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Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

planered.com

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Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#21

Post by danneu »

sethg wrote: post #17
mef wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, they will exclusively fly 9-passenger planes in order to skirt the TSA rule of screening for planes that fly 10 or more.

Did the TSA determined that nine-passenger planes aren’t big enough to do anything significant if they’re hijacked, or did they determine that anyone who can afford to fly on a 9-passenger plane is too rich to suffer the same screening that us mere mortals have to go through?

The largest nuclear family amongst the jet-owning policy-makers that drafted TSA legislation was 9 people.

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#22

Post by IgorPartola »

Retric wrote: post #10
mayneack wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use username+PlaneRed@gmail.com so you can filter it all out later if it was a waste of time.

It's also vary easy to strip out username+ @gmail.com to username@gmail.com. Honestly, if I had a list of email address I was about to spam it's one of the first steps I would take.

Then only use username+@gmail.com and filter anything that goes directly to username@gmail.com :). I never found spam to be a problem when using GMail, and my e-mail address is publicly accessible in multiple places.

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#23

Post by colinplamondon »

The $150 is a teaser rate.

From their email:

"A few weeks before we start flying we'll begin selling subscriptions. We will be rewarding our earliest supporters (the first 500), and those who recruit the most friends to PlaneRed with $150/month all-you-can-fly pricing. Obviously, the number of subscriptions we can sell at that price are pretty limited. So please - tell your friends to ensure that you get one!"

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#24

Post by Bostwick »

seanmccann wrote: post #14

A two hour flight would cost at the very minimum $6000. With a maximum of 10 passengers, that works out to $600/ per passenger. I don't understand how they can offer this for $150/mo. Perhaps they bombard passengers with advertisements or do scientific experiments to them.

From their blog (http://planered.tumblr.com/):

We’d like to get subscriptions down to $150 a month. In fact, we’re guaranteeing that rate to some early subscribers, and the top PlaneRed.com referrers.

But, if at that rate we just can’t put enough planes in the sky to meet demand - we’ll have to charge a little more on the subscription - or add a small $25 cost for each flight. (We know - that ruins the ‘all you can fly’ but we’ve had several folks make passionate cases for doing so.) What do you think? Which would be better $250 a month, or $150 a month, and $25 per flight?

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#25

Post by bryanlarsen »

blhack wrote: post #2

Am I the only one that absolutely hates these types of pages? "We really won't tell you any specifics of what we're doing, but give us your email address and we'll be sure to send you advertisements when we decide to!" Do these things usually work? If it's a YC startup, or is being done by a friend or something, I'll usually give up my email address, but when it's just "we promise the moon! We'll respect your email,…

Remember that you have a powerful weapon at your disposal. If you and a few others mark their emails as spam in GMail, all of their emails could start disappearing into the black hole, putting a serious crimp on their business.

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#26

Post by chopsueyar »

seanmccann wrote: post #12
mef wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, they will exclusively fly 9-passenger planes in order to skirt the TSA rule of screening for planes that fly 10 or more.

I must be the only one that doesn't mind going through the TSA screening. It usually takes 2 minutes and isn't a big deal. The fact that these guys circumvent the TSA screening rule could almost make PlaneRed flights a greater target for malicious activity.

Do you mean all 9 passengers being malicious?

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#27

Post by rocktronica »

pitdesi wrote: post #16

This is a really tough sell... There is no screening for planes smaller than 10 passengers if there is no "sterile" area at either airport. This means that they'll have to fly into smaller airports, which (often) means you're further from the city, with no rental car, public transportation, etc. They will likely be flying small propeller planes, which many people don't like... props make sense for these short routes…

That tweet frustrates the hell out of me. Am I wrong to read "tech geniuses" as kind of condescending?

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#29

Post by a3camero »

mayneack wrote: post #5
blhack wrote: post #2

Am I the only one that absolutely hates these types of pages? "We really won't tell you any specifics of what we're doing, but give us your email address and we'll be sure to send you advertisements when we decide to!" Do these things usually work? If it's a YC startup, or is being done by a friend or something, I'll usually give up my email address, but when it's just "we promise the moon! We'll respect your email,…

Just use username+PlaneRed@gmail.com so you can filter it all out later if it was a waste of time.

Alternative: planered@yourdomain.com.

Re: Startup Airline to offer all-you-can-fly subscriptions for $150/m

#30

Post by sedachv »

If they're bootstrapped as they say they are, and can get revenue right away, more power to them. Air taxis were supposed to be the hot new thing in 2008. I think Ron Garrett (cofounder of what became Virgin Charter) has an account on HN; I hope he'll comment.
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