REVENUE CATCHING IDEAS

[N965VJ]

<SNIP> In this month's issue they have a 60 page article on Charlotte.

60 pages?

What did they do, include an in-depth review of Jim and Tammy-Faye’s old amusement park and a bunch of NASCAR stats?

 

[Travelpro72]

Charlotte...The Queen City is the new heartbeat of civilization. It certainly has come a long way I'll admit. I think the story was stretching it a bit though. A few of my closest friends live there and some in some very high end parts of town but it's still boring. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ It suuuuuure is pretty though.

 

[signals]

You're probably right. I can tell with pretty great certainty say that there are probably 100 lbs of magazines on each plane, but if they weren't on the plane, they'd lose their advertising value. nobody would pay to advertise in a magazine that is kept at the gate. the value comes from knowing that someone sits in a seat for 2-6 hours and eventually their boredom will make them succumb and finally read the ads...

it would take a real bean counter though to do the calculations, and who knows, maybe that extra weight does mean the magazine isn't profitable if you put fuel consumption into the mix?

I guess that's what you call a 'captive' audience...bored and nowhere to go in search of reading material!

I think the advertising value might increase at the gates, especially if the US terminal has a few or more airlines that dock there. This would mean that the bored passengers of other airlines will pick-up the magazine. Imagine if you're stranded at an airport and the only free reading material is US mag. They'll be seeing the ads in their sleep!

 

[signals]

60 pages on Charlotte???

I'm betting 25-35 pages were advertisement! This includes full-page ads, half-page ads, quarter-page ads, and even the tiny corner square ad.

 

[SolidCactus]

Awful idea. The passenger will dispute the charge and win. You can't charge someone without verbal or written authorization.

Not true. The passenger would not win. If the policy was clearly stated in the contract of carriage, the purchase of the ticket is the acceptance of that agreement...

 

[JS]

Not true. The passenger would not win. If the policy was clearly stated in the contract of carriage, the purchase of the ticket is the acceptance of that agreement...

The contract of carriage only allows the airline to deny you boarding if you refuse to pay the checked baggage fee.

A contract of carriage that says "we can charge your credit card for checked baggage at the gate without your authorization" is unenforceable.

Not even the IRS can do that. They can throw you in jail for not paying taxes, but they can't charge your credit card without your authorization. It's like reaching into someone's pocket and taking cash, which is theft.

 

[nycbusdriver]

The contract of carriage only allows the airline to deny you boarding if you refuse to pay the checked baggage fee.

A contract of carriage that says "we can charge your credit card for checked baggage at the gate without your authorization" is unenforceable.

Not even the IRS can do that. They can throw you in jail for not paying taxes, but they can't charge your credit card without your authorization. It's like reaching into someone's pocket and taking cash, which is theft.

The IRS can reach into your pocket and take your cash legally. They have an entire cadre of enforcement agents who will come to your house and bust your door down and start taking whatever they think will satisfy your tax debt. The stories of these heavy-handed IRS tactics are legion. But, you are correct in that they cannot charge your credit card to accomplish this. They suggest that you do so the banks, not they, get caught holding the bag of your debt.

 

[tadjr]

My suggestion would be if a bag is checked at the gate, the gate agent goes back, looks up the customer record and just wacks the card $25...


Agents do not have access to the credit card number. We only have access to the last 4 digits of the card. The help desk has a way to see the entire number, but not those on the front line.