Traveling in Europe is fun at any time, but doing so by relying completely on your own wits, rather than the boring predictability of planned schedules – there’s something exciting about that. Of course, I was blessed throughout this experience in that I was traveling on business, and hence was the ward of my multinational employer with covered expenses and dedicated travel agents ( albeit ones who refused to pick up the phone). There was also never a pressing emergency that had me desperate to be home, although it has emerged since my return that my wife and I have different definitions of “emergency” - a wailing, inconsolable toddler constitutes an emergency, I now know. Finally, my contact with stranded families aching to be home, or of stranded students running out of money and living off airport cots was sobering, to say the least.
Perhaps most interesting was the dynamic that was in play between the airlines and the governing authorities. At the outset, the public saw the decisive action taken by the EU as reassuring, despite stranded passengers grumbling about the delay - visions of planes with clogged jet engines falling from the sky made sure that few questioned the initial decision. But then something interesting happened. Airlines began to bleed money. As the shutdown stretched from hours to days, it became clear that grounded air traffic was going to lead to a severe financial impact. Airlines began taking “test flights” to check if it was ok to take to the skies, although I found it interesting that none of the test flights took place through the ash clouds themselves, or flew at much lower altitudes than normal. CEOs began exhorting the authorities to open up the skies, that the shutdown was draconian and excessive. There was even talk of bailouts.
And the EU relented. Despite any conclusive evidence that proved it was safe to fly, the Net Present Value swung in favor of letting planes off the ground. Someone will write an interesting analysis on this someday, but you could sense the equation changing on a daily basis.
Day 1: Planes crashing as a result of volcanic ash = no planes allowed to fly.
Day 3: $200 million in daily losses = hmm, is this volcano thing really that bad?
Day 5: Screw the volcano. We need to get s#%* moving again!
Ah economics. What a truly dismal science.
I leave you with a few pictures I was able to snap on my crappy Blackberry camera as I decided to make the most of my stay in Germany and Switzerland:
Chili flavored chocolate? Really, O Swiss people? Have desis so pervaded your society that you feel you need to cater to us?
Oh Munich, I miss you so much.
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