July 15, 2008
What do you do if you're an airline bleeding money on fuel and have already cut back on every customer service you can think of? If you're Delta, you start selling ads on boarding passes.
The airline today began issuing boarding passes with coupons and ads for event promotions in the markets where the travelers happened to be headed. A company called Sojern, Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska, coordinates the ad sales and says it plans to partner with at least five airlines.
Sojern will collect the revenue and distribute it among its partner airlines, which will eventually include United, US Airways, Northwest and Continental.
Marketing to the captive audience aboard an airliner is not exactly new, though Sojern is the first to come up with the ads on boarding passes idea. Currently US Airways is selling ad space on its tray tables. Other airlines have sold promotional messages on ticket folders, an occasionally, on overhead bins.
Since most boarding passes are obtained and printed online, the ads have an interactive element to them, with links to the advertiser's Web site. Passengers who wish to may get more information about the advertisers.
Delta's boarding pass ad campaign will be limited at the beginning to flights to Las Vegas. The current pass contains ads for shows and a golf package.
