WP: Cash-Strapped Airlines Try In-Flight Advertising(by flight attendants)

[DeepModem Mom]

Cash-Strapped Airlines Try In-Flight Advertising
By Keith L. Alexander
Tuesday, June 7, 2005; Page D01


On a recent Alaska Airlines flight, passengers were told to remain buckled and seated for the last 30 minutes before landing at Reagan National Airport. It was a standard security measure for flights heading into restricted airspace over Washington.

It also turned a planeful of passengers into captive customers who were then pitched a Bank of America Visa card -- with little chance of tuning it out. Over the intercom, a flight attendant encouraged passengers to sign up for the Bank of America credit card. Then other flight attendants went down the aisle handing out applications.

Marketing now follows potential customers into the skies. In the airline industry's newest way to drum up revenue, carriers have become aggressive pitchmen for a range of products to passengers at 30,000 feet. The airlines say the ad revenue helps in these tough financial times. But some passengers liken the pitches to ads in a movie theater before the main feature....

***

Advertising in the air is nothing new. Most airlines run some commercials during their in-flight entertainment. And most in-flight magazines carry ads.

But until now, passengers could simply look away from the screen or turn the magazine page....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601855.html

[PsN2Wind]

1. Maybe the flight attendants could

give "lap dances".

[MindPilot]

2. I can tune out that silly safety lecture

So I should be able to ignore this too. I already know how to work a seat belt and I already know I don't want a credit card.

[PunkPop]

6. At least it has a point.

This is offensive.

[acmejack]

3. I am so glad I no longer have to fly!

Between the security state and the ubiquitous advertising...

[MindPilot]

4. on in-flight advetising...

I was riding from Denver to San Diego the other day in coach. The little TV screen in front of me was running ads for a Denver Bentley dealer. I wanted to ask someone at the ad agency how they concluded that someone sitting in my seat would be remotely capable of buying a Bentley. I think if I had that kind of money, I'd be a) quite able to find a Bentley dealer on my own, and b) sure as hell wouldn't be sitting in airline steerage with my knees under my chin.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. LOL! Bentley purchaser prospects are a very limited group! nt

[aden_nak]

7. Advertisers forget that their ads are not a narcotic.

I think sometimes they believe that if they can just trap us and force us to listen, that we will HAVE TO buy whatever they are selling. They fail to realize that it just might piss their customer base off. I have a good number of companies I don't buy from anymore because I find their advertising schemes (and the method of their delivery) to be obnoxious.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Maybe they will start painting the planes

so they are covered with corporate logos, like race cars.

[meg]

9. I'd be passive aggressive and

fill out and mail as many forms as I could get my hands on. Of course, I would use names like Little Newtie Gingrich living on K street.

[BiggJawn]

10. So when will they present adverts for Victoria's Secret?

Oh, yeah, a little "runway show" while we're waiting to get on the runway....

I'm all for it. You spent enough time rubbing that big butt into my shoulder while you were working the drink cart, let's see what it looks like in a nicer wrapping...

I'd just continue to read my book during the credit card presentation.

[Straight Shooter]

11. Our theatre shows ads for local businesses. An endless loop of ads.

I was gritting my teeth by the time the movie began, and I won't be back to that theatre again.

This is a bad idea. Passengers are subsidizing B of A's advertising campaign.

I don't fly, but if this starts happening on American or Delta, etc., I have a friend who is going to go ballistic. He hates advertising, says it's all banal and juvenile and directed to the lowest common denominator.

[hatrack]

12. Like we aren't bombarded with enough advertising every day

On the bus, on the street, in movie theaters, in restaurant restrooms, in airport lobbies, while wading through voice-mail systems, in doctors' waiting rooms, driving in our cars, on radio, on television, on public radio and television, on the Net, on our shoes and clothes and on the exteriors of our grocery bags.

Yeah, let's ram EVEN MORE advertising down the throats of a captive audience. Fucking wonderful.