Just say 'no' to companies that fail us

It's New Year's Eve Eve and many publications and websites are taking a look back at 2021 while making predictions about 2022. Just as with new year's resolutions, most of the predictions will never happen or certainly never become trends that last. 

But readers love them, partially because of the opportunity to argue with conclusions. Predictions are the extended logic of "cause and effect." If we can correctly predict the effect of whatever cause/event has recently occurred, we can make money or look smart or be prepared. 

Mostly we just foul things up, however, since there are rarely straight lines that connect simple causes and simple effects. 

You might have thought that Jan. 6 would produce some clear effect, perhaps with Americans coming together to set some boundaries to political action and speech -- stopping just before the "violence line," for instance -- but that didn't happen for a giant percentage (though still a minority) of the population.

You might have thought that the availability of vaccines and masks and experience might decrease the reach of the pandemic. You would have been wrong, and not by just a bit. 

Due to the large number of unvaccinated people across the globe, the pandemic will be entering its third year with a roar. I have friends who have been fully vaccinated (i.e. including a booster shot) and who mask up in public come down with uncomfortable Covid cases. None of those friends have been hospitalized, which is one of the predicted effects of being properly vaccinated. 

"Cause and effect" essays are quite common forms of argument since they promise some sort of progress or change. A problem is that it is much easier to work backwards from an effect and find causes that might have been obscured in the past.

I was thinking of the ongoing airline crisis of cancellations and delays and what the causes might be. Finding the causes is important if society hopes to avoid future flying chaos. Lack of transparency and the nation's fragmented health systems mean we may not know for some time just how important airline employee illness and absences have been, as opposed to weather issues (ice in Seattle, as an example). 

Digging a bit deeper leads us to the early days of the pandemic, when most airlines quickly encouraged employees to retire or simply move to another occupation. Airlines were able to get more efficiencies from their employees, with larger planes, fewer (but fuller) flights, and reductions in standby crews in case of emergencies. Executives bragged about how they were fattening profits while reducing staff by 10 percent or more. The federal government propped the airlines up with many millions of dollars in support.

So the true cause of the most recent spate of cancellations might really be simple human greed, and that is certainly one cause that never changes much.

Greed will likely also prompt whatever the fix might be for the problem, since no business enjoys the very bad publicity of not being able to deliver on whatever customers pay for. Customers eventually stop paying.

My family's experience with Alaska Airlines this past week (and continuing through Sunday at least) leads me to vow to never fly that airline in the future. I made a similar vow regarding Frontier some years ago after some similar let downs and disappointments (and horrible customer service). 

I have not noticed any negatives in my traveling life stemming from that decision. 

At some point, I may run out of airlines to boycott, but there's a little satisfaction in the simple act of saying "no" to a company or product.