We've seen some rough days for the airline business and rougher days for airline customers. And some rough days for crayonista road warriors...
Jaffe, Monty and Chapman put up with long delays trying to get home from Orlando last night - and Jaffe blogged about it. My flight from San Francisco was uneventful -- for a change -- but some of the fanfare around United's boarding process has me scratching my head.
Preferred customers -- basically their first and business class passengers, as well as elite members of their frequent flyer club -- not only board the plane first (of course) but do so by walking over a dingy red doormat (United calls it a "Red Carpet" but it's a doormat.) Here's a shot of the set-up:
So put yourself in that preferred customer's shoes -- would the red doormat make you feel special? Or would it make you feel weird? And if attaining preffered customer status is an aspirational moment, does the red doormat make you want to get there?
Seems like a strange token of appreciation to me. Thoughts?
