Airline: A Strategic Management Simulation (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: New 4th Edition...on it's way
Review: Stay tuned folks, the new and improved 4th edition is scheduled for publication during the third quarter of this year!

Rating:
Summary: Where's the rest of the simulation? It's important!
Review: The manager or student who does not have the assistance of an 'airline-experienced' professor, the computer software and the additional training material makes this simulation process much more difficult to comprehend, understand and complete. If the publisher and the writer would include the extra material plus the computer software, this could be a great training tool for many airline managers and others.

If you must buy this simulation in its present form, consider purchasing Paul Dempsey's book: Airline Management to get through this.

Rating:
Summary: Have The Antacid Standing By
Review: This is one of the least pleasant learning experiences I have ever been through. I used this book and associated software (which you must download) in a graduate Aviation Route Planning class, and this book takes every opportunity to disappoint.

Understand that this is a simulation guide and you must use the simulation as part of a registered class. As for faults, there are many. The most glaring error is the almost total absence of information related to selections you must make from the very beginning. There is essentially no discussion of pros and cons of various options presented, therefore if any of the information is not completely understood prior to beginning the class (which obviously defeats the purpose of the class) errors can be made which can prove disastrous for the remainder of the simulation. Only my long history in the industry assisted me in making reasonable choices in the numerous gray areas.

If you insist on taking a class that uses this simulation, buy a comprehensive airline management text and read it prior to starting the class (perhaps the books by Douganis would be most helpful). Don't even think about buying this for personal use; you will get nothing from it.

As an aside, the software is extremely buggy (for myself and many others in my class), so be prepared to enter all decisions multiple times, have data disappear, never be able to find your information, etc.

All in all this is without peer in the truly horrible textbook category. If you can take an equivalent course based on case studies, or for that matter ANY other text, by all means do so. I was obviously very disappointed by this book (and software): it sounded like a good idea at the time, and I genuinely thought it could prove of value to my knowledge of the materiel; instead all I got was indigestion.