In the information age, he knew it would be different, and he was secure. The airline flying to London would have identified him off their computer as a close-connecting passenger. It would have noted he checked no bags through, and it would be anxious to capture his $2,500 fare – about 10 times that of the average passenger – on an only moderately loaded flight.
As his plane pulled into the gate at 5:40PM, he knew it would be tight but he would make it, particularly given the fact that all planes were coming in late. Moving his 57-year-old frame into a dim recollection of a high school 400-metre specialist, he set off. Two escalator rides and one train ride later, the gate hove into sight, and he braked to a halt at 5:53 PM. It was close, but he had done it.
Looking through the airport window, however, he was stunned to see the air bridge detached from the plane with splendid teutonic efficiency 7 minutes early. The door to the bridge was closed, no agent was in sight, and he was reduced to waving his bags through the window to the pilot 20 yards away (it had, after all, worked once in a similar situation on Continental Airlines). Alas, by 5:58 PM the plane was pushed back, and the agents emerged and quite cheerfully (and unregretfully they had no clue who he was) booked him onto another airline that would leave 1 hour and 45 minutes later. He would be 30 minutes late for his meeting in London, but the executives would understand. Distinctly irritated, he straggled off to the new airline’s first-class lounge to begin a frantic series of phone calls and faxes to the United Kingdom. As he trudged through the airport, McPherson began to see the beginning of a lecture on service in the information economy and the fact that technology is only a small enabling piece of a total service concept.