operators within the airline travel sector, just as it is the case with other forms of business try to maximize profits while minimizing on the costs. This informs the plot and storyline depicted by the documentary on flying cheap as written and directed by Rick Young. The movie critically presents a factual documentary on what exactly happened in ill-fated Colgan operated flight that crashed in 2009 outside Buffalo and claimed at least fifty lives. The ‘continental connection flight’ 3407was a commuter flight and is exactly the recreation of the documentary by Young and which depicts the errors with the pilot as well as the first officer to have caused the crash (Genzlinger, para 1-5).

The documentary depicts evolutionary process in the regional system of airlines with the special focus on the relatively small airline companies such as the Colgan Company. The movie depicts the operations of the rather small airliners carrying the big names like ‘continental’ on them despite their failure to meet at least the minimum standards of operation in safety as well as training for the crew members. The plot features a former Colgan Pilot’s description of his daily routine at Colgan as a pilot. Many short routes coupled with lots of ‘landings’ and ‘take offs’ as well as meeting and braving bad weather are basic daily experiences to any pilot with the company. This according to him is so tiring and often presents a very long day to the pilot and crewmembers.

As the documentary features, passengers often make a misinformed perception whenever in a plane for a flight while thinking that they are safe at the hands of the ‘well able and experienced pilot and crew members in control’ while the reality may prove otherwise. The story line adopted in the documentary is an investigative plot where it investigates how regional airline couriers especially those operating as low cost flights have steadily changed the entire air travel industry with increased awareness of competition and the need for incentives such as the cheap flights. However, the investigation line is on whether the adoption of such strategies and the need to realize higher profits is in any way related to compromises of safety standards as observed in airline operators. This is confirmed through the strategic feature of the continental connection flight, which crashed in 2009 outside Buffalo. The documentary records mistakes of the pilot to have caused the crash and reveals that they were mistakes that would be easily avoided if proper caution in safety measures and training were observed.

The analysis of the movie reveals a shocking scenario where despite the technical nature of operations for a flight company, the need to compete favorably and profitably within the industry has caused many compromises in the past, which have been attributed to the great losses suffered whenever such a flight plane crashes. An emerging feature in operations of commercial flights is the lowering of the freight charges in order to attract more customers. Besides, the assumption of regional and international operations as insinuated by such titles as the ‘intercontinental’ are increasingly being adopted by small operators within the industry as a strategy to win customer trust and loyalty. Shocking however is the revelation that many of such companies are investing little if any in training of the crewmembers and the pilots as well as in ensuring that the safety standards observed are as would be necessary.

The business strategies that are being adopted by operators within the air travel industry are branding, offering incentives as well as minimizing operational costs with the aim of operating profitably in the industry. For instance, the so called ‘regional couriers’ are increasingly partnering with the small ‘independent’ couriers as partners in augmenting own income. Besides, these service provides are shown to be adopting the strategy of employing poorly experienced pilots and crew members in order to pay them poorly as a strategy of reducing on operating costs and increasing profit margin. Furthermore, these flight providers require the crew to operate long hours and many trips to increase profitability while in the extreme they fail to pay them until a flight is completed. This, on the other hands would be shown to be the main cause of poor performance by the crew as they are forced to ‘cut corners’ in order to rise on individual incomes. This therefore shows that despite the criticism on the movie (that it is scary and would be detrimental to viewers regarding the air travel as a choice for travelling), it is effective in exposing the vices that are propagated in the industry and the need to have them rectified for the welfare of service consumers and the crewmembers.

Recommendations: There is a need to have higher safety standards being observed in the industry in order to improve on the safety of using air for travelling. This paper therefore recommends that commercial flight operators should improve on the working conditions for the pilots and the crew members who are shown to fall victims to poor working conditions and hence the compromised productivity. In order to boost pilot concentration, well-defined flight routines are inevitable as well as improving on the pilot’s payments. Safety standards are also paramount to the welfare of all involved in the industry (the passengers as well as the companies) and hence the need to have predefined safety standards to be observed in the industry and have a regulatory body, which would be responsible of composing and enforcing policies to ensure safety, is observed in the industry. This paper also recommends the adoption of such incentives as improved customer relations, which would improve on customer loyalty especially with the guarantee of safety in travel by air.

Consequences: The above recommendations may all be interpreted as meant to increase the operation costs of the companies operating in the industry. However, the consequence of increased costs would be overcome by improved customer loyalty, which would lead to higher profit margins, and reduced risks in losses as would result from reduced customer loyalty and such crashes by the planes.

In conclusion therefore, this paper presents a summary of the documentary “flying cheap” as written and directed by Young. It is a depiction of the vices often overlooked in the air travel industry. The effects that result are as shown by the 2009 ‘continental connection flight’ crash and the great loss suffered. There is the need to restructure the operations of the industry especially in improving the working conditions of the pilots and the crew to increase on their productivity.

Works cited

Genzlinger, Neil, “Up in the Air, With Frayed Safety Nets” 2010. Web. 10 February 2014 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/arts/television/09cheap.html?_r=0>