Giving, Getting and Selling

I just got back from Texas today after visiting my in-laws. We decided to fly on American Airlines there and back. Along the way we learned a lot about companies, marketing, and employees.

The first flight we took went from Omaha, NE to Dallas Fort Worth, this flight was your standard AA flight with your choice of a complimentary beverage. The second flight from DFW to Odessa, TX was on the American Eagle Airlines (owned by American Airlines). This flight was very interesting to me, it was the first flight that I have been on where instead of offering you a pillow (when your tired), a blanket (when your cold), or a bag of munchies (when your hungry), they would only sell them to you. Now I can understand the munchies, that probably does add up with 80 people on a plane at a time, but the pillows and blankets? If I'm cold and tired however, tough luck. I am not a master at business or marketing, but I know my point of view as a customer. I would rather be offered the pillow and the blanket and spend my money on something else, like a portable DVD system (that you can rent for the flight) with 10-20 DVDs to chose from (limited quantity of each disc, first come first serve). I would spend $5 on the player and $3 on a disc to entertain my self and my wife for 2 hours. I realize that not everyone would utilize this service, but I believe it would be a much better option than a pillow and a blanket that you can "Take with you!" for $5. I also would rather spend an extra $3 on my plane ticket for munchies (and feel like it was complimentary) then have to buy it while on the plane.

Take a look around you, if you see something that looks out of place or doesn't seem to flow very well with that businesses commitments, think about what they could do to change it or make it better in some way. This will help all of us be more creative and look at any future business from different eyes (the end customer's eyes). ~Chais