Monday, July 1, 2013

Traveling Principal Agent Problems

I cannot help but notice principal agent problems these days despite ducking the Americanist courses at UCSD 25 years ago.  Nope, it is all due to the NATO book.  Anyhow, I cannot help but notice that the delivery company that Lufthansa uses to deliver delayed bags sucks.

Due to delays in Ottawa, I had a very tight connection in Newark on the way to Budapest, so I was not surprised that my bag did not fly with me.  This is not the first time, so I expect the bag to show up after a reasonable delay.  But we have gone beyond that.  All day, the bag has been at the Budapest airport, as the tracer website has indicated: RECEIVED AT AIRPORT / DELIVERY PROCESS INITIATED.   With that knowledge, I have been reluctant to buy stuff to wear, figuring my bag would be arriving soon.  Yet not so much. 

Apparently, Lufthansa has a new delivery subcontractor with "trust" in its name.  If you have to include trust in your name, you are not so trustworthy....  So, I am very frustrated as it is now past midnight, and I believe that the bag has been in town for something like eight or ten hours.

This is not a huge problem since I have not yet started to reek, but it is my blog, so I can complain here if I want.  All I can guess is that Lufthansa has hired a lousy agent and has not provided adequate oversight or incentives....

No comments: