Flying and Translating – A Race to the Bottom?

Took a Ryanair flight out of Dublin last Saturday morning. Gazing out of the window at the spot where our plane was supposed to be (and wasn’t!) at 8:05 AM, I wondered how much later than the scheduled 8:15 AM departure we would eventually be.

At 8:35 AM we took off for London.

In the half hour in between, the incoming plane parked, luggage and passengers were dumped out, new luggage was loaded, outgoing passengers were allowed to stampede onto the plane (no seat assignments of course, every man and woman for themselves!), plane was refueled and checked.

Which left me thinking a few things. Is everyone comfortable with this new “norm” for flying? Does the low price justify ANY level of discomfort you might experience? What corners are cut to make these low prices work? Is that safe? Are there still people out there who will actually pay a reasonable premium for the “luxuries” of assigned seats and an overall higher quality of service (for this read a more comfortable flight)?

I think I see parallels between what is happening in the travel/flight industry and what is happening in the localisation/translation industry. Price, while always important, has now become king. If you can’t do it cheaper, we’re not interested. We don’t care that’s it’s done by resources that are neither skilled, trained or (in the case of translators) that they’re even target language natives.

Surely there must be savvy people out there who recognise and will pay for a good job well done?