During a recent cross country trip I had time to compare the dysfunctional way airlines are operated to the way associations are run. I found both similarities and differences. Here’s how I score things…

Take for instance, the ridiculous pre-flight safety instructions. Do we really need to be told in great detail how to buckle seat belts. I tried to think of something similarly obvious we tell members, but I could not come up with anything quite that mundane. Score one for associations.

The next pre-flight instruction tells us to turn off all electronic devices with the insinuation that failing do so would cause trouble in the cockpit. Hmmm…the message to turn off all electronic devices was delivered by a video screen on the back of every seat that was streaming Direct TV the entire flight. Sure glad I turned my iPod off.

But association are not immune to creating silly rules prohibiting things they don’t understand. Social media for instance. I know of associations that prohibit their employees from participating in social media while at work. Others make members register for a class by printing a form off the web site and faxing it in because they feel the need to have a real signature for a purchase.

No points here…both have a fear of new technologies.

In the area of duplication of efforts the airlines score very poorly. Why does each airline need to have their own curbside valet, check-in system, ticketing system, baggage handlers, etc. I could probably be convinced that the federal government could run airlines more efficiently…yikes, that’s a bold statement.

But are associations much better? Yes, I think they are, but only because airlines are really over-the-top when it comes to duplication of efforts. Associations could do better, but that generally means a merger of competitors and that is often a difficult thing for the egos involved.

I’ll score this as a slight edge to associations.

Airlines, however, do a good job of delivering on their promises. That typically means getting you from point A to point B safely and reasonably on time. Sure there are plenty of delayed or canceled flights, but those are often caused by weather/safety concerns that we can all live with given the alternative. I took 5 different flights during this trip and 3 of the 5 were on-time and one of the tardy flights was only slightly late even though we had to de-plane and go to another plane due to a faulty toilet. Most importantly, I arrived safely all 5 times.

I’d be surprised if associations could claim that 3 out of 5 meetings started and ended on-time. We could learn the art of under-promising and over-delivering from airlines when it comes to being on-time. Airlines build in huge fudge factors when it comes to flight schedules. They set expectations low and often exceed the arrival time they promised. If we tell members that a meeting will end at 2 pm and it last until 2:15, we have not lived up to expectations. If we say that same meeting will be over at 3 pm and it ends at 2:30, members are happy to get done early.

In terms of meeting customer expectations, I score a point for the airlines because of their safety record.

I’ll need to end this post now because the flight attendance just announce all electronic devices need to be turned off for landing. Sigh…