How Air Travel Has Changed Over the Years, For Better or Worse
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your Money Briefing for Thursday, December 30th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. WSJ middle seat columnist Scott McCartney has spent the past two decades writing about the airline industry and taking it to task to help make travel a little less stressful for passengers.
I can tell you airlines really paid attention, and I think it really pressured airlines into improvement. And that's good for travelers.
But all good things must come to an end. On today's show, we'll talk with Scott one last time as he prepares to retire. What's changed and what's stayed the same in the travel industry over the past 20 years? And what does he see as he flies off to the horizon? That's after the break.
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Why is Scott McCartney retiring his 'Middle Seat' column after 20 years?
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WSJ Middle Sea columnist Scott McCartney is a frequent guest on the show discussing the latest trends in air travel or maybe the occasional move by airlines that's aggravating passengers. Today, as he gets ready to retire, Scott joins us with a look back at the past 20 years and how his column and passengers have changed at 30,000 feet. Scott, thanks so much for being with us.
Great to be with you, J.R.
So, Scott, take us back 20 years. Why did you decide to write the Middle Sea column?
You know, it was the early days of WSJ.com, and we were the only newspaper that was asking readers to pay extra for online coverage. And we wanted to offer something more because they were paying an added fee for that. So I was asked to write about things that weren't going to get into the paper and maybe riff on some trends and problems and things like that and air travel. And so we thought, well, let's brand it. Let's put a name on it. And I suggested about 50 different names and then said if we really wanted to have fun with it, we'd call it the middle seat. And everybody said, that's it. And it just started as kind of an extra notes column.
And clearly the name stuck. So you started the middle C column in January of 2002 as the airline industry was recovering from 9-11. Now you're getting ready to retire as the industry is getting back on its feet after being in the grips of the pandemic. Any similarities between those two time periods?
Yeah, I think there are a lot of similarities, and it really is kind of bookends, if you will. The financial shocks of 9-11 had fallout for a number of years. Airlines took on a lot of debt and made it harder to invest in improvements, new aircraft, updating facilities, things like that. And I think we're going to see some of the same thing because, once again, airlines have had to take on a lot of debt. I think another similarity is that, you know, after 9-11, employees were very fearful. Travelers were very fearful. Was there going to be another attack? You know, were we prepared? Were we doing enough to protect ourselves? I think for a lot of people, it's different. But there is fear of travel as a way of exposing yourself to a potentially deadly virus.
And so in both cases, I think the industry had to do things to get people comfortable again with traveling.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:38
2
Why is Scott McCartney retiring his 'Middle Seat' column after 20 years?
1:38–9:14
3
How did the Middle Seat column start and what was its original purpose?
9:14–13:05
4
What similarities does Scott see between post‑9/11 and post‑pandemic airline recovery?
13:05–13:32
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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