Here’s a headline I didn’t expect to see, Delta Woos Hollywood Elite with Invite Only ‘Party Plane’. The Bloomberg story goes on with the details:
“Everyone on Delta Air Lines Inc.’s 11:30 a.m. flight from Los Angeles to the South by Southwest festival on Friday will get expedited security processing, complimentary cocktails and a chance to win first-class tickets to London and New York.This is an invitation-only junket to Austin, Texas, part of Delta’s bid to grab more of the entertainment industry’s travel business, which the carrier estimates is worth $1 billion a year.”
According to the article, passengers paid $247 each for the privilege. Wonder how much the first class fare was? Interesting…. I know Delta is slugging it out with American (and JetBlue) in the JFK to LAX market, but this was a pretty unique way to market yourself to the Hollywood set. The idea of a full 737-900 in coach doesn’t strike me as a great time, but the Hollywood types are a lot skinnier than me, so between that and the complimentary cocktails, I’m sure it was a fun experience. I wonder if the inability of Platinum Medallion scrum like me to be upgraded to the Delta One cabin on the JFK – LAX route is a marketing effort too?
American and the A321T
But there’s another story here too – American Airlines and the A321T. According to the article, a seat in first class service aboard its dedicated fleet of A321s will set you back a cool $8,000, the most expensive domestic ticket in the country. I’ll admit it here, I did not expect the service to last with the new AA management team – unless it was making money. There’s a lot to love about this service, not the least of which is that American is now the only airline left with a 3-cabin transcon service. In truth, you don’t have to sell very many of those $8K tickets to make the idea profitable. In a decent economy, and dedicated to a very unique market, the A321T might be just the ticket.
HT: FlyerTalk
-MJ, March 12, 2015
Amazing! Having paid for my flights to maintain status for many years out of AUS this is incredible. Considering everyone on that plane writes of travel to SXSW from taxes each year the fact that they got a huge discount is sad. Also the higher level of service and free food and drinks makes me wonder if it was the usual snack basket or warm appetizers? I also wonder how many extra catering carts full of alcohol were stocked to make this flight? To give away free drinks … when even when flying normally in FC it is difficult to get the attention for a second drink. AND how about the 25 mins it takes for the luggage to arrive at the carousel for the normal paying customer. Did this plane have to wait and how many extra bags were they allowed for free? Whisky Tango Foxtrot!