I travel once a month for my job. I love to travel as it gives me a chance to dig in and ensure our teams are meeting our customer's needs. Luckily none of these trips include overseas odysseys or cross country treks. Most of the time they are regional cross overs. As I fly I notice things and one of the things I've noticed is that the flight attendants have changed.

Flight attendants are a critical part of the travel experience. If you fly as much as I do or have ever found yourself with a need during a flight, a flight attendant can make or break your experience. Lately it seems there have been less flight attendants. Scratch that. Less flight attendants with good attitudes.

A NY Times piece looks into the missing airline workers and addresses some of the issues, but it doesn't address the reasons why flight attendants are a critical piece of the service experience.

And that is the bottom line.

In an effort to save money the airlines have cut back on service. Southwest Airlines is a prime example of this taxi service mentality. It's something that is going to kill the airline industry in the long run. You can only squeeze so much money out of the market before the market snaps back. Service is what will make the market snap back.