Amazon.co.uk Review
In
Why I Hate Flying Henry Mintzberg, professor at renowned business college INSEAD, lifts the lid on the management thinking behind the word "looping"--management-speak for the air stewards who insist on regularly disturbing their weary passengers for meals, duty free shopping, films and hot towels. Most seasoned travellers are all too familiar with the downsides of air travel--despotic check-in agents, optimistic flight departure times, dried-out food and various other trials and tribulations. What you probably never suspected is that all of these experiences are the result of a carefully thought out management theory. If you don't laugh at Mintzberg's painfully accurate description of airline food, you're either dead or you make airline food for a living. From the ludicrously pretentious menus to impossibility of eating without the benefit of elbow-room, it's all here. The same goes for the painfully funny explanation of why airline loyalty points are actually a highly efficient scam, whereby passengers pay through the nose for the dubious privilege of being upgraded from sardine class to fully-fleeced premium class.
Much of the author's scorn for the entire airline industry comes from the fact that it seems to succeed by flying in the face of management theory. He is at pains to explain how the world's airlines and airports have policies on marketing, globalisation, research, communication and efficiency and still manage to deliver some of the worst customer service in the world.
Why I Hate Flying is a timely reminder that computerised service points and sophisticated booking programmes are no match for taking care of the customer and knowing what they want. But that's missing the point of the book--it's really for all of those who recognise our own misery and want to learn how to laugh about it. --Sally Whittle
Review
Alison Eadie, The Daily Telegraph, March 29, 2001 "He should write more books like this...Coming next from the same author is Why I Hate Refilling the Stapler. I am ordering my copy now." Harvard Management Update, June, 2001 Mixing spleen with mordant wit, Mintzberg uses the air-line industry as an object lesson in management gone catastrophically awry. Harvard Management Update, June, 2001 Mintzberg's book also serves as a cautionary tale about separating the abstractions of management from the everyday reality. Globe and Mail, April 28, 2001 A lot of travellers will find themselves nodding in agreement as they read this small gem of a book. Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2001 This book should resonate with businesspeople and other frequent flyers grumbling about the inconveniences of air travel. Insider Business Journal, June 22, 2001 This little book, is indeed the perfect airplane read, for obvious reasons.
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