Ethical Aviation
Recent case studies will be considered. The eruption of the volcano led to a vast cancellation of many flights in many parts of the world. Kantian theory on the categorical imperatives, deontologism, utilitarianism and prima facie duties will be considered. The aim is to underscore that most of these inconveniences inhere or derive from certain human actions, like in the case where the management deliberately interferes with the flight schedule or an engineer who disconnects the engine of a plane two hours before the plane takes off.
Introduction
In one way or another, every one has experienced being inconvenienced due to some reasons. Normally, this happens when others fail to do their duty, like in the case where passengers are left stranded in the airport and yet they need to travel for some fundamental reasons in their lives. While it is true that sometimes people do not intend to let others down, things happen due to some unavoidable circumstances, for instance, technical failure or acts of God. On the contrary, people can deliberately fail to honor their duties toward other people. This therefore, becomes very unjust and unfair. This study will reflect on the ethical implications of a case where passengers get inconvenienced in the airport hence creating anxiety and anger in them. Indeed, the study will explore certain ethical ideologies as follows duty, ethical theories, morality of human acts, and professional code of ethics in relation to aircraft industries. Several analogical examples will also be considered to shed more light on this important topic, for instance, waiter-customer, pastor-Christian, teacher-student, doctor-patient and taxi driver-passenger.
Ethical Theories
A categorical imperative is an unconditional and generally acceptable moral duty (Lara et al., 2007). According to Kant, one ought to act in a manner which can be adopted in the universal order. In this regard, one s choice of actions in a given situation should point to what can be universally acceptable and applicable. This maxim can have different interpretations but the core thing is that the action undertaken should be universally permissible. In Christianity, it can relate to the dictum that holds that one ought to do to others what one would like them do to himher. Therefore, all rational beings with goodwill acts in accordance with the categorical imperative and further evaluate their actions to ensure that they are universally fitting.
Arguing from the Kantian point of view, it can be said that one ought to act in a manner that is not only harmful to himher but also to others. For example, it is not fair for passengers to be left stranded in the airport when one of the engineers of the airport deliberately interferes with plane s engine after failing to receive his dues. It is no doubt that this engineer would not wish another engineer to disable a plane bound to take off whenever she is intending to travel. Therefore, why not reflect on the needs of others by first understanding the importance of those needs from one s experience.
It is important to note that a categorical imperative is different from a hypothetical imperative. The difference is as follows a categorical imperative implies a command while on the other hand a hypothetical imperative is a preconditioned command. For example, one can argue that if one wants to be happy then she must be a virtuous person. In a hypothetical imperative, one is not absolutely obliged such that it only depends on this or that. Kant categorically asserts that moral imperatives are not conditioned to anything as they serve as ends in themselves. Consider the following example it is good for the airport owners to speak the truth always no matter what the case when there is a problem in the flight schedule or it is good to help stranded passengers at the airport in all ways and by all means. In these examples, it can be argued that one is obliged to speak the truth always and that it is a duty to help the stranded passengers regardless whether it is a personal interest or wish or desire. One s duty is one s duty and one must do it whether she wants or not. Indeed, this is the nature of morality. On the contrary, in the case of a hypothetical imperative, one would argue that it is good for the airport owners to speak the truth. For example, one would say that it is good for the airport owners to speak the truth if asked to or it is good to help the stranded passengers, especially, the young children and elderly travelers if the airport management has the means to do so.
Hypothetical imperatives are not collective or absolute or universal because they are as such conditioned on some objective or aspiration. However, there are criticisms in respect to the categorical imperative in that not all acts can be universally acceptable. This is true considering the era of ethical relativism where people have different opinions and suggestions. Once again, consider the following examples Mr. X is convinced that he can interfere with the flight schedule when he wants to. This is not tenable in the Kantian sense. This course of action lacks universal desirability as doing this in itself is not something that can be desired in the universal order. Still, one would not still plane s engine simply because there are many engines in the company to replace it or because the act will not cause inconveniences in the flights of other passengers. One should not justify the act simply because it lacks grave consequences but as such, because stealing is morally unjustified and it is a duty to keep away from such act.
Deontological moral theory is contrary to consequentialist moral theory. While consequentialists believe that the end always justify the means, deontologists assert that the rightness of an action is not simply dependent on maximizing the good if that action goes against what is considered moral. The act in itself reflects whether it is morally good or morally wrong.
Deontologism is a moral theory whose tenets are of a non-consequentialist nature. It never believes that the end justifies the means. Contrary to what utilinitarianism believe that one should always exploit the good in hisher actions in the deontological sense, it is not the pursuit of the good that counts, but what one should consider is the moral element in the act. It is the act in itself that counts for a deontologist and not the end of it. This is what justifies it as moral or immoral. For instance, one of the managers in the airport company may decide to interfere with the schedule of other airports by hiring all their pilots on grounds of good wages. His motive is that he can make more money on December holidays by drawing more travelers to his services. This shows that he is out to achieve some good in terms of more profits. Therefore, she does not care whether the passengers will be stranded as long as she makes some good money.
A prima facie duty is a duty an individual has if all factors connected to it remain constant. This is because such duties are never absolute but fluctuating. On the contrary, a non-prima facie duty compels an individual to act in a manner that is not absolute. An action is a prima facie duty only if it holds moral quality features and the actions executed must prove to have been the only action possible at that time (Ross, 1930). He further asserts that there are no absolute standards or universal principles in morality. He further asserts that there are duties that are clear to one s intuition. These duties are keeping promises, correction of a wrong doing, expressing gratitude, acts of justice, benevolent inclinations, personal growth and development and keeping off the possibility of harming others. Therefore, acts of agreement like the scheduling of flights or the timings and commitment to promises made, for instance, punctuality of all flight schedules, are prima facie duties. In other words, commitment to an agreement made or fulfillment of a promise is simply some thing that individuals should maintain without difficulties.
Duty is something one is entitled to do by moral or legal obligation. It is an obligatory initiative conferred to a person towards something that is morally or legally right. Therefore, the duty becomes a moral or legal obligation. It is an action or responsibility expected from a person s position or occupation. Here, one can think of the duties of a parent towards a child or the duties of a pilot or airport management towards the passengers just to mention a few. It also encompasses acts or expressions of respect, and obedience. The airport companies have an obligation to their clients. The most important thing is that they ensure that they offer quality services that will make all passengers feel respected.
Human Acts
As mentioned earlier, the aim of this study is to morally analyze the moral implication of a case where people are left stranded at the airport. Now, this problem revolves around good and evil. In the common parlance, people will say that it is not good to keep them waiting like that. They even express a lot of anger in their grievances. Its one and only basis is human actions by the management. It is important to note that human actions can be good, bad or indifferent. This will depend on the connection of the act having moral fullness required by the object of the actions. Again, an act can be termed as good if it conforms to the tenets of right reason on the contrary, an act can be termed as bad if it violates the principles of right reason (Dizon, 2010). He argues further that an act is indifferent if it has no positive connection to the fundamental principles of right reason.
For an action to qualify as a human act, it must be subject to the dictates of intellect and will. This is what makes them different from acts of man which do not require use of intellect and free will. Such acts are as follows unconscious acts, involuntary acts, semi-deliberate acts, like when one is sleeping, and spontaneous acts.
There fundamental components of the human acts, namely knowledge and deliberation, freedom in that one should not be coerced from outside and voluntariness. In fact, voluntary acts derive from the free will where the actor is somehow cognizant of the end. Free acts are, by and large, voluntary acts where the actor consciously chooses the end. Please note that not all voluntary acts are free although free acts are voluntary. In a broader ethical viewpoint, voluntary acts can be split further. For instance, free and necessary acts involve those acts that the individual cannot fail to do, for instance, thinking about God or taking initiatives for survival like eating or drinking or responding to a call of nature. Acts are perfect if executed in full knowledge and in full consent otherwise the contrary makes them imperfect. Last but not least, a direct act is that which is willed as an end itself while an indirect act is that which is desired not as an end in itself but as a foreseen effect of act. This wisdom helps in distinguishing when airport managers are to blame for inconveniences caused and when they cannot be blamed. In other words, by understanding the nature of human acts, one will respond fairly in situations like having been stranded in the airport.
In general, the principal of integral cause stipulates that for an act to qualify as morally good it must be good in itself the intention and motive must be good and the circumstances must also be favorable. There are certain modifiers of human acts, for instance, ignorance of the actor, passion and concupiscence among others.
Air Craft Stranded Passengers
Having looked at some fundamental ethical principles above, it is now important to apply them to a situation where passengers are left stranded on aircraft for hours. Before that, it would be worthwhile to consider the following examples.
A restaurant owner opens hisher shop every day where most people prefer to have their breakfast. It happens that one day the owner fails to open the restaurant hence making hisher everyday customers to go without breakfast for that day. They feel very disappointed because their schedule has been disorganized. Some of the customers even call the owner through the phone and scold himher. They discover that the owner of the restaurant is still held up in a traffic jam.
Christians attend their Sunday service as usual in a church located at Kansas. They start doing their worship as they wait for their pastor. It is now two hours and the pastor has not come. Christians wait and wait and wait. They decide to administer for themselves while others rush to catch on a Sunday service else where. They decide to look for their pastor and realize that heshe cannot come because heshe had to rush hisher wife to the hospital due to some emergency illness.
During a math lesson, students in a school in California wait for their tutor. It is now thirty minutes and the tutor has not come. The students, through their class prefect, decide to find out what the reasons could be. They realize that the tutor is in the staffroom with other teachers chatting.
A patient attends her normal and regular appointment with her doctor. It happens that the patient has to go back home unattended because the doctor got too busy. After shehe found out what the problem could be, shehe discovered that the doctor was held up in a very important management meeting.
The following examples are meant to broaden one s mind in the reflection of inconveniences at the airport to passengers. Please note the structure of each example there is an element of someone getting disappointed, inconvenienced, and unattended just to mention a few. Again, there is a violation of duty there is a human action there is a motive there is a reason behind it and there are consequences.
It was noted that hundreds of passengers were stranded at Kennedy Airport as they waited for the volcanic ash cloud over Europe to clear and flights to resume normal duty. The figures below show passengers queue and wait at the airport of Prat Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain on 18 April 2010. All flights had been grounded as a result of a plume of volcanic ash emanating from a volcanic eruption.
Figure1 Source (Manu, 2010)
Figure 2 Source (Arturo, 2010)
Figure 3 Source (Swissinfo, 2010) - a picture of the volcanic eruption that caused the many cancellation of flights in most parts of the world
It was noted that in Vizag Airport, passengers were left stranded for 24 hours after the plane developed a technical snag. It was a reported engine failure which made the plane return to Vizag Airport (Ani, 2009). At Tambo International Airport, stranded passengers were requested to leave the airport or they risk being arrested. This was an order form the management. The passengers grew angry when they learnt that there were still no flights (Schie, 2010).
In Switzerland, frustrated passengers continued to be stranded following the flight ban which had been lifted in due course. The airport management reported that it would take a couple of days for services to return to normal. The on-going cancellation of most flights proved a source of irritation to most travelers. Thousands of Swiss citizens had been trapped abroad with their holidays extended unexpectedly. One of the passengers shared his views as follows Got my confirmations two days that have past, indicating that my flight was to take off today I find out that my flight has been cancelled and no idea when I can take the flight. I am mad and disappointed. He said further, when I call the airport, I am asked to check the website when I go to the website, it shows that I am supposed to call the airline. I get only run a rounds (Muller, 2010).
As can be seen, there are reasons given as to why the delays in flights are experienced. Like in the case where by passengers were stranded due to the volcanic eruption, this was beyond the managements control. It was a disaster that it could not avoid as such and indeed, appropriate measures had to be taken to safeguard against possible dangers. Truly, the cancellation of flights was for the good of all. Therefore, even if the passengers were inconvenienced, it still remains a justified case.
There are other instances when the management may cancel certain flights due to its own disputes. It could be a financial dispute that leads the executive arm to interrupt with the normal running of the flight schedule. Such a case is culpable and an offence in law. The state should take a very serious legal action against the management and compensate the stranded passengers hundred percent.
Sometimes flight can fail to take off due to a mechanical failure like in the case of Vizag mentioned above. Once again, the mechanical failure is beyond the control of the management or even the pilot and the entire cabin crew. In general, the issue of inconveniences caused at the airport should be looked at very prudently and fairly basing every thing on the rationales behind it. Passengers should be reasonable enough to put up with the situation especially if the problem is beyond management s control. On the other hand, their complaints are valid if the management deliberately interferes with the flight schedule.
Conclusion
We have looked at fundamental principles of ethics in a bid to morally justify or critic the scenario of passengers being stranded at the airport. Sometimes, the travelling passengers succumb to terrible disappointments and frustrations and express genuine grievances. On the contrary, although the passengers are disappointed, their anger and frustrations cannot be blamed on the management. Therefore, it is either the management is to blame in such instances or they are not to be blamed. These two elements need to be evaluated every time passengers get involved in such murky and unpleasant situations at the airport. They should be considerate enough to distinguish between those causes that are beyond human control and those that are within human control.
I believe that the case of the volcanic eruption was beyond any body, not even those best and powerful airport companies. I believe that the passengers ought to have put up with the situation. However, the contrary is not acceptable. This is why governments need to come up with strict, open-ended policies that take into account all possible situations. The policies should protect the owners of airports against unwarranted accusations form the public on the other hand, they should protect the interests of the passengers against arbitrary manipulation of flight schedule by the airports owners.
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