It's arrived. New airline to charge by pound

Both The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News ran ads today advertising the purported new airline Derrie-Air, the new airline concept that charges for both the weight of the passenger and his or her luggage..

At flyderrie-air.com you can check out some of the airline's deals per per pound, from $1.40/pp from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25/lb from Philly to Los Angeles. Weigh a lot and packing several suitcases? Tough cookies, you're paying $700 to fly across the country. Small sized and only taking a carry on? You might get away with $300.

So for all of you who voiced your outrage at Robert Mann's idea that passengers should pay by the pound, the jig is up; we've entered a new era of airline operation.

Or not. It turns out that the whole thing was a prank by Philadelphia Media Holdings "to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens".

No better way to generate buzz and fire up the passenger base than to start claiming airline fee strategies, right? I do have to give them credit though, their website is a pretty big kick. They advertise their airline as a "carbon neutral" entity because they're planting zillions of trees in the Derrie Forrest as well as porcelain fixtures and gilded faucets in their aircraft.

You almost believe them until you read the fine print at the end of the page.

Filed under: Business, Airlines, News