The smartest move the commercial airline industry ever made was to convince consumers to pay extra for what used to be the minimum. It’s even got a name: “calculated misery.”
“Calculated misery” sounds like a movie featuring a slow-boil revenge plot — one that involves social media and tears of frustration. Instead, it’s the concept that there’s money to be made by making an experience so awful that a customer will want to avoid it.
And not only is it sinister, it’s profitable — at least when it comes to air travel.
It’s common to pay extra for higher-quality products or services. And it’s natural to want to pay the lowest possible price for whatever you want or need to buy. That’s why many Americans are always looking for the best deal, regardless of what they’re shopping for.
It’s easy to name other businesses that would […]
Good article. As we all know, the dinosaur hub and spoke model is a disaster. Lack of competition intensifies an already dismal model. Add to it the security theater of a humiliating and fake TSA screening program and you get the air travel control grid we have today. The first service that comes up with a decentralized point to point and speedy alternative form of travel is going to make billions of dollars and a lot of happier customers. That is if the transnational corps and FAA don’t get their greedy paws on it.