Airline flights on the movie theater pricing model
August 31st, 2007 | by mbhunter |With many of the major airlines running on fumes, I had wondered for a while why they weren’t taking advantage of the space inside the aircraft to advertise. The main advertising I’ve noticed on my flights were only the Skymall catalogs and the credit card advertisement on the napkin that comes with my complimentary drink. But there’s the space on the overhead cargo bins, on the top and bottom of the tray tables, and the back of the seats, just to name a few places, that’s free of advertising. I had thought that there were FAA regulations or the like that precluded the airlines from plastering ads all over the place, mainly because it could confuse passengers should there be a “water landing.”
Skybus is dispelling this wonderment, though. With some tickets costing as little as ten bucks, they have to make their money elsewhere, which means just about everything besides the privilege of flying is extra. Checking your bags? Extra. Want to check to see if the flight is cancelled? Extra. Entertainment on board? Extra. Hungry or thirsty? Lots extra — and don’t even think about bringing your own because they’ll make sure you’re snack- and drink-free when you enter, just like the movie theaters do. What’s more, you not only have to look at ads all over the place, you get to listen to sales pitches by the commission-driven flight attendants. You end up paying, if not with money, with extra energy spent dodging the repeated attacks on your willpower and your wallet.
And that’s fine! It’s about time an airline put together a pricing model that gives bargain hunters something to sink their teeth into. I’m close enough to one of the cities they fly out of that I would consider using them if I happened to want to fly to somewhere near Columbus, OH. Seriously: That’s the only destination city that I can fly to! I imagine they’ll add to them eventually. (Or maybe not. I don’t know.) Kansas City looks awfully lonely on their map; you can reach the nearest destination city, Columbus, by travelling through two states, but that’s from the Western end of Missouri! Not convenient at all, but again, the price of the ticket is hard to beat.
Will this pricing model last them for the long run? I’m sure that this airline will cut into other airlines’ business for which Skybus’ flights overlap, and as more of the smaller . The prices are too good. But will the prices stay good if the economy turns? Their pricing model depends on the passengers buying goods and services à la carte. What if that money starts to dry up? What if the passengers buy the dirt-cheap ticket and nothing else? Then Skybus starts to see red ink, and they’ll either have to find new and creative ways of getting the customers to spend ($5 for guaranteed oxygen in the masks?) or they’ll have to raise prices. Which is just about all the airline has going for it now, except perhaps an atmosphere that’s allegedly even more casual than Southwest’s.
I can go watch a movie without buying popcorn and a drink, so maybe I’ll fare well with Skybus. 
Have you flown on Skybus? What did you think?
