[IP] Airline passengers or sheep to be fleeced?

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Jetblue does "sell" you the pillow and blanket which you can take home . djf

________________________________________
From: Lauren Weinstein [lauren@vortex.com]
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 2:18 PM
To: David Farber
Cc: lauren@vortex.com
Subject: Airline passengers or sheep to be fleeced?

Dave,

With word today that JetBlue will charge $7 if you want to rent a pillow
for the flight, I find this quote particularly interesting:

  "These fees will be annoying at first," said Ray Niedl, an airline
   analyst for Calyon Securities. "But passengers will adjust because
   of the need for air travel."

In other words, sock-it to 'em!  But is airline travel really that
inelastic a "commodity" I wonder?  At what point do people get fed up
with being forced to prance around the terminal in their stocking
feet, spill out harmless bottles of liquid (and of course be charged
for water on the flight), plus be searched, probed, x-rayed,
millimeter-waved, and otherwise treated more and more like convicts
being led to the transport bus for "diesel therapy" treatment?

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com





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