Airlines are introducing a new fee, but one they hope that travelers will want to pay, which will allow travelers to enjoy amenities that were previously associated with flying, according to USA Today. These fees provide travelers a more civil flight.
In return for the fee, travelers will receive extra legroom, early boarding and access to quiet lounges. Among the services available on board, there are preloaded iPads with movies to watch, hot first class meals available in coach and the opportunity to pay to have an empty seat next to you.
Another amenity is to have luggage delivered to your home directly, skipping baggage claim.
Airlines also plan to go an additional step and use travelers personal data to customize offers to each flier.
"We've moved from takeaways to enhancements," John Thomas of L.E.K. Consulting, said. "It's all about personalizing the travel experience."
Airline carriers have added fees to everything in an attempt to cover costs. They now bring in over $15 billion a year for the airlines and are the reason they are profitable companies again.
Technological upgrades now allow airlines to sell products directly to passengers when they are booking the trip. Delta took it a step further, recently giving flight attendants wireless devices that allowed them to sell passengers last minute upgrades.
"We have massive amounts of data," Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, told USA Today. "We know who you are.
"We know what your history has been on the airline," he continued. "We can customize our offerings."
Other carriers are experimenting with similar tracking, though they are still trying to find the balance between what USA Today describes as "being helpful and being creepy."
"We want to get back to a point where people feel like travel isn't something to endure, but something they can enjoy," Bob Kupbens, a former Target executive and the current vice president of marketing and digital commerce for Delta.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
