Uniting our two recent themes of weird airline economics and real money investment in virtual economies, it's the frequent flyer miles glut. Weird stuff. Read it and get what my mother-in-law calls "economic vertigo." Don't miss the tale about "the pudding guy" -- though I wish they'd tell us what on earth he did with the pudding.
Posted by Martha Bridegam at January 8, 2005 11:12 AMSo the "pudding guy" got $8.33 worth of air travel for every $1.00 he spent on Healthy Choice snacks (let's just set aside that he also got a buck's worth of pudding). Based on my earlier example of a Vermont to Kalamazoo flight, this means he could make a like length journey for $24.00. An airline cannot possibly make money that way.
I do understand the concept of customer loyalty. When I was in the catalog business we always stressed how it is cheaper to keep the customers you have than to find new ones. Maximizing "return" business was vital. But that did not mean giving away the store or operating at a loss.
Posted by: Bobby Farouk at January 9, 2005 04:23 AMImagine my wonder yesterday as I watched Punch Drunk Love. The Adam Sandler character buys $3,000 of Healthy Choice chocolate puddings in order to rack up frequent flyer miles. Okay, I ask, is this life imitating art, art life, or art creating urban legends? It appears the Pudding Guy is for real, the story goes back to '99, and Paul Thomas Anderson used it in the movie.
Posted by: Bobby Farouk at January 16, 2005 07:50 AM