What to Do With 250 Million Unused Billboards
With all the stories lately about the airlines, one may have been overlooked earlier this week. Delta announced it was placing ads to its boarding passes, as a way to increase revenue in addition to bag fees, meal and drink fees, and fuel surcharges (not to mention the increased price of tickets). Airlines have experimented with advertising before. Some have placed ads on meal carts, overhead bins, and even the outside of planes. What struck me about the story, however, was a quote from the CEO of the technology company behind creating the ads, Sojern Inc.
Gordon Whitten was quoted in the Wall Street Journal and other publications saying “Here are 250 million billboards per year that were sitting there…with nothing on them.” I understand that marketers need to find new ways to reach customers, but to me this isn’t the avenue they should be choosing. After being nickel-and-dimed by the airlines, the last thing I want to see when I print my ticket is advertising. It’s bad enough having to pay for pillows, food, drinks, and headphones (I’m convinced they would charge for seat cushions if they could replace all their seats with wooden chairs), but ads on the ticket itself is just petty.
Unfortunately, what choice do we have but to accept it, just like the recent wave of airlines charging for the first checked bag? It’s too expensive to drive, the US lacks a real national rail system (Amtrak is often more expensive than driving), so other than staying home consumers really have no choice and the airlines know it.
My solution would be to just raise ticket prices and get rid of all the annoying fees (and now ads). These companies should charge people upfront, rather than hoping to make a quick buck off everything from blankets to peanuts. If the prices are high enough for people to choose another option, then maybe the airline should go out of business. Why should consumers sacrifice service and basic amenities so that airlines can appear to keep their prices low?
I don’t consider the ticket I paid hundreds of dollars for an unused billboard, so why should the airlines? What do you think?
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