Most airlines are measured by their on-time performance. And, to a large extent, Customer Satisfaction Score is directly proportional to OTP. Obviously, passengers are dissatisfied whenever flights are delayed. In Philippine Airlines, some delays are attributable to external factors such as airport congestion, runway closures, weather disturbances and other fortuitous events such as typhoons, snowstorms and even bird strikes. Some delays are due to technical issues, such as maintenance and crew and/or passenger concerns. Hence, airline operations all over the world find all kinds of ways to minimize flight delays without sacrificing safety and security.
In law, there is no legal delay unless there is prior demand, save for a few exceptions. One such exception where prior demand is excused is when the contract was entered into where time is the controlling motive. Classic examples of these contracts are those catering agreements in relation to significant events such as wedding receptions. Even absent any stipulation, parties to such contract understand that certain services have to be performed on time. Time is of the essence. After all, the reception host would not want his/her guests unnecessarily starved while waiting for the food and drinks.
Being on time or having the perfect timing is also relevant in other fields. In music, each member of the orchestra/band must precisely play certain notes at exact timings to produce a wonderful symphony. Timing is everything, and a fraction of a second can be the difference between a masterpiece and a disaster. In sports, a football quarterback with the protection of his offensive line only has a few seconds to throw the ball at a certain velocity and trajectory for certain receivers who are running a precisely timed route. The difference between a touchdown and an interception is attributable to the OTP for each player in the team.
My surfer friend John V has been spending a lot of time waiting for the right wave to get that perfect ride. He understands the science behind the sport despite not controlling most of the factors that affect his performance. Aside from having great balance, excellent surfers largely depend on the quality of the wave. While on water, most surfers spend less than 5 percent on the surfboard. The rest of the time, they wait. John lets wave after wave pass by until he gets the right one. And when he does, John has to paddle at the right speed to be able to catch the right wave at the perfect time. In recent years, John has been waiting, not only for the right wave, but for the right partner.
Owing perhaps to his many surfing days of patiently waiting, John V has waited with conviction for about 20 years to get the love of his life back. In their teen years sometime in 1985, John and Rosa were a couple determined to nurture their love to last a lifetime. However, things got in the way and John left Rosa and moved to the United States in 1989. They lost touch from each other and eventually had other partners in life and their own children in the process. But John kept the love and the faith. John kept on writing letters to Rosa at her last known address and even searched her name at the first availability of the Internet in the late nineties. Even after more than 20 years of zero news about Rose, John was unperturbed. Similar to waiting for the right wave, John waited until he got reconnected with Rosa via Skype sometime in 2009. Admittedly, while John took some efforts, he believes that he and Rosa got reconnected at the perfect time, as they were both already unattached to their
previous partners.
In the Bible, Habakkuk 2:3 tells us, “For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it lingers, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” In our lives, certain events will come. Whether in the airline business, in the music industry, in sports or in our love relationships, a lot of moving parts have to be in perfect synchronicity to produce the desired results. Since there are so many factors that create uncertainties, some people suffer from unnecessary anxiety. I was once a super worrier when I was in public service. But believers realize that God is in control of everything, including the exact time when things will come to us. Some people rush; others give up on waiting. Now reconnected though in a long-distance relationship, John and Rosa are both hopeful that their love, this time around, will last a lifetime. Rosa is eternally grateful for her initial separation with John, as she believes that she had to undergo three decades of misery to find the right “wave” for her. For Rosa, there was never any delay in this relationship. The OTP in her relationship with John is absolutely perfect as she is reminded of what the Holy Book tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Knowing that timing is everything, we have to understand there are no delays in life…only God’s perfect timing.
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.