上海專業(yè)翻譯公司
立即在線咨詢
歡迎資深譯員加項(xiàng)目QQ
JS導(dǎo)航效果
|
|
|
科技不僅沒(méi)有讓航空業(yè)變好 還推動(dòng)它墮落
發(fā)起人:eging4  回復(fù)數(shù):1  瀏覽數(shù):7362  最后更新:2022/9/28 20:53:56 by nihaota

發(fā)表新帖  帖子排序:
2017/4/14 12:01:50
eging4





角  色:管理員
發(fā) 帖 數(shù):2103
注冊(cè)時(shí)間:2016/9/5
科技不僅沒(méi)有讓航空業(yè)變好 還推動(dòng)它墮落
There are many reasons for the sorry state of commercial aviation in America. When it comes to your routinely terrible flight — not to mention the sort of exceptional horror that took place aboard United Airlines Flight 3411 this past weekend — regulatory failures as well as consolidation, which the authorities have allowed to occur unabated for decades, can be blamed.



美國(guó)商業(yè)航空公司的糟糕狀況有很多原因。你經(jīng)常遇到的糟糕飛行體驗(yàn)——更不必說(shuō)過(guò)去這個(gè)周末美國(guó)聯(lián)合航空公司(United Airlines)3411號(hào)航班上發(fā)生的那種格外可怕的事件——可以歸咎于監(jiān)管不力,以及過(guò)去幾十年里當(dāng)局允許類似事件的持續(xù)發(fā)生。

But I come to you as a technology columnist to tell you that technology, too, has failed you.

但是,作為技術(shù)專欄作家,我要對(duì)你說(shuō)的是,技術(shù)也是一個(gè)誘因。

People in Silicon Valley pride themselves on their capacity to upend entrenched industries. Uber defeated taxi cartels. Airbnb made getting a room cheaper and more accessible. Streaming services are undoing the cable business. Yet the airline industry has not just stubbornly resisted innovation to improve customer service — in many ways, technology has only fueled the industry’s race to the bottom.

硅谷的人們?yōu)樽约侯嵏哺畹俟痰男袠I(yè)的能力感到自豪。Uber擊敗了出租車壟斷聯(lián)盟。Airbnb能讓人們更方便地獲得更便宜的客房。流媒體服務(wù)正在取代有線電視業(yè)務(wù)。而航空業(yè)不但堅(jiān)決抵制改善客戶服務(wù)的創(chuàng)新,技術(shù)還在很多方面推動(dòng)著這個(gè)行業(yè)繼續(xù)墮落。

Everything about United Flight 3411 — overselling, underpaying for seats when they are oversold, a cultish refusal to offer immediate contrition, an overall attitude that brutish capitalism is the best that nonelite customers can expect from this fallen world — is baked into the airline industry’s business model. And that business model has been accelerated by tech.

關(guān)于美聯(lián)航3411號(hào)航班事件的一切——超售;為超售付出的代價(jià)過(guò)低;狂妄地拒絕在第一時(shí)間表達(dá)悔意;從根本上認(rèn)為野蠻資本主義已是非精英客戶在這墮落世界能得到的最佳待遇——已經(jīng)滲入航空業(yè)的業(yè)務(wù)模式。而且這種商業(yè)模式得到了技術(shù)的推動(dòng)。

Travel search engines rank airlines based on price rather than friendliness or quality of service. Online check-in, airport kiosks and apps allow airlines to serve customers with fewer and fewer workers. What we are witnessing is the basest, ugliest form of tech-abetted, bottom-seeking capitalism — one concerned with prices and profits above all else, with little regard for quality of service, for friendliness, or even for the dignity of customers.

旅行搜索引擎根據(jù)價(jià)格而非友好程度或服務(wù)質(zhì)量對(duì)航空公司進(jìn)行評(píng)級(jí)。在線值機(jī)、機(jī)場(chǎng)自助值機(jī)臺(tái)和應(yīng)用程序可以讓航空公司用更少的員工為客戶提供服務(wù)。我們目睹的是最基本、最丑陋的以技術(shù)為支持、追求利潤(rùn)的資本主義形式——對(duì)價(jià)格和利潤(rùn)的關(guān)心高于其他一切,幾乎不考慮服務(wù)質(zhì)量或友善程度,甚至不考慮客戶的尊嚴(yán)。

“The airline industry has been on a steady downward trajectory when it comes to customer service for nearly 40 years,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group, a travel industry research firm. He noted that American carriers were improving on some metrics — on-time service is up, baggage loss is down and prices keep getting better.

“近40年來(lái),航空業(yè)在客戶服務(wù)方面處于持續(xù)下滑的軌道,”旅游業(yè)研究公司大氣研究集團(tuán)(Atmosphere Research Group)總裁亨利·H·哈特韋爾茲(Henry H. Harteveldt)說(shuō)。他指出,美國(guó)航空公司在某些方面有所改進(jìn)——準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)率提高,行李遺失率降低,價(jià)格持續(xù)下降。

What keeps deteriorating are comfort and quality of service for low-end passengers (i.e., most people). Legroom keeps shrinking. Airlines keep tacking on separate fees for amenities we used to consider part of the flight. And customers keep going along with it.

不斷惡化的是低端乘客(即大多數(shù)人)的舒適程度和獲得的服務(wù)質(zhì)量。伸腿空間不斷縮小。航空公司不斷為我們以往認(rèn)為屬于航班一部分的設(shè)施單獨(dú)收費(fèi)。客戶們不斷容忍。

“Consumers have shown that they’re willing to put up with an awful lot, including lack of legroom, lack of amenities, mediocre or worse customer service, dirty airplanes and more to save money,” Harteveldt said. “And the airline industry has evolved to meet that desire” for cheap fares.

哈特韋爾茲稱,“消費(fèi)者表明,為了省錢(qián),他們?cè)敢馊淌芎芏嗍虑?,包括伸腿空間缺乏,設(shè)施缺乏,中等或更差的客戶服務(wù),骯臟的飛機(jī)等”,“航空業(yè)已經(jīng)在為滿足追求”便宜票價(jià)“的欲望而演變”。

Part of the problem is how we buy tickets today. The whole system is mercilessly transactional. When you search online, you look for price and travel times, and perhaps you consider some airline loyalty program. Customer service — that is, how the airline treats you — isn’t often part of the transaction.

一個(gè)問(wèn)題是如今我們購(gòu)買(mǎi)機(jī)票的方式。整個(gè)系統(tǒng)是無(wú)情的交易。你在線搜索時(shí)關(guān)注的是價(jià)格和旅行時(shí)間,你也許會(huì)考慮某些航空公司的會(huì)員計(jì)劃。客戶服務(wù)——也就是航空公司對(duì)待你的方式——通常不是交易的一部分。

As a result, airlines have little incentive to reform themselves.

因此,航空公司幾乎沒(méi)有改革的動(dòng)力。

“Airline executives will tell you they don’t view themselves as being service companies,” Harteveldt said. “They want Wall Street to view them as industrial companies, and they want consumers to view them as transportation providers. Customer service is just not what the airlines are about.”

“航空公司高管會(huì)對(duì)你說(shuō),他們不認(rèn)為自己是服務(wù)公司,”哈特韋爾茲說(shuō),“他們希望被華爾街視為工業(yè)公司,被消費(fèi)者視為運(yùn)輸提供商。他們認(rèn)為客戶服務(wù)跟航空公司無(wú)關(guān)?!?/font>

Can technology improve how airlines work? Some people have ideas for how that may happen.

技術(shù)能改進(jìn)航空公司的運(yùn)作方式嗎?有些人對(duì)可能的實(shí)現(xiàn)方式有一些想法。

One of them is obvious and sensible: customer reviews. Last year TripAdvisor, the travel reviews site that has become indispensable for hotel bookings, began rating airlines. Its new rankings, released this week, show that overall, airlines get an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 from customers.

其中一個(gè)方式是顯而易見(jiàn)而合乎情理的:客戶評(píng)論。去年,旅行點(diǎn)評(píng)網(wǎng)站TripAdvisor——對(duì)酒店預(yù)訂來(lái)說(shuō),它是不可或缺的——開(kāi)始邀請(qǐng)用戶點(diǎn)評(píng)航空公司。它本周發(fā)布的最新排名顯示,總體而言,客戶們給航空公司的平均評(píng)分為3.7分(總分5分)。

Emirates and Singapore Airlines are rated the best in the world; two U.S. airlines, JetBlue and Alaska, made TripAdvisor’s Top 10 list. But Delta was the only major U.S. airline to receive TripAdvisor’s seal of approval. United and American Airlines did not meet the site’s minimum threshold, though Bryan Saltzburg, senior vice president for TripAdvisor’s global flight business, said that the two had been improving.

阿聯(lián)酋航空和新加坡航空被評(píng)為世界上最好的航空公司;兩家美國(guó)航空公司捷藍(lán)航空(JetBlue)和阿拉斯加航空躋身TripAdvisor的前10名榜單。不過(guò),達(dá)美航空(Delta)是唯一獲得TripAdvisor認(rèn)可的大型美國(guó)航空公司。美聯(lián)航和美國(guó)航空公司(American Airlines)沒(méi)有達(dá)到該網(wǎng)站的最低門(mén)檻,不過(guò)TripAdvisor的全球飛行業(yè)務(wù)高級(jí)副總裁布賴恩·薩爾茨伯格(Bryan Saltzburg)表示,這兩家航空公司都在改善。

One can imagine how such reviews could prompt improvements in airlines. If instead of just price, travel search engines included prominent warnings from reviewers — “This airline might give you a bloody lip while kicking you from your seat, 1-star!” — that could alter travelers’ calculations in booking.

你可以想像這樣的評(píng)論可能會(huì)如何促使航空公司做出改進(jìn)。如果旅行搜索引擎不只包括價(jià)格,還包括顯眼的乘客警告——“這家航空公司可能會(huì)把你從座位上趕走,還把你的嘴唇打流血,1星!”——這可能會(huì)改變旅客預(yù)訂時(shí)的盤(pán)算。

“That would be a good idea — a filter on travel search that says, ‘Click this filter and it might cost you a few dollars more, but we’ll bias you toward airlines that treat their customers well,'” said Paul English, co-founder of the travel search company Kayak who now runs another travel startup, Lola.

“這將是一個(gè)好主意——在旅行搜索引擎上加一個(gè)過(guò)濾器,它會(huì)提醒說(shuō):‘點(diǎn)擊此過(guò)濾器,它可能會(huì)讓你多花幾塊錢(qián),但它會(huì)把你引向?qū)蛻粲押玫暮娇展?,’”旅行搜索公司Kayak的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人保羅·英格利希(Paul English)說(shuō)。他現(xiàn)在在經(jīng)營(yíng)另一家旅行初創(chuàng)公司Lola。




That is small potatoes, though. A bigger disruption would come from altering how we pay for airfares. In the same way that Netflix changed the DVD business by charging a monthly fee, some consultants argue that a membership fee could radically improve flying.



不過(guò)那只是小打小鬧。更大的調(diào)整將來(lái)自改變我們支付機(jī)票費(fèi)用的方式。與Netflix以收取月費(fèi)的方式改變DVD行業(yè)一樣,有些顧問(wèn)認(rèn)為,會(huì)員費(fèi)可以從根本上改善飛行體驗(yàn)。

“We’ve prototyped a subscription airline in the past, and it basically gets the airline out of the business of reducing service for offering the lowest fares,” said Devin Liddell, principal brand strategist for Teague, a design firm that works with Boeing and other transportation companies.

“過(guò)去,我們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)過(guò)一個(gè)會(huì)費(fèi)航空公司的模型,它基本上能讓航空公司擺脫為提供最低票價(jià)而減少服務(wù)的做法,”與波音(Boeing)等運(yùn)輸公司合作的設(shè)計(jì)公司Teague的首席品牌策略師德溫·利德?tīng)?Devin Liddell)說(shuō)。

Some startups have tried a monthly subscription model, and none have taken off. But airline startups face high capital costs; a new business model might work, Liddell said, if an established airline tries it as a way to break free from the accepted way of doing things.

有些初創(chuàng)公司嘗試過(guò)會(huì)費(fèi)模式,但都沒(méi)有壯大起來(lái)。不過(guò)初創(chuàng)航空公司面臨高昂的資金成本。利德?tīng)柋硎?,如果成熟航空公司嘗試這種新的商業(yè)模式,以擺脫以往的運(yùn)作方式,它有可能會(huì)成功。

Your only technological hope for better service is your smartphone camera and the viral push of social networks. If you are violently kicked off your flight, at least your fellow passengers will post a video to Facebook.

你想獲得更好服務(wù)的唯一技術(shù)希望,是你的智能手機(jī)攝像頭和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)的瘋狂轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)。如果你被粗暴地趕下飛機(jī),至少你的同行乘客會(huì)拍個(gè)視頻,發(fā)布到Facebook上。

2022/9/28 20:53:58
nihaota





角  色:普通會(huì)員
發(fā) 帖 數(shù):10863
注冊(cè)時(shí)間:2022/3/19
用戶在線信息
當(dāng)前查看此主題的會(huì)員: 1 人。其中注冊(cè)用戶 0 人,訪客 1 人。


譯境翻譯公司BBS|上海翻譯論壇|同聲傳譯交流論壇|自由譯員社區(qū)|外籍母語(yǔ)翻譯交流|尋找上海翻譯工作|兼職翻譯招聘|筆譯口譯項(xiàng)目發(fā)布| 上海翻譯資源| 小語(yǔ)種翻譯資源| 證件翻譯資源| 留學(xué)文書(shū)翻譯模板| 翻譯語(yǔ)料術(shù)語(yǔ)庫(kù)| CAT翻譯軟件|Trados技術(shù)交流 英語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯群 德語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯群 法語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯群 俄語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯交流群 日語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯交流 阿拉伯語(yǔ)高級(jí)翻譯群 翻譯公司網(wǎng)絡(luò)營(yíng)銷合作