Flying

On the way to New York last week for Affiliate Summit, I was surprised to see this image on the “flight-tracker” screen.  We were supposed to land soon, and we were way off course! So then I became curious about how many extra miles were added to the trip. Unfortunately I forgot everything I once [...]

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July 11th, 2011

Prefer nonstop? Who doesn’t?  When booking flights, no one ever thinks to themselves, “man I could really go for a layover or two.”  Everyone “prefers” non-stops, which is why it’s silly to put the checkbox that many flight search services do: I never checked that box before today.  I was afraid that doing so would [...]

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As you’ve seen over the past few posts, airlines are a business I struggle to understand.  There seems to be so much opportunity to make flying a more pleasant experience, make customers happier, and make more money, yet they take the more difficult path at every turn. Here’s another example of silliness I encountered last [...]

Continue reading about Why Would a One-Way Ticket Cost More Than a Round-Trip?

July 1st, 2011

If you want to fly with your dog, it’s not cheap.  On Southwest, it costs $75 each way.  On Alaska Airlines, it costs $100 each way.  This is another example of airline silliness. Consider: When ticket prices for people occupying a real seat are cheaper than the dog fare, you must still pay the full [...]

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June 30th, 2011

Airfare pricing is a silly dance. It’s possible to fly across the country and every passenger will have paid a different fare. I know they’ve got the actuaries and statistical models to maximize profitability, but I’m curious how a different pricing structure would work. I propose a different kind of transparency. Instead of customers and [...]

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June 29th, 2011

Seat Maps Should Airlines show their seat map to customers shopping for tickets?  I’m going to argue they should not.  Not all do (kudos to them), but many have started to show the seat to customers before they buy their tickets.  And what do you think when you see a seat map like this? When [...]

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