A chara, – Aer Lingus’s current advertisement, with a stewardess affectionately adjusting a passenger’s blanket, suggests that the difference between Aer Lingus and other airlines is the extra level of care given by staff. I think they are right. When my flight home for Christmas was diverted because of the snow, I felt an implicit trust in the airline and its staff to look after me. When I travel, I go with Aer Lingus wherever possible, even if rivals offer lower fares. Aer Lingus staff have a sense of connection to the company, a sense of loyalty to the brand and to its customers.
But loyalty has to work two ways. You cannot demand extra from workers while paring away the quality of their lives. Half an hour to sit down and eat a sandwich between long flights does not seem like an extraordinary request for any worker.
If you offer workers the bare minimum, you can expect only the bare minimum in return. The two-way system of loyalty between the airline and its staff has worked well up to now. If management squanders it, as it appears it wants to do, then Aer Lingus will be just like any other money-grabbing airline with which one can feel no particular connection or loyalty.
A pity for all of us, and for Aer Lingus first of all. – Is mise,