Is It Time To Separate Passengers From Luggage ?

[thorsten]

Any of the valid issues mentioned in this thread (and there are a lot) are just "another issue on its own"... Even though you seem not to care if your luggage comes with you, if you are allowed to bring your electronics on a long intercontinental flight to work/entertain yourself or if a "cheap cargo drone" explodes and falls on top of your head, I'd guess the majority of people (which are potential customers) disagree with you. And if you'd find customers, I'm pretty sure the company would be broke within a few weeks as the 50% cost savings you imagine are pretty unrealistic.

 

[RodalfoWalsh]

Let me say it more clearly, I think you're substantially overestimating the size of most regional aircraft. Maybe you could add a couple of rows to a 747 cargo hold but do you have any idea of how little space a 737 has down there? And even in a 747, how do you plumb the toilets? Who sits on top of the landing gear?

This is pure craziness.

 

[Ries]

this is an amusing fantasy.
which would never happen for dozens of practical reasons.

currently, the technology does not exist for a "cheap cargo drone".
But if it did, such a thing, exploding over a city, would certainly not be a "who cares" moment.

Anyway, since its so completely impossible for physical, legal, economic, and practical reasons, it is not something I am going to worry about.

However, in the "if you are so smart, how come you aint rich" category, if you can guarantee that a ticket will cost half what it does now, I suggest you cash in the balance on your Sube card, and start an airline. You could be the next Donald Trump.

 

[khairyexpat]

However, "if you are so smart, how come you aint rich"

Ouch !

 

[Ries]

I am not trying to be mean- you can get rich with your half price airline after you patent your terabyte CD rom system.
You are just ignoring physical reality, because you like your idea- which is fine, I like my ideas, too.

But, consider this- a Predator Drone, which can carry a whopping 800lbs, and has a range of 200 miles, costs about 5 million, not counting the $4 Billion they spent developing it. It requires access to multi-billion dollar military satellite systems, takes 180 people to handle, fuel, fly, and maintain, and requires at least one hour of maintenance for every hour in the sky. The pilots actually need to be BETTER than a run of the mill commuter flight pilot.
Hourly expenses are estimated at a minimum of five to seven thousand dollars per hour in the air, not counting the expenses of the bases and satellite systems that enable it to be controlled.

Imagine the cost multiples to make a drone big enough to fly 200 peoples luggage from Miami to Buenos Aires- and we would be talking many times what a passenger ticket costs.

The absolute cheapest way to fly a plane is with a pilot- commuter airlines in the USA often pay as little as 25 grand a year to pilots. Remote control adds a huge amount to the cost.

And, the drones that the air force uses- the Predators- they have lost over fifty of them to accidents, weather, and just plain unexplained "whoops" incidents- an unmanned aircraft has nobody to notice something going wrong soon enough to correct the problem. The failure rate is far higher for drones than for piloted planes.

the cheapest way to haul luggage would be similar to the way FED-EX hauls packages- with used 757s, which Fed-ex buys for about ten million each, then puts another five million into to make them flyable freighters.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-03-03/fedex-sets-10-million-price-on-boeing-757-jets-freight-markets

 

[khairyexpat]

the cheapest way to haul luggage would be similar to the way FED-EX hauls packages- with used 757s, which Fed-ex buys for about ten million each, then puts another five million into to make them flyable freighters.

Absolutely !!!!!!

Expert companies like FED-EX sure would know how Airlines can make something along those lines happen.
Luggage leaves as per usual and arrives as per usual transparently.
Passenger will not notice any thing different, or that his luggage was transported on a second hand old cargo clunker.

Luggage flying on passenger planes is a luxury expense wasted .... (besides the original point .... it`s complicated and DANGEROUS).

 

[mikic007]

There could be a way for weighting passengers, since even if I'm big and therefore heavy comparing to an average girl, l agree it's not fair she is actually paying also for me. This could be done with some equation, not simple -20 is +20 in the luggage. No real numbers, just few kg more or less for luggage. This will happen, but for sure in softer way than rude weighting of people and screaming their kgs over the counter...

 

[Gringoboy]

Perhaps it's time to separate passengers from their clothes?

 

[Redbeanz]

Perhaps it's time to separate passengers from their clothes?

... And their wallets. Oh, wait! They already did that!

 

[John1017]

Interesting idea, I like these outside the box what if solutions. I don't think it's a good idea to separate people from their luggage, I think we are separated from our luggage too much as it is already.. We need to have some accountability for our items when we travel. I also think it would be better to spend the time, effort and money into developing better security and more efficient airport screening. Make planes more soundproof and energy efficient. Maybe make planes like Michael Keaton's bat mobile that could detect when a hazardous item is on board. Retina scanners to scan passengers emotional state. Perhaps be able to detect a nervous terrorist. But then again we get into the privacy, freedom vs security debate.