Startup All-You-Can-Fly Airline Dodges TSA Using Horde of Tiny Planes
The suckiness of flying has come to the attention of entrepreneur Wade Eyerly, who has a plan to take your money and make your life better. Give him $150 a month and he will give you access to a booking system stocked with a bunch of tiny planes zooming up and down the east coast between Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The best part? The size of the flights lets flyers opt out of many of the elements (*cough* TSA *cough*) that make air travel unbearable:
PlaneRed is an all-you-can-eat flight subscription launching around September 1st 2011 that will fly just below the TSA's radar—using 9-person planes to dodge under their screening of any plane carrying over 10 passengers.
Important note: The airline doesn't actually exist yet. Starting an airline is pretty hard. And when the TSA gets wind of the plan, expect the Leviathan to awake and lumber in its general direction. But if Eyerly manages to get PlaneRed up and running, I know quite a few D.C. frequent flyers who would fall gratefully at the man's feet.
As a former (or perhaps current?) economist at the Defense Intelligence Agency, CEO Eyerly is all too familiar with a lesser-known way that taxpayers are subsidizing existing airlines. Sez Eyerly:
We are constantly reading about bankrupt airlines, unprofitable airlines, and those that are bailed out. Americans have to fly—our economy demands mobility. So—the taxpayer ends up subsidizing travel. (Don't think so? Ask about the government travel rate on your next flight. It'll be 5 times what you paid.)
Further Internet stalking reveals this important information about Eyerly as well:
Plus, he's a Mormon. And we all know how I feel about Mormons.