Consumer Escapes - Dealing with Air Travel Pricing Add-ons

As a traveler out of Detroit (DTW for the frequent traveler) all the buzz is that Spirit Airlines will charge for carry-on baggage. While Spirit and their bag fees plus $3 water will nickel and dime you, our main hub carrier Delta is quietly hosing local passengers. I have a few upcoming meetings in the New York City area. Both allow for advance planning. In every case an advance purchase round-trip flight on Delta to any of the major airports in New York is priced at over $900! Who cares about $24 bucks to bring a duffle bag on the plane. Delta is charging four times as much as Spirit to fly between Detroit and New York. And Delta is charging passengers twice as much to fly to New York as to fly to Los Angeles. Does that make any sense?

In Delta's 10K they state that expanding their presence in New York City is a key component of their network strategy. Delta also proudly says on their home page, "check out our fare deals and plan your escape." Not deals. Not fair/fare.

I now have no choice but to choose Spirit. By the end of 2010 I'll probably lose elite status on Delta which I've maintained for 11 straight years going back to when they were Northwest. As a result, in 2011 I will have even less reason to opt for Delta. I'm not happy about that so if the powers-that-be at Delta have a solution, I'm all ears. Otherwise, when it comes to pricing, I think Delta's the one that has lots of "baggage."

Consumer Escapes - TV Then and Now

We just completed a proprietary research study, E-scape, conducted with consumers around the subject of escape. One finding was that 61% of respondents to our survey said that they’re likely to watch TV when they have an hour or two free. (63% of female respondents turn to TV as an escape from daily pressures of work and family; 43% of male respondents will tune into a sporting event when they get the time.)

At first blush that's pretty obvious. Yet television as a preferred escape was ranked ahead of much of what a thousand other blogs talk about as complete and absolute replacements for TV. Personally, when I have a free hour or two I don't turn to TV. Except for live sports which I consume with abandon.

Archie taught us a few new words

I was reading a book the other night (you figured out my preferred escape) and it referenced the CBS television Saturday night line-up from when I was a kid. Back then, "remote control-less" my sisters and I watched television when my parents went out. We weren't escaping from anything, just sneakily watching with the babysitter what was grown-up programming. During the early 1970s, CBS on Saturday night had an impressive line-up: "All in the Family," "M-A-S-H," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart Show" and "The Carol Burnett Show." All shows that live in perpetuity in reruns. What I remember most is somewhere around 11pm seeing the headlights of my father's car in the driveway and racing up to bed and immediately pretending to be asleep. I don't think we fooled anybody.

One more timeless escape from our survey and from my preference list, music, to tie this all together. Appropriately - to bookend this trip down memory lane - from the Simon and Garfunkel song "Bookends."

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you