Ethical Dimensions of the Charter

Ethical Dimensions of the Charter Airline Industry If one watches ads on television for charter vacations, one might get the idea that such jaunts are pure enjoyment, something undertaken without much thought and for relatively little cost -- either monetarily or in any other way. However, this is not the case.

All vacation embed complex values and attitudes, reflecting an individual's sense of self, their relative power in the world, their ideas about how they are connected to (or disconnected from) other people in the world, and how their outward behavior both reflects and shapes their inner goals and desires. Of course, most people trying to find the cheapest airfare to Spain are probably not thinking about this, or, if they are, they are unlikely to admit to doing so.

but, nonetheless, all of these elements of human behavior and belief lie at the center of the tourist experience and the tourist business. This being so, companies in this sector must act in highly ethical ways. This is not to imply that companies in other lines of work should not also act as ethically as possible, for of course all companies should maintain the highest standards of practice. However, the tourism industry is an industry that is dealing in a far-more-than-business-as-usual direct way with the very stuff of people's dreams.

This requires a very high level indeed of ethical behavior. This paper examines how well charter airline companies meet the ethical challenges of this industry sector -- and in what ways they tend to fail. Charter airlines are simply airlines that operate outside of regularly scheduled flights and so encompass quite a wide range of possible experiences.

A chartered flight might include a group of missionaries traveling from London to Nigeria, a group of diplomats traveling from London to Nigeria, or a group of students traveling from London to Nigeria -- or any three of these traveling from Nigeria to London.

However, while there are a range of possible types of flights and travel that can be classified as charter air travel, in general the term refers to relatively cheaper forms of travel that, in exchange for lower fares, require passengers to accept conditions that they might not otherwise accept. These conditions, on a very basic level, include aspects of travel such as leaving from less-convenient airports or at less-convenient times in smaller planes with fewer amenities.

These seem to be relatively straightforward compromises that an individual would make for a vacation, so straightforward in fact that there is no point in even examining them. but, as with everything in the travel industry, there are numerous levels of emotional, ethical, and psychological concerns even with such relatively straightforward conditions. The first of these is precisely the key condition that is most determinative of charter airlines as an industry: The relatively cheap price.

There is a substantial division between individuals who seek travel at the cheapest reasonable price and those who would never consider the possibility of compromising comfort for price. The difference between these two groups is an economic one, certainly, but in this case the economic aspects can be seen as being proxies for political and personal power, providing a more interesting way in which to analyze this sector of the tourism industry.

Two Types of Ethical Concerns Being rich may mean never having to say that one is sorry in general, but when traveling, being rich means having a wide range of choices of precisely the type that charter airlines tend to take away. In general, businesses can run very efficiently when they have a limited number of options that they have to provide for their customers.

(a perfect example of this is, of course, the fast-food franchise.) a company that tries to do only a few things can afford to focus on making its limited processes as efficient and therefore as cheap as possible. An airline that only departs from a few airports can have a much more streamlined process than a company that tries to be all things to all people, with attendant cost savings.

But, of course, there are also attendant savings in terms of the comforts that are offered, and it is in this aspect of the charter airline services that ethical questions arise. These can be divided into two different types of questions.

The first are relatively easily dispatched with and can be summarized as essentially contractual in nature: Does the company give to customers what it promises and what they believe themselves to have paid for? In other words, if a charter airline company sells tickets to passages positing that they will have seats on a flight from Airport X to Airport Y at 9:30 on the 15th and they fail to provide enough seats for all of the people who have bought tickets, then this is a clear ethical failing on the part of the company.

However, while such a failing would be inconvenient at the very least to the individuals who find themselves without a seat to their desired destination, this can be considered to be a relatively minor lapse in terms of ethics. Most airlines routinely overbook, after all, because inevitably some passengers will fail to turn up, and overbooking is an economic and business decision designed to minimize lost revenue. There are, however, much more important and fundamental ethical questions that arise in the charter airline industry.

Many of these are common to all or to nearly all sectors of the tourism industry; however, this fact does not lessen their importance within this specific corner of the industry. Among these are the fact that tourism, like all forms of capitalism (and indeed arguably like all forms of human activity) consumes resources and creates waste.

Arguably tourism tends to be less discriminate than other categories of business in using (and in over-using) resources and creating waste because much of the appeal of tourism for the consumer is the sense that the ordinary rules that govern their daily lives, such as being thrifty both with their personal resources and those of our planet, are in abeyance (Holden, 2005).

Thus arguably tourism has an oversized footprint, a greater impact on the environment both socially and physically than other industries that meet the demands of the same number of even more people. As Holden (2005:186), notes: "It is subsequently possible to view the application of ethics to tourism as a continuation of impact studies, concerned with "what ought to be," in place of "what is." While there is no standard code of conduct for all tourist industries, of course, there are suggested guidelines such as the following.

Not all of these particulars apply to charter airlines per se, although given that charter airline companies may well either also run local tour groups or be closely associated (even to the degree of nepotism) with local tour groups and businesses all of these may apply at times. Personal appearance and grooming are far from trivial and so should be a core concern. This includes all members of a charter airline company, because such care makes clear to those in the destination country that the company respects them.

Such behaviour can also encourage the tourists to show respect for the "locals." Everyone including both passengers and anyone with whom the staff interacts at the destination location should be treated with equal respect. This requires all staff to perform in an ethical manner in all aspects of their interactions with any member of the public. The staff should answer all questions courteously and accurately.

This touches on the ways in which the company fulfils its contractual obligations to its customers as well as to any other individuals who interact with the company. Also, the company should take care not to give out misleading or untrue information. Charter airline staff members must strive to create a professional relationship with the tourists, who are there to have their needs met.

Tourism is a business even more than others that requires the consumers to be allowed to overlook the work that is required to allow them to have a good time. Charter airlines staff must be able to make the whole process look natural and easy and not let the effort show to their consumers and customers. Make sure that any recommendations that the staff makes have been thoroughly vetted.

This applies to charter airline companies when they contract with or own local businesses that they give their imprimateur to and so lull their customers' doubts or questions in to submission. Warn passengers about dangerous or simply unsavoury areas that they should take caution in visiting. Charter airline companies must make sure that they do everything possible to keep their passengers physically an legally safe not only by avoiding dangerous situations but by explicitly helping them to recognize and steer clear of such situations on their own.

Do not force passengers to stop at businesses that are providing a kick-back to the carter airline company. This can include selling various items in the coach of the plane -- the ultimate captive audience. Emphasize the importance of courtesy, organization, and calmness to all staff members. These qualities on the part of the staff can reinforce the importance of generally good and ethical behaviour to the tourists, which may then carry over to their behaviour in the destination country.

Maintain a neutral stance on the culture of the destination country or countries. Making clear that all cultures have equal value and that ethical behaviour must be expected of all visitors. It must also be clear through explicit instructions and by example that tourists often have greater power than the people they are visiting and so must act with respect and restraint. Obey the laws, regulations, customs, and traditions of both departure and destination countries. This is clearly linked to the above. (Fennell: 2006; Fennell & Malloy: 2007).

Charter airline companies are private corporations, which ensures that those who own them (either directly or indirectly through stocks) are interested in maximizing profits. While of course it is possible for a company to be both ethical and profitable, it tends to be in the nature of for-profit entities that the profit aspect of them tends to overshadow everything else (Hall and Brown, 2006:15 adapted from McKercher, 1993:7).

In practical terms this means that when a choice can be made between increasing profits in the short-term or making ethical decisions for the long-term, the former tends to win out. While there are certainly any number of large corporations that have (and no doubt continue) acted in spectacularly unethical ways, there is substantial room for unethical behavior in the kinds of smaller companies that run charter airline services because there tends to be less oversight.

Moreover, as introduced above, there can be additional pressure on the owners and managers of charter airline companies to cut corners ethically to help compensate for the compromises that such services require (Krippendorf, 1987). The Ethics of Thrift A passenger who is flying first class on a large international airline is generally in a very comfortable situation, with good food, good service, and even relatively good sleeping opportunities.

If such a passenger is told that his or her ticket is going to be increased by a certain amount to help increase the fuel efficiency of the plane, or the salaries of local mechanics where the plane is serviced, that person is unlikely to object in any extravagant way. Indeed, he or she may be pleased that they are able to combine personal comfort with ethical behavior. Most humans are happy to combine personal pleasure with ethical behavior when this combination is available.

The difficulties only arise when a choice has to be made between one and the other (Smith, 2001). The choice becomes even more difficult when the options are degraded. A passenger who has every need and desire being met is unlikely to begrudge a little of this largesse rubbing off to benefit others.

However, a passenger who has to pay for her own peanuts, has no room for his camera bag, and must take three shuttles after landing to get from the out-of-the-way airport served by the charter airline to her hotel is much less likely to feel charitable and so much less likely to reward a company that acts ethically. Various models of tourism (as well as common experience) indicate that there are different basic typologies of tourism in terms of both intention and experience.

While what we might call amateur tourists tend to make safe choices, going on package tours with people who are like themselves, and then shifting to a modality of tourism in which they seek out increasingly "authentic" experiences. These latter types tend to have deeper and potentially more harmful to local environments. Charter airline companies can be associated with both types of tourism. Each type has different ethical questions associated with it.

Not only do travelers who are feeling exploited by a company tend to be less charitable towards others, they are also likely to be drawn from a rather different demographic pool to begin with, which also poses ethical questions for the charter airline industry.

The following provides a summation of some of the economic challenges faced by charter airlines that affect the ethical choices that they make or may make: Competitive nature of the industry -- which tends to me more beneficial to well-established companies rather than newer ones, which can work to the disadvantage of charter airline companies, which are newer in general than larger companies. Any structural set of disadvantages against an entire industry or segment of an industry (such as this segment of the tourism industry) tends to encourage unethical behaviour.

Companies that feel that they are not playing on a level playing ground may well feel themselves to be less obligated to follow ethical codes of conduct. Domination of big transnational corporations -- this is the same dynamic as above, with the additional of the fact that larger companies tend to have advantages over smaller ones (e.g. charter airline companies) when dealing with international legalities and protocols, in part because it is.