Pity the Poor Airlines

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"It's hard to take the airlines seriously when they try to play the pity card with consumers," opines Advertising Age. The trade publication's biting editorial comes in response to a public relations push by the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). ATA's "Stop Oil Speculation" campaign and website are "attempting to divert consumer anger directed at airlines for nickel-and-diming them and instead make oil speculators the bad guys," reports AdAge. As part of the ATA campaign, 12 major airlines are emailing their frequent fliers, asking them to contact legislators about high oil prices. According to ATA's David Castelveter, "nearly 1 million messages were sent to Congress the first two days of the campaign." He added, "We're not asking our customers to help us. ... We're asking them to help themselves." As AdAge's editorial noted, Delta Air Lines recently "showed off its deep concern about high fuel prices by offering select New York City customers free helicopter rides from Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport." That's not to mention airlines' "customer abuse and high prices," and the industry's reliance on "government subsidies and government bailouts."

Comments

They Are High in More Ways than One

if they think I am going to feel sorry for them. Instead of all that wasted PR, they should have looked into alternative energy and used their clout with politicians and the media decades age. The immediate profit is all U.S. corporations care about and they get what they deserve. There are many pro airlines media segments these days, I wonder if they are VNRs?

On a related note, I went up to Milwaukee last weekend for the wrong fest, but the ride was great. Bless their hearts, they have a quiet car!!! No drama queen cell phone yakers or blaring I-pods. I did have to tell one guy to be quiet in the quiet car, but that wasn't Amtrak's fault. I found it a very comfortable and stress free way to travel. Plus uncrowded. I have decided if I ever have to go anywhere that I could use Amtrak as an alternative, I will! Screw the friendly skies!