Come Fly with Me

Eight out of ten Americans have never flown--and the airline industry figures that three of those eight cannot, for various reasons, be lured onto an airplane. That leaves half of the population for the airline industry to work on in its effort to win more customers. Last week in Washington the industry's marketing executives met to ponder why so many stay earthbound and to figure out new ways to tempt them into the air. The task is vital to the lines: for every additional 1% of the population that they succeed in attracting to flight, they gain $100 million in revenues. This year they are flying more people than ever before--and making more money than ever doing it.

The lines already know quite a few of the answers to the problem of the earthbound. They have decided that the fear of crashes actually deters only a handful, and that some are afraid of the confusion of getting on and off planes. The biggest deterrent still seems to be the high cost of air fares compared with other transportation costs, even though fares are generally lower now than a few years ago. To overcome such blocks to air travel, the industry is cutting many fares, offering special cut-rate plans and vastly increasing its range of services to add more comfort and convenience to the trip.

Lonely Businessman. United Air Lines last week moved to lower some first-class fares on a scale ranging up to 15%, and other lines have made fare cuts in recent weeks. TWA has introduced a family plan under which wives can fly for two-thirds of the coach fare and children for one-third, has been copied by several other lines. With American Express, airlines are stressing "lonely businessman" packages under which businessmen's wives can come along for half-fare. Foreign visitors get special rates: $150 on Braniff for 30-day coach-class privileges.

The airlines have stepped up their advertising budgets and, since everyone now has roughly the same equipment, have switched to stressing the gleaming cities and glorious resorts to which they fly. Western now offers "North Country Adventures" in Alaska; United boosts a trip to San Francisco in the East and one to New York in the West. National has a ladies' flight to Florida that includes, for coach fare plus $171, a seven-day hotel stay and lessons in health and beauty care, sculpture, bridge and stock-market investing. Along with car-rental companies, airlines are pushing plane-car packages ($99 a week for a rented car and one tank of gas).

No Weight Limit. To eliminate one of the most complained-about airline practices, American Airlines and United recently filed plans with the Civil Aeronautics Board to scrap the 40-lb. baggage weight limit (the big new jets make the limit practically academic) and substitute a piece limit regardless of weight; last week TWA joined the trend by asking the CAB to approve its own more liberal system. In addition to the rapid growth of in-flight entertainment and the prevalence of "gourmet" meals on longer flights, the lines are going out of their way to make the cabin more like home. Western provides portable typewriters and dictating machines and a new, disposable plastic cocktail glass that permits eight extra minutes of drinking time on short flights. Continental has a flight director aboard who will radio ahead for hotel reservations. National gives out "bow-wow boxes" for those who want to bring part of their gourmet meal home to their dogs.

Such conveniences, of course, are meant primarily as competitive features to attract the people who fly (three-quarters of whom are businessmen) to a specific airline, but they also serve--along with lower fares--to draw the first-time passenger. Eastern Air Lines attributes its remarkable comeback from clouds of red ink to its use of additional passenger services. American now puts out a pamphlet for the nervous, "Tips on Making Your First Air Trip." Since Western began cutting prices three years ago, 5% to 10% of its new passengers have been people who have never flown before. Since the younger generation have grown up with airplanes as a part of their lives and do not have the fears of their elders, the airlines feel that passenger traffic in the years ahead is bound to rise sharply.

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