Originally Posted by
iahphx
When you go to a movie theatre, you don't expect to get a drink and snack for free. If you want them, you have to pay for them -- at an inflated price, no less.
This is a terrible comparison for more reasons than already mentioned.
1) If the cinema charges you $10 for a movie and $5 for a drink, the drink is a massive revenue increase. For every customer they annoy, they make a killing off another. If an airline charges you $200 for a ticket and $2 for a drink, the revenue increase is tiny. For every customer they annoy ... there is almost no upside!
2) A theatre isn't a super-low-humidity environment. Who needs a drink during a 2-hr movie? I don't, but I definitely need one during a 4-hr flight. Extortion over luxuries is always more accepted than extortion over necessities.
3) The plane crew would either have to take cash or plastic, both of which have significant overheads. The overhead of accepting credit cards for $2 a time is a significant proportion of the (airline) cost of the drink, which makes the whole exercise incredibly inefficient. Bad for the airline. Bad for the consumer. Good for the credit card processing companies. Maybe that's who this guy is really working for?