Freakonomics Radio XX
[0] Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner, breaking in to your Freakonomics Radio feed with a special request for your help.
[1] Let me explain.
[2] Whoa.
[3] So there is a suitcase on the road.
[4] What do you have there?
[5] All right, we'll give you a little bit of adventure here.
[6] That's me and Matt Sparks, a senior VP with Delta Airlines.
[7] Matt was driving us across the absolutely massive tarmac at the Atlanta airport when we came upon that suitcase in the middle.
[8] of the road.
[9] It had apparently fallen off a luggage cart.
[10] Matt got right on it.
[11] Hey, Phil.
[12] It's going to Salt Lake City at 5 .56, so it's got about three hours to connect.
[13] Will you grab it?
[14] I can grab it.
[15] Thank you, sir.
[16] All right, so listen, I'm glad you picked up the bag, but it makes me a little nervous that there was just a suitcase sitting in the middle there.
[17] Well, it makes me nervous, too.
[18] That's obviously not the way you want to see the process.
[19] The suitcase plainly didn't belong on the tarmac.
[20] What about us?
[21] What were we doing?
[22] there.
[23] I'll tell you, we are working on a Freakonomics Radio series about airline travel.
[24] We've been talking with a lot of people from the industry.
[25] I'm the CEO of Delta Airlines.
[26] I'm a professor and the UPS chair of transportation at the University of Pennsylvania.
[27] And one of my real specialties is air transportation.
[28] We just transformed travel in Brazil.
[29] We fly almost 100 ,000 people every single day.
[30] Just to push that single plane back, there's about 1 ,200 things that have to happen sequentially.
[31] We've been talking to these folks because we are trying to answer a relatively simple question.
[32] Why does everyone love to hate airline travel?
[33] There are, to be sure, some legitimate reasons.
[34] Airlines struggling to bounce back from a holiday weekend riddled with thousands of flight disruptions.
[35] After months of chaos at London's busiest airport, Heathrow has taken in the extraordinary measure of asking airlines to stop selling tickets.
[36] Things were especially chaotic this summer.
[37] That's when the traveling public decided that COVID was over, and they had to go.
[38] They didn't care where they were going.
[39] They didn't care what price they were going.
[40] They were just going someplace.
[41] But if you take a step back and think about how safe airline travel has become, how relatively cheap it is, and what it actually provides, it starts to look something like a miracle.
[42] Aviation is such a powerful force in our lives, experiencing other cultures, traveling to see family.
[43] There's so much power.
[44] So we've been trying to figure out how all this happens, especially what goes on behind the scenes.
[45] We did some safety training.
[46] Come this way, leave everything, jump and slide.
[47] And you're going to put your hands out right in front of you.
[48] I'm jumping from here.
[49] I stand there.
[50] You jump from here, arm straight ahead.
[51] There you go.
[52] Nice.
[53] Nicely done.
[54] We also learned how to communicate with pilots.
[55] So in this case, you check, make sure the gates is open and you give him instructions.
[56] Break out 3535 -LGBRAMP, enter lane 2 to gate 12.
[57] And we spent some time at a New York City airport that just had a much -needed makeover.
[58] So this is kind of before and after.
[59] These are actual tweets and headlines.
[60] Read that one for me. Remember when at Joe Biden called at LaGreter Airport a third world country?
[61] Well, it still is.
[62] We got to go through some of those unmarked doors you see in airports.
[63] So you're going to see something that no other passengers or customers are ever going to get to see.
[64] But that wasn't a great idea.
[65] Along the way, we've learned a lot about air travel.
[66] But there's one big thing missing from our story.
[67] You, the passenger.
[68] So today we're asking for your help.
[69] We're looking for a few people to record some voice diaries of their air travel over the next few weeks.
[70] If you like the idea of being a radio reporter, documenting and describing every stage of your journey, you may be one of the people we are looking for.
[71] The first step is to send us a quick description of your travel plans.
[72] Just use your phone to record a voice memo.
[73] Tell us your name, where you're from, and the details of your trip.
[74] Where are you going?
[75] And why?
[76] Are you traveling alone or with friends or family or colleagues?
[77] Did you splurge on a first -class seat, or are you in the back row?
[78] Are you a nervous flyer?
[79] What are your thoughts on airplane food?
[80] We want to document a wide range of trips, so no itinerary is too outlandish or too ordinary.
[81] Send that short voice memo to our email, Radio at Freakonomics .com.
[82] You put passenger diary in the subject line.
[83] Sound quality counts, so make sure you record in a quiet place and get a good, clear take.
[84] If we like what we hear, we will get in touch with detailed instructions.
[85] Thanks for the help, and we are excited for you to hear our series on air travel soon.
[86] Would you like to make an announcement?
[87] Absolutely.
[88] Hold that button down right there, and you can say whatever you'd like.
[89] Okay.
[90] If you turn to Channel 4 in your audio entertainment system, you will find the podcast channel.
[91] You know, Freakonomics Radio is a good one to start with.
[92] It is important to put your headphones on first before helping another passenger with their headphones.
[93] Freakonomics Radio Network, the hidden side of everything.