Plane Conversations

The Economist magazine recently wrote an article in favor of airlines unbundling fees.

Ancillaries; You Know They Make Sense

Unfortunately, it seems that the benefits arise more from an accounting failure followed by a PR sleigh of hand than any actual rational corporate service improvement initiative.

By charging fees, once neglected baggage service departments have become star revenue performers for airlines. Department managers can now justify new technology and equipment. Where before, baggage service only represented a cost, it now provides millions in revenue.

It turns out that by charging money for baggage fees, those fees are entered into the revenue column of the accounting statement so they appear as an asset.  In the past, baggage handling was in the cost column and appeared as a liability.  From MBA 101, the function of a corporation is to collect all assets and unload all liabilities.  But more than that, the once invisible baggage handling department can now SEE their value.  The baggage handling manager can now grab some of that money to buy improved equipment, training, and qualified personell.

And The Carousel Spins

Of course the PR department will twist this into a statement of American Individuality by claiming that “freedom is all about having choices” and “our customers deserve a benevolent freedom fighter in the airlines to provide them with such choices”.  If there is discontent, this is due to a fault of the passenger, not the airline:

Passengers will continue to complain about being nickel-and-dimed, but it may be that they are making false comparisons between the years when everything was included—but the ticket prices were higher—and these current, à-la-carte times. “When a la carte shopping is successfully implemented, it’s not an evil method. Quite to the contrary, it’s the ultimate compliment to the consumer—it acknowledges their right to choose.”

Now I have to ask, what is so hard about handling baggage?  Why is this such a complicated accounting problem?  How many other “material handling” problems, or account balancing problems do airline have difficult mastering?  Seriously.

Back in the railroad days, a platform referred to the surface upon which passengers stepped in order to enter or exit the train.

In 2012, the word “platform” often refers to one of the big four data stations on the Internet; Google, Amazon, Facebook, or Apple.  On the backend, those platforms sort products and people into similar categories.  On the front end, they deliver products to the consumer or the consumer to the product.  Everything is done electronically, in most cases, even the product is electronic.

Of Flesh and Mortar

In real life, the Commercial Aviation Hub and Spoke System is a platform too. People and airplanes are sorted into  categories, then they are matched to the size of the container. The difference is that very little is electronic – real living people and hundreds of thousands of pounds of aircraft still need to perform their little platform dance consuming vast infrastructure, ground space, time, and energy.

A Platform for Reality

Compared to the Big Four who collect data behind secure walls, analyze it with proprietary algorithms, then serve up the content that is most beneficial to the platform (not necessarily the user), Social Flights is revolutionary.

Social Flights collects four separate streams of data, converts the data to a single usable form, then shares the data back to the separate streams.  For example; an airplane operator submits data regarding the inventory of their aircraft.  The hospitality industry submits data relative to their inventory of support services,  Travelers submit data regarding their likely destinations, and event organizers submit data regarding their event.

Music is a mixture of rhythm, sound frequency, and timbre

Social Flights captures all of these streams, organizes the data and feeds it back to the market in a more usable form.  Aircraft operators know the optimum use of their aircraft resources.  Hospitality knows how to best allocate their inventory.  Event planners have greater exposure to their markets for attendees. Finally, Travelers know the exact door-to-door cost AND TIME to achieve their objectives.

Social Value is “manufactured” because it is in the best interest of each party that the other three are successful

Advertising extorts passion

Today, nearly all social organization is now funded – and influenced – by advertising.  Social priorities are driven by Wall Street priorities while advertising powerplays tout some products often at the expense of others that would create otherwise social cohesion.  People do not wake up in the morning aspiring to follow the Kardashians, they aspire to follow their friends and to pursue their natural interests, and talents.  Advertising is anti-social.

The Social Flights platform is revolutionary

Social Flights, while currently emerging as a simplified air transportation system, is a real and valid social value manufacturing engine. The same system can also be used for any shared experience; cars, planes, roads, infrastructure, corporations, education, and even government with the New Value data platform that we are developing.

The problem can never be the solution.

Today, we do not have a financial problem as much as we have a value problem.  The challenges that face the world today are far too great to be solved with an “Advertising” platform.  Whatever happens next, it must start with a platform for Reality.

Frontier Airlines recently announced it’s dropping nonstop service from Milwaukee to six cities, cutting the number of daily flights nearly in half. Effective in April, the airline will end direct flights to Grand Rapids, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Newark. Frontier’s daily departures will be reduced from 32 to 18.

While Social Flights is announcing new air service between Milwaukee, Branson, Nashville, and Austin – Frontier Airlines is announcing the reduction of services and staff from Milwaukee.  The following report from media FOX6now and Milwaukee Business Journal highlight some of the local implications, impacts, broken promises and lost dreams.

According to a notice filed Monday with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the layoffs are expected to occur in April. The notice states that 230 of the employees are flight crew members who will be reassigned to bases outside of Milwaukee.

230 of the 446 layoffs will be reassigned – as will their families, their children will move out of school, houses will be liquidated in a poor RE market, and communities will lose trust anchors. The new cuts are on top of Frontier‘s decision last fall to eliminate routes to eight other destinations.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett released a statement Monday after these layoffs were announced, saying: “The loss of 500 jobs is a setback for the region.  My hope is that other airlines will step in and fill the void in this critically important market.”

Frontier is leaving Milwaukee for reasons that would also hold for every other airline; fuel prices, labor prices, large jets, corporate ROI thresholds, etc.  Meanwhile, Social Flights operates under public charter regulations organizing local private operators and supports them with modern aircraft allowing communities to access important hubs as well as sister cities (such as Grand Rapids).

The Community Remembers the promises:

“When that whole deal was made, when Republic bought Midwest and Frontier, there were all these promises made to Milwaukee that they were not only going to keep the service here, but that they were going to bring in hundreds and hundreds of jobs,” Rovito said.

Instead, nearly 800 positions have been cut since November, and the most recent wave of cuts will move more than 200 jobs out of Milwaukee, while completely getting rid of another 200. “Just on its face, it’s really bad news for Milwaukee travelers,” Rovito said.

Who holds the cards?

Communities go through great efforts to attract air service from promising yields to providing public infrastructure to enduring noise and traffic – the airlines take this completely for granted.

Fewer flights means it will be more difficult for travelers to get to their destinations, and also likely more expensive. “It was a convenient flight for me in this particular instance,” Scott Sowa, who was on a Frontier flight heading to Grand Rapids, said. “I would hate to lose that convenience.”

Apparently, communities are not what Frontier needs to remain profitable.  They no longer need Milwaukee because they found business elsewhere.  They are an airline – they can go elsewhere…. they are not a community.

Where communities are the contingency plan

In a statement, the company says: “The reduction in service is another step in our continued effort to ensure that Frontier is a competitive and sustainably profitable airline.”

In other words, ‘Their survival is contingent upon your loss – not your gain.’ FOX6 tried to get in touch with someone from Frontier Airlines Monday, but our calls were unreturned.

This morning we received a great comment from a reader named Peter.  He posts a valid question and I had to think about it for a few minutes before I could bring up a response.  Unfortunately, as with most questions, there is a simple answer and a complicated one.

Peter wrote:

I’ll be curious to see if eventually non-stop flights between these four cities will be established eliminating the need to connect through Branson. While this promises to be a great alternative to the airlines the current configuration is still a hub and spokes model. Here’s hoping we’ll see non-stop flights between these cities in the future.

Peter is referring to newly introduced air service between Nashville, Austin, Milwaukee, flying through Branson MO.  Admittedly, this is a pretty strange arrangement, especially since Branson only has 20,000 people whereas the other three metro areas have over 500,000 people each.

Who in their right mind would put a hub in the smaller city?

Branson is the Live Entertainment Capital of the Midwest.  The community of Branson came together to support these flights with a high level of civic involvement and passenger engagement with a high quality “service” model.  Branson is safe, clean, and they even own the airport.  The people of Branson are very proud of what they have built and want to share it with the world.  They dare to be different.

Social Flights partnership with Branson demonstrates that air service can empower a community, not cowering to the whips and whims from the corporate boardroom of a publicly traded airline.

A hub airport is like a big egg sorter for people and planes (where people are the eggs and the planes are the cartons).

A big part of our business model is to integrate with what is happening on the ground. Imagine if Amazing places like Vail Colorado, or Chelan WA, or the Grand Canyon were easily accessible.  Imagine your next industry conference at a resort in the Ozarks instead of downtown Newark.

***

Now, here’s the complicated answer

If nobody is going to Branson, the plane can just fly the hypotenuse.  Try that with hub and spoke

If improving the aviation system is disruptive, then call us revolutionaries.

We could say that Social Flights is disruptive to the commercial aviation system, except that we serve markets that the commercial aviation industry has rejected.

We could say that we compete with the airlines, except we provide services that would be impossible for the commercial aviation system to deliver efficiently.

We could say that we found a way to exploit an inefficient market, except that we actually make that market more efficient.

Social Flights is not an airline.

In simplest terms, Social Flights is a data platform for private aviation.  The Social Flights platform will “systemize” the operations of up to 15,000 private aircraft across up to 5000 North American Airports.  The beneficiaries will be travelers, aircraft operators, and the communities they support. We’ll even help the airlines do what they do better.

Where is the pain?

•  Airlines are pulling out of smaller markets effectively isolating millions of people
•  Smaller communities are cut off from the global economy
•  The “Real Cost” to travelers flying into and out of smaller communities is stifling.
•  The Private Aviation industry is manipulated by brokers; 40% of private flights are empty.
•  The Hub and Spoke system serves large airplanes, not people
•  Travelers have few other travel options; driving is difficult and trains are sparse.
•  Very low utilization of private jet assets vs. commercial jet assets

Where is the opportunity?

• Next Generation air traffic management/control will open thousands of airports to ATC
• A huge inventory of efficient short haul aircraft is available.
• Empty legs on existing private flights are available
• Favorable FAA and DOT regulatory environment in “Public Charter” classification
• Millions of people travel to their “Social Networks” not their hubs and spokes
• Communities are willing to participate in their own air-service destiny

What is the solution?

CASP: Community Air Service Program

Social Flights deploys turbine powered commuter aircraft to small communities to provide frequent direct service to the nearest major hub allowing access to the world.

Uniform Booking Platform

The Social Flights provides operators with a free online scheduling and automating quoting system that will save them thousands of dollars per actual flight.

Systemized inventory listing

Operators effectively list their inventory and the system matches the right aircraft with the right mission thereby improving yields.

Ride Sharing

National itinerary allows for the sale of private jet service on a “per seat” basis instead of a customer chartering a whole jet.

Corporate Travel Programs

Corporate and VIP owners can increase Yield and utilization of aircraft for greater profits without sacrificing benefits of ownership.

Community Organization

Social Flights helps communities to determine where they want to fly.  We provide aircraft, training, operations, consulting, and regulatory authority to operate community charter operations.  Then we integrate the system into our Nationwide platform.

How do we do it?

Social Flights provides a single platform that acts as a clearinghouse for community information about REAL ASSETS – not just demographics for sale to marketers.

The social flights data can be used to create opportunities with a new class of business methods and applications from scheduling air service, to organizing a group of friends for Spring Break.

Social Flights allows smaller communities to access hub airport quickly, directly, frequently and inexpensively so that they can have economic access to the world.

Social Flights allows corporations and VIP aircraft owners to maximize the return on their aircraft investment while retaining the flexibility of ownership.

Social Flights liberates millions of people from the weaknesses of the increasingly fragile and segmented commercial aviation system while retaining the strengths of the hub airport efficiency.

Social Flights improves aviation.

Branson Air, in cooperation with CFM aviation and Social Flights, is offering a special on air service between Branson Missouri and Nashville Tennessee. This limited time price may not last long since the route is filling fast – both of these cities are world recognized for their entertainment and cultural attributes.  Now Social Flights brings them together at an astonishing low price.

To put things in perspective, simply perform a search for airline pricing between these cities:

You’ll find that major airlines are willing to give you the privilege of paying 500 dollars and waiting 8 hours (including security and check in) to take the same trip.  These cities are only 435 miles apart – you can drive in less time than that.  Seriously, who is watching these numbers?

Social Flights will get you there in 1/3 the time and 1/3 the cost of flying commercial airlines.  When you fly Social Flights you can often avoid extra overnights, hotel fees, and days off work. You wouldn’t even need to carry all that extra baggage in the first place!

If you are wondering how you can spend all that extra time check out these two lists that we’ve compiled with our friends in each city.

102 things to do in Branson          102 things to do in Nashville

You will find some of friendliest, hard working, and talented people in the United States in these two cities.  Now you can experience all the magic and none of the harassment for 1/3 rd the price.

A recipe for opportunity

Most importantly, there are many things that were never economically possible between these two cities,  but now are.  That is what opportunity is made of.

People who follow Social Flights know that our business model is hugely disruptive to the airlines.  They know that Social Flights opens new frontiers of opportunity.  They know that Social Flights liberates stranded communities from Airline Chess Masters.  With air service between Branson and Nashville for under 100 dollars – this is only the beginning.

Who knew that having fun could be such serious business?

Branson Air, in cooperation with CFM aviation and Social Flights, is offering a special on air service between Austin Texas and Branson Missouri. This price may not last long since the route is filling fast and there is no wonder why.

If you are asking yourself what you would do when you get to your final destination,  just check out these two posts:

102 Things to do in Branson          101 Things to do in Austin

Or, think of it this way:  

Do a Google search on “Austin Tx Facebook” and you’ll received 134 Million returns.  Next, perform a search on terms: “Branson MO Facebook” and you’ll receive 3.7 Million returns. Finally, do a search on the terms “Branson MO Austin TX Facebook” and you’ll received 1.1 Million returns.

Next search for airfare between Branson to Austin and you’ll find the following result:

A recipe for opportunity

While this is far from a scientific research study, there is little doubt that many people in Branson know somebody in Austin and vice versa.  There are many people in Austin that can find a reason to hop a quick plane out to Branson with all of their friends.

Most importantly, there are many things that were never economically possible between these two cities,  but now are.  That is what opportunity is made of.

People who follow Social Flights know that our business model is hugely disruptive to the airlines.  They know that Social Flights opens new frontiers of opportunity.  They know that Social Flights liberates stranded communities from Airline Chess Masters.  With air service between Branson and Austin for under 100 dollars – this is only the beginning.

So the choice is simple;

There are hundreds of things to do with millions of friends, colleagues, relatives, and business relationships for 200 dollars on a flight that lasts less than two hours. Or, spend close to 500 dollars on a 15 hour boondoggle losing two days of work and spending an two extra nights in a hotel with people you don’t know.  The choice is obvious.

Who knew that having fun could be such serious business?

Branson Air, in cooperation with CFM aviation and Social Flights, is offering a special on air service between Austin Texas and Branson Missouri. If you book through Social Flights, you’ll receive an additional 20 dollars discount for a limited time when you mention this post.

If you are wondering what to do when you get to your final destination,  just check out these two posts:

102 Things to do in Branson          101 Things to do in Austin

Or, think of it this way:  

I did a google search on “Austin Tx Facebook” and received 134 Million returns.  Then, I did a search on “Branson MO Facebook” and received 3.7 Million returns. Finally, I did a search on the term “Branson MO Austin TX Facebook” and received 1.1 Million returns.

Next I did a search on airfare Branson to Austin and found the following result:

A recipe for opportunity

While this is far from a scientific research study, there is little doubt that many people in Branson know somebody in Austin and vice versa.  There are many people in Austin that can find a reason to hop a quick plane out to Branson with all of their friends.

Most importantly, there are many things that were never economically possible between these two cities,  but now are.  That is what opportunity is made of.

People who follow Social Flights know that our business model is hugely disruptive to the airlines.  They know that Social Flights opens new frontiers of opportunity.  They know that Social Flights liberates stranded communities from Airline Chess Masters.  With air service between Branson and Austin for under 100 dollars – this is only the beginning.

So the choice is simple;

There are hundreds of things to do with millions of friends, colleagues, relatives, and business relationships for 160 dollars on a flight that lasts less than two hours. Or, spend close to 500 dollars on a 15 hour flight losing two days of work and spending an two extra nights in a hotel with people you don’t know.  The choice is obvious.

Who knew that having fun could be such serious business?

Paraphrased from an excellent article in the Wichita Business Journal by Emily Behlmann:

With all the attention social media is getting these days, (the results) of a recent survey shows that 45 percent said social media was a low priority.  Deanna Harms, executive vice president at the Greteman Group , a Wichita branding agency who lists aviation brands to be a specialty, says business aviation companies, some of the most major brands in Wichita, have hung back on [Social Media] even more than other B2B firms.

Harms says she thinks one reason could be related to recent criticism of business jets as unnecessary luxuries. “Even in newsletters, it’s difficult to get aircraft owners to agree to being profiled,” Harms says. “You’ve heard the campaign ‘No plane. No gain.’ Aircraft owners, unfortunately, often think, ‘No ink. No criticism.’ The minute you start talking about your use of business aviation, the naysayers attack.”

Let’s rethink this:

Social Flights uses social media tools to fill empty legs and sell primary charter “by the seat”.  We also provide limited calendar air service (FAA Part 380 Public Charter).  In addition to marketing, we use these tools to aggregate private airplane operators and their inventory so we can “systemize” a large virtual fleet.

These innovations are a far cry from the domain of the demonized elitist corporate jet owner.  In fact, we are hearing from dozens of small communities who are functionally stranded without access to commercial aviation with very few other practical travel modes. Communities passionately ask us for air- service into a hub like Atlanta instead of bouncing around several regional airports and enduring a 3-hour drive to anywhere.  Millions of American need access to each other and global markets beyond their parochial economies.  People need opportunities – that’s what social media is all about.

You can’t Globalize until you Regionalize

Regionalization is where small communities want direct service to other small communities.  Social Flights is introducing air service between Branson MO, Nashville, Tri-cities TN,  Austin, and Milwaukee. It almost takes less time to drive between some of these places than to fly commercial. The same holds true for Wichita.

It Boils down to Supply and Demand

Meanwhile, hundreds of commuter jets are coming into the market.  Utilization of corporate jets is 1/20 of a commercial jet.  Corporations are looking for increased revenue from their jet assets.  Manufacturers can deliver white tails into a new air-service system to keep production lines steady. Airlines can off load volatility (overbooking and low yield flights) to private carriers, Next Gen air traffic control will open thousands of smaller airports to air service, ironically, this includes Wichita.

This boils down to huge inventory, huge need, greater efficiency, and nobody to serve the market.  Our prediction is that Social media is the glue that will hold this thing together.  People travel across their social graph (Facebook, linkedin, and g+ connections) not to the hub airports, period.  People want to work where they live and play, not just surviving in 1 of 28 U.S. hub cities. People want to go to where they are going.

There is profound opportunity in private aviation and Social Flights is the pioneer.

Social Flights is now offering air service to Austin from Nashville and Milwaukee via Branson.  This marks a new age in air transportation called “regionalization” – when smaller cities can conne3ct directly with other smaller cities without having to fly through a major hub airport.

In celebration of these new routes, we are pulling together the communities in these cities to find out what is happening in town.  Use these blog posts to combine business with pleasure or family life the next time you need to go to Austin.

List Compiled by

1. Polar Bear Plunge at Barton Springs 

2 Red River Free Week

3 Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park

4 Kebabalicious

5 Spider House

6 Common Interest

7  Musashino

8  Tribute to the King at the Continental Club

9. Saturday Night Live Brunch at Alamo Drafthouse

10  Bouldin Creek Coffee House & Cafe

11. Franklin BBQ

12. Walnut Creek Metropolitian Park

13. Free Fitness Workouts

14. Mariachi Band at El Sol y La Luna

15. The Soup Peddler

16. Grand Opening of Austinville 78704

17. Martin Luther King March & Celebration

18 Iron Works BBQ

19. Jimmy Clay Golf Course 

20. Thursday Night Social Ride

21. Get Fit Austin! Open House

22. Chili Cook Off For Charity

23. Free Cooking Class at Williams Sonoma

24. The Park at Brushy Creek

25. Tacos and Tequilia

26. Volunteer at a Homeless Shelter

27. Farmhouse Delivery

28. Yappy Hour

29. Jester King Brewery Grand Opening Celebration

30. Matt’s El Rancho

31. El Greco

32. All City Subs

33. Armadillo Day at the West Pole

34. Braise Austin

35. The Matchmaker Band at Speakeasy

36. Mock Surgery Day at Seton Hospital

37. The Doggie Bowl at The Highball

38. Dominican Joe

39. Austin Table Tennis Club

40. Hoffbrau Steaks

41. 2011 Bobby Bones Singles Mingle

42. Jerry Jeff Walker at One World Theatre

43. Saturday Night Fever Dance Party at The Iron Cactus

44. Thai Noodle House

45. Love Bites: The Power Ballad Sing-A-Long at Alamo Drafthouse

46. Vounteer/Donate/Get Involved With Austin’s Yellow Bike Project

47. Terra Burger

48. Paco’s Tacos

49. Paradise Bingo

50. Kite Making Workshop

51. Livestrong Post Marathon Party at the Hyatt

52. Pub Quizzes at Shangri’La

53. Vino Vino

54. Rooftop Architecture Film Series at Arthouse

55. Goldilocks at Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre

56. 18th Annual “Juggle” Fest

57. 2nd Street Soundcheck Party

58. North American Handmade Bike Show

59. Mariachi Ensemble at The St. Edwards Music Festival

60. East Side Kings

61. Texas The Big Picture at The Bob Bullock Museum

62. Frank & Angie’s Pizzeria

63. Uncorked Tasting Room & Wine Bar

64. Explore UT

65. Zilker Kite Festival

66. 13th Annual Townes Van Zandt Birthday Salute at Cactus Cafe

67. Celebrate Fat Tuesday with Cypress Grill

68. Phara’s

69. Art from the iPod

70. SXSW

71. Rodeo Austin

72. Bacon Takedown

73. The Driskill Grill

74. Blunn Creek Greenbelt

75. South by Soup Fest

76. BD Riley’s Irish Pub St. Patrick’s Day Party

77. Japan Nite 2011

78. “365 Things Austin Live Music Extravaganza” Unofficial SXSW Party

79. Austin Dog Fair

80 Apothecary Cafe & Wine Bar

81. Free “Country Current” Concert at City Hall

82. Texas Tunes into Africa

83. Flash Mob: A Tribute to Japan

84. Guy Forsyth at Central Market Cafe

85. 54th Annual Zilker Garden Festival

86. Austin Jazz Society 3rd Annual Tribute Concert

87. Thunderbird Coffee

88 Cooking/Baking Classes at Silver Whisk Cooking School

89. Free Yoga In The Park

90. Texas Hill Country Food & Wine Festival

91. Edible Book Festival

92. Lonestar Rod & Kustom Round Up

93. Art City Austin

94. Bikini’s Sports Bar & Grill

95. Coreanos

96. Grand Opening of Torchy’s Tacos on South Lamar

97. Beatles Tribute at Threadgill’s

98. Austin International Poetry Festival

99. Dog Day Afternoon

100. Steiner Ranch Farmer’s Market

101. Fly Social Flights to Branson, Milwaukee or Nashville!!