An ode to the corporate jet…
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending about four hours at the airport in Milwaukee, listening to the folks at Continental Airlines (CAL) make ever-more creative excuses about why the plane was so delayed. It started with weather and ended with the fact that the plane was only able to make right-hand turns. Or maybe it was that it couldn’t make right-hand turns. In any event, it wasn’t until 7 p.m. that I learned that my 4:45 flight wasn’t taking off that night.
After spending about a half hour buying cheese-related souveniers at the gift shop, like chocolate cheese fudge, my mind started to wander to the benefits of a corporate jet: the ability to show up just before the flight, getting real food, instead of Pizza Hut, and not having to go through extra security just because my flight was switched to Midwest Air (MEH) through no fault of my own. Suddenly, having access to a Gulstream seemed like a pretty cool thing. For about five minutes, I started to wonder if I was being too tough on CEOs and their high-flying ways.
Consider this my long-winded way of saying that there won’t be a real footnoted.org post today. I’ll be back with a regular post on Monday.
|
Posted in |
 2 Comments » |
RSS
May 12th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
The good news is that you were in the Milwaukee airport and they have decent food.
The other good news is that Midwest Airlines is a way cool airline where you at least get leather seats and two-across seating.
But, yes, a Gulfstream would be better. May it happen for you.
Thanks for ahring your insights on your blog from a loyal subscriber (who used to live in Wisconsin and flew Midwest Airlines all the time…).
Scot
May 13th, 2006 at 11:33 am
As someone who used to be in the corporate aviation industry (on the brokerage side), I am very well aware of the fact that private jets are often abused as a perk, and I’m certain that a lot of shareholders of public companies would be appalled to learn of the extent to which execs fly on the company (i.e., shareholder) dime. Having said that, however, I also think that the positive business aspects of private aviation are largely misunderstood and under-appreciated.
To underline my point, the National Business Aviation Association sells a software package called Travel$sense which facilitates real-life comparisons of the cost of flying private vs. commercial. Once you factor in the time savings coupled with 1) the high salaries most execs receive, 2) the increased (POTENTIAL) productivity of being able to work or hold a meeting in private at 50,000 feet, and 3) the fact that the most airlines gouge on last minute ticket purchases, flying private can often be a break-even or cost-saving proposition.
Again, I’m no longer in the industry, and I fully acknowledge that abuse of corporate jets is rampant. But sometimes there IS a very compelling business case.