2008 28
Airplane Affinities
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
Now that the web has discovered that people get together according to affinities. How about seating people in airplanes according to affinity? For example long intercontinental flights with 400 passengers on a plane we could create 4 zones. One could be for singles who want to party and flirt at the back of the plane, with music and all. One called Zen for people who want peace and quiet library style far from the singles. One for families with little kids and kids in general who can have a good time among themselves and parents not get this guilt trips that they are bothering everyone. And lastly and one for networkers, people who dream getting on a plane with a business plan and getting off with an investor. I can´t imagine anyone who would get on a plane and would not find one of those airplanehoods.
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No Comments
Raphaël Arbuz on August 28, 2008 ·
I love the idea, but I think there should also be a neutral zone for the ones that don’t want any of these. And what if you’re happy for 2 hours partying, then you feel like some networking and then some rest?
But something to work on, definitely!
Juergen on August 29, 2008 ·
I had the same idea a couple of years ago and I was wondering about the business model for starting such service. The idea was to add some tags at the point you provide your seat assignment preference.
Though I was struggling on how to sell the story/service:
— either license it to an airline the value proposition being a premium service for the airline
— the booking handler (amadeus)…though they are huge and not interested
any ideas?
Javier on August 29, 2008 ·
Resounding YES 🙂
Seating configurations are unnecessarily suboptimal. I can’t see any good reason why this has not happened yet.
Robert on August 29, 2008 ·
Hi Martin,
you’ve been chewing on this for a while, but i think that it makes a lot of sense in terms of customer satisfaction.
not sure though if it will work, since most airlines have a VERY complicated seating system involving
– booking class
– reservation cost / included
– special seats that are given late (exit)
=> etc.
but a lot of that is changing due to the internet:
– most airlines offer online checkin, so you can pick your seats anyway…
– everyone can utter their preferences today with frequent flier programs (isle vs. window seat, meals etc.) so having these zones in a plane, asked @ checkin should be pretty easy.
i guess it would take someone like richard branson to push a concept like that, since other airlines might not be able to realize the potential
Robert
Paul RODTS on August 29, 2008 ·
http://www.skyeurope.com had with regular intervals : romantic speed dating on flights to Vienna…
All passengers on such flights were speed daters, but it wasn’t always easy to get the plane fully booked…
New ideas sometimes need time…
Isaac on August 29, 2008 ·
Martin,
I heard you make this comment 3 years ago at the Instituto de Empresa. And after commenting this with other people I’ve come to the conclusion that it won’t work as people go thru different “phases” during the same flight.
For example, a guy who wants to listen to music and flirt may eventually want to have some rest and the music won’t let him.
Or in the family section, a 2 year old baby won’t be able to nap because there would be 20 different kids jumping around.
In conclusion…. bad idea (at least in my opinion)
Yani on September 1, 2008 ·
Hi there
I think the basic idea is very good. The problem is ‘affinities’. It might be a bit too plain having singles together in one compartment. If you knew a bit more about the affinities, it would be possible I believe. So maybe you can do it via social networking sites somehow ?
I think this idea will make sense in a lot of environments: train, car sharing …etc.
Florian Wilken on September 3, 2008 ·
Hi Martin,
I think the idea is great. As a matter of fact, when Vasco Sommer and I operated one of Germany’s biggest dating plattform back in 1999 (www.kontaktanzeigen.de), we were seriously thinking about offering a airplane-dating-service where you would be seated according to your dating preferences. The idea is just too fascinating.
However, I, too, think that it will be rather difficult to really match affinities well, even if you have lots of data about the person. The possibility to really meet someone that matches your affinities is really low. And the commitment is rather high as well, as you can not just walk away from someone on a 10 hour flight if you dont like him.
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Ramiro on August 28, 2008 ·
Me hace acordar a una película de unos rapers que pensaban lo mismo, que los aviones eran aburridos, entonces arman su propia línea aérea con boliche incluido…también a lo que motivó a Richard Branson a levantar Virgin Airlines, según contó, una vez quería charlar con una pasajera pero no encontraba un lugar adecuado dentro del avión, por lo que pensó, porque los aviones no tienen un área con bar 🙂