trees, planes, and fat kids
i read an article about an ad placed in philadelphia newspapers for a new airline: derrie-air. they consider themselves a carbon-neutral luxury airline. carbon-neutral because for every pound of carbon their planes release into the atmosphere, they will plant a tree. luxury because every seat is a first class seat where every passenger is treated like royalty. i believe this falls under the category of "eco-luxury".
does anyone remember silverjet? the british carbon-neutral airline catering to business travellers? no..? that's because they went out of business less than a year after they started operating flights.
here's where derrie-air is different.. they don't include a mandatory carbon-offset contribution. also fares are based on weight.. YOUR weight. you and your luggage are charged a rate based on the weight class you fall under. the more weight you bring on the plane, the more fuel you consume. if you need an excuse to become bulimic.. here you go. (*kidding* reena does not promote nor condone bulimia.) sucks if you're a naturally tall and big-boned individual, you'll always be paying on the high end of the scale.
anyway, i shouldn't be rambling about all of this. the airline is fake.. doesn't the name derrie-air give it away? (derrière = arse/backside/behind/bootie/bum/jelly - let me know if i missed any) philadelphia media holdings created this ad campaign in order to test the effectiveness of advertising in their print and online products. it was rather effective with a click through rate of 1.25 (the national average is 0.5).
obviously the concept of the airline was the main reason for the interest.. wouldn't you be curious about an airline that charges by the weight?! they said they chose the concept to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens. i wonder how feasible it is to follow through on the "plant a tree for every pound of carbon released by the organization". it would definitely eat into the airline's floundering profits to support tree planting organizations based on their carbon use. which means they'd build it into the fare. or make a new surcharge: "the tree-hugger's revenge".
i'm not sure if the pricing structure would work.. then again it's like the mongolian grill: the more you consume, the more you pay. so why couldn't it work in other industries? i always pack my luggage to the maximum, sometimes going over by a kilo or two with stuff i don't need to take with me. something like this could curb my horrible packing habits. i'm not sure how comfortable i would be at the thought of standing on a scale at the check-in counter with my luggage though. cruise-goers would certainly pay more for their flight home. travellers to india would pay less for their flight home. i can see this being a litigator's dream.. especially in the u.s., "the land of lawsuits". they could say it's a malicious way to punish those who are overweight, discrimination against those who have an addiction to food.
this whole thing screams logistical nightmare though. can you imagine the line-ups and delays at check-in counters caused by this extra detail? or crazy women shouting at the staff.. "your scale is WRONG! i can't possibly weight 160lbs!" what about people who purchase items once they pass security? weighing passengers before they physically board the plane would take forever, especially if someone doesn't agree with the scale. that would skew the way they allocated times and gates for flights coming in and out. would you get a refund if you weigh in less than anticipated? i wonder what the maximum weight per passenger would be.
i'm on the fence on the whole fly-by-weight concept. the idea makes sense in my head, but i just can't see it being executed well.
does anyone remember silverjet? the british carbon-neutral airline catering to business travellers? no..? that's because they went out of business less than a year after they started operating flights.
here's where derrie-air is different.. they don't include a mandatory carbon-offset contribution. also fares are based on weight.. YOUR weight. you and your luggage are charged a rate based on the weight class you fall under. the more weight you bring on the plane, the more fuel you consume. if you need an excuse to become bulimic.. here you go. (*kidding* reena does not promote nor condone bulimia.) sucks if you're a naturally tall and big-boned individual, you'll always be paying on the high end of the scale.
anyway, i shouldn't be rambling about all of this. the airline is fake.. doesn't the name derrie-air give it away? (derrière = arse/backside/behind/bootie/bum/jelly - let me know if i missed any) philadelphia media holdings created this ad campaign in order to test the effectiveness of advertising in their print and online products. it was rather effective with a click through rate of 1.25 (the national average is 0.5).
obviously the concept of the airline was the main reason for the interest.. wouldn't you be curious about an airline that charges by the weight?! they said they chose the concept to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens. i wonder how feasible it is to follow through on the "plant a tree for every pound of carbon released by the organization". it would definitely eat into the airline's floundering profits to support tree planting organizations based on their carbon use. which means they'd build it into the fare. or make a new surcharge: "the tree-hugger's revenge".
i'm not sure if the pricing structure would work.. then again it's like the mongolian grill: the more you consume, the more you pay. so why couldn't it work in other industries? i always pack my luggage to the maximum, sometimes going over by a kilo or two with stuff i don't need to take with me. something like this could curb my horrible packing habits. i'm not sure how comfortable i would be at the thought of standing on a scale at the check-in counter with my luggage though. cruise-goers would certainly pay more for their flight home. travellers to india would pay less for their flight home. i can see this being a litigator's dream.. especially in the u.s., "the land of lawsuits". they could say it's a malicious way to punish those who are overweight, discrimination against those who have an addiction to food.
this whole thing screams logistical nightmare though. can you imagine the line-ups and delays at check-in counters caused by this extra detail? or crazy women shouting at the staff.. "your scale is WRONG! i can't possibly weight 160lbs!" what about people who purchase items once they pass security? weighing passengers before they physically board the plane would take forever, especially if someone doesn't agree with the scale. that would skew the way they allocated times and gates for flights coming in and out. would you get a refund if you weigh in less than anticipated? i wonder what the maximum weight per passenger would be.
i'm on the fence on the whole fly-by-weight concept. the idea makes sense in my head, but i just can't see it being executed well.
posted by bacon at 7:45 p.m.
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