Protest airline dehydration?

[steuard]

Kim and I took US Airways to and from Nebraska for the holidays. US Air, as you may know, has decided to charge passengers for non-alcoholic drinks during the flight, including water. I have no problem with them charging for soft drinks and juice, but given the risk of dehydration during air travel I think it's irresponsible not to at least provide plain water for free. (Kim fortunately knew about this in advance, so we brought a water bottle of our own.)

On our flight home, I thought of an interesting way to protest this policy. The airline always explains that the in-flight magazine is yours to keep, but almost no one does. What if passengers who don't like the "pay to drink" policy decided to take them home as souvenirs? (Or for immediate recycling. Or as burnt offerings. Or...) It's easy to do, and I'm sure it would cost the airline more than drinking water.

Like most boycotts or protests it would be pointless to do alone, but I think it could make a point if enough people publicly participated. Is this a reasonable idea? And if so, what's the right way to publicize it?

Comments

[zathrus.livejournal.com]

It sounds reasonable to me. (Also reasonable would be not flying US Air, but I realize that in going tyo Nebraska, you may not have many options.) As for publicity... Putting the suggestion on your webpage/blog/etc. is a start. Next step would likely be emailing some popular bloggers about the idea (no idea which ones those would be, but I bet there are a bunch of travel-related blogs that might pick it up). Also a good idea would be letters to the editors of any/all newspapers you can think of, or emails to the appropriate journalists if you feel like doing more research.

Of course, if you could get your hands on US Air's email/mailing list, that'd reach exactly your intended audience very well, but the chances that you could do that legally are likely not worth contemplating.

Newt

[dmyersta.livejournal.com]

I don't think that taking the mag would be more expensive that bottled water based on how much it costs to print and how much we charge for water...But I *do* think that charging for water is a *bad* idea.

[kirin]

That is super extra lame. (The charging for water.)

The magazine thing strikes me as kind of weird, though. A better idea, I think, would be a campaign to get everyone to remember to bring an empty bottle through security and fill it at airport water fountains, and then make a point to *never* buy any extras from the airline in question. They need those add-on sales for their bottom line, so if they see charging for water as netting them less extra sales instead of more, that would be a good and sensible signal.

[feuervogel]

IAWTC.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I've never had to pay for water. It must just be US Air. Perhaps generating bad PR for them directly would have an impact. (eg get various prominent bloggers to write about it, put it on Digg and get all your friends to vote for it) If you can make it clear that lots of people are unhappy and then contact US Air, you're likely to have an impact.

[feuervogel]

It's a really new policy, as in within the last month or so.

[zathrus.livejournal.com]

Also, writing to US Air yourself is a good first step. Their response can determine how much farther you take it.

Newt

[jminnis.livejournal.com]

US Air has been on my "crappy airline" list for years. I've had bad experiences with canceled flights, customer service, and lost luggage with them. If they didn't give me water on a flight, I'd be super extra pissed off at them.

My mom does something similar with junk mail. Any postage paid envelope or card that she can return to them she does, with no information filled in about who she is.

[minorninth.livejournal.com]

Maybe they changed their policy? The 155 passengers aboard US Airways Flight 1549 today got more water than they asked for!