Game Update

Here's a bit of an update on that airline management simulation I'm participating against 350 competitors...

I've played it for almost ten days now in real time. The game time (25 real time minutes per game day) runs from June 1992 to June 2005, and right now it's December 1994. My airline, Mercy Airlines, was a relative latecomer, being founded in May 1993, but between my good decisions and some luck, Mercy is doing extremely well.

I had entered 1994 with 9 mostly junk planes, but now I have a nice fleet of 30 mostly new planes, with another 12 or so on order; newer planes cost less to run, so I'm saving a bundle. My tactic of filling in my competitors' gaps paid off very well, and I have monopolies on many routes, enhancing my profits. With the profits I now have, I am able to buy more new and nearly-new planes to expand my empire farther; now, Mercy planes go as far as Orlando, over 7,000 miles away from my Seoul Incheon hub.

And most importantly, Sarah will love the fact that I am paying my staff very well. The HR department listens to the unions, automatically overhires staff by 6%, and gives them frequent pay raises. And the good thing is that due to my good management and luck, I can actually afford this. My staff is running at 100% morale and 103% efficiency; combined with my newer planes, this gives Mercy a better public image and allows me to charge higher fares than badly run competitors.

I'm even fortunate in that I was invited to join an airline alliance - the best one, in fact. In this game, alliances boost my passenger volume by 5% or so, while costing me 0.8% of my ticket revenues. My alliance has many well-funded, friendly large members, and it works well as a team to dominate various routes and drive out competing alliances. Having the support of a good alliance is boosting Mercy even more.

I'm glad that I've been getting a good look at this simplified version of the airline economics. I now see what makes a great airline great - and what makes many airlines, including formerly great ones, falter under cut-rate leadership. Sarah's airline, United, certainly falls into the latter category, as it once was an innovator but now is so battered that it hasn't bought a new plane in years. Sure, as long as Sarah puts on a good face, United will continue to fly, but there is only a limit as to how long Sarah can tolerate worsening working conditions and cut-rate management.

I'll continue to observe the industry in the game, as I continue into the game and grow Mercy even more. (Currently, I am ordering two Boeing 767s every month - which will allow me to start really flying those high-profit routes to Europe, Australia, and the Americas, but there is a 2 1/2-year wait for delivery.) And hopefully with a better understanding of the airline economics, I can give Sarah, and her stint at United, a more realistic flavor.

Unfortunately, the game is so addictive that I am running out of time to write! I still need to work on my dinner interviews with Sarah and Kirsten, one in Hong Kong and one in Los Angeles...

A look into the psychology of Sarah's industry

Somehow, I recently came across a new online Web-based multiplayer game, in which I get to start and run an airline for a number of years, and see how well I do against the competition (or whether I even survive at all).

Airwaysim.com

I signed up, if only to get to know the workings of the airline industry better, and get a better feel for the economic environment that keeps Sarah employed. I need to ensure that my flight attendants (and many other employees, both visible and invisible) are ample in number and well-paid, so that they can do the best they can. I also need to make sure that I get good (read: newer and efficient) airplanes and keep them flying as much as possible. I need to pamper my customers so that the customers will continue to fly my planes and give me income.

With this enhanced understanding of the industry, I can get a more critical look at what made Sarah's employer, United Airlines, rise to prominence in the 20th century, and get clobbered with financial difficulties in more recent years. I make sure to remember United's mistakes and not repeat them in my own game. In the game world, I can only fly passengers, but passenger demand stays healthy and fuel prices stay reasonable, so it all comes down to my own management style.

The game has other limitations, including the ability to have only one hub. It needs to be a large city/airport (lots of demand) but not too large (too much competition); my airline is based at Seoul Incheon, where I have only one badly run competitor and I also have access to many short and lucrative Chinese and Japanese routes. I'm still only 4 months of game time (one day in game time is 25 minutes of real life) into my airline, so my network isn't all that extensive (my longest run only goes to Manila), and my emphasis now is having a reputation and a network that give me solid income. Then I can worry about flying 777s across the oceans. Too many long-hauls (read: high-maintenance jumbo jets) early on, without stable income from regional routes, can kill me very early; even the venerable Pan Am died that way.

Of course, I am keeping the spirit of my (and Sarah's) transgender matron saint in the game. My username is Gwaneum, the Korean pronunciation of Kwan Yin, and my airline is named Mercy Airlines. Looking forward to having Mercy aircraft blanket the world with the spirit of Kwan Yin.

On the road again

Gwaneum One and I are doing fine - I am logging on from Las Vegas, after a great Christmas in San Francisco. Although the crummy parking structure at Imperial Palace, and the moronic Chrysler drivers, caused me to back into a trash bin (and give Gwaneum One a few rear bumper scratches), I am still quite glad to be driving around in something more conscionable than a BMW.

In order to come to Vegas, however, I ended up buying an airline carry-on size suitcase first, as my existing Travelpro one has been falling apart (so much so, that it hasn't been on an airplane in years). I went to a local Costco to pick up a store brand (Kirkland) example. As I waited in line, a lady in navy blue started remarking about it - how great the Kirkland is (she has one herself), how bad the Travelpros have become, etc. She had to drift off to talk about shifts to Seoul and Shanghai on her cell phone - then I spotted a "crew" badge under her coat. As it turned out, she was a United flight attendant - Sarah's coworker!

I thanked her for the luggage tips, and while I did not mention Sarah, I did mention that I am now a Premier. She was very happy to hear about it - and gave me a hi-five. And I was also glad that this flight attendant was putting a good face for her employer - something that will benefit Sarah as well. I know I can't maintain a good face on behalf of anybody - which is precisely why I am not working as a flight attendant (or any other customer service position). A smile and a frown may be all the difference there may be between me taking United for my next air trip, and taking a competitor. And I surely want to fly United next time - if only to claim my 25% Premier mileage bonus!

And just before we went our separate ways, we briefly talked about Seoul's Incheon Airport as well. I mentioned that flying into and out of Incheon is what brought me to Premier, and she said she loved Incheon. Glad to be able to think about, and discuss, my favorite airport and my favorite airline. I'll make sure to have Sarah put some more time in on that route too!