New York – If you want a pillow and blanket in coach on US Airways, it’s going to cost you $7.
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US Airways said Thursday it will begin charging for its “Power-Nap Sack” on Feb. 16. It’s following the lead of JetBlue Airways, which announced a similar policy last summer.
Airlines are adding fees on checked luggage and now pillows and blankets to raise more money as they battle a downturn in travel caused by the recession. US Airways reported that January traffic fell 6.2 percent.
Kevin Jackson, a marketing official for Tempe-based US Airways, said selling the pillows and blankets “is a natural extension of our ‘pay for what you choose and use’ model we began rolling out last year.”
Jackson said the sleep kit was an affordable way for passengers to increase their comfort while flying.
The kits include a 34-by-60-inch fleece blanket, a neck pillow, eye shades, foam ear plugs and a $10-off coupon for items in the SkyMall catalog. They come in a fleece drawstring bag embroidered with the airline’s logo.
The airline said it will stop handing out free pillows and blankets in coach on domestic flights. Customers in first class and in Envoy and Economy class on trans-Atlantic flights will continue getting complimentary pillows and blankets.
The kits won’t be available on US Airways Express.
For customers who can’t wait until Feb. 16 for their own US Airways-embroidered nap kit, the company said they went on sale Thursday at the airline’s Web site.
Based on th FAA tape that came out this morning, I hope they don’t get the idea of charging for life jackets.
Next thing you know, they’ll start charging for oxygen.
Yeh so when you land in the hudson river, you should have a softer landing
If that’s a sale and not a rental, it’s a pretty good price. Just buy them once and use them each time you fly.
CHUTZPAH,
does it float?
credit crunch
Yup, I was always wondering why it was free in the first place
They are also charging $12.00 for a kosher or vegertarian snack. The kosher snack was a dried out turkey sandwich with questionable hashgacha. When I googled the name of the mashgiach, the first several cites had an “alov hasholem” abbreviation after his name which is never a good sign.
is the toilet still free?
first they blamed it on high gas prices…. now that gas is low they blame it on the credit crunch….. all lies
the chutzpah is dont they see that ppl arent flying and they should give things for free when ppl do fly WE R DOING THEM THE FAVOR by flying or else they would all have pillows and blankets without any passengers….. i guess i will fly spirit or some other airline that doesnt charge YET………….
“Jackson said the sleep kit was an affordable way for passengers to increase their comfort while flying.”
What does “comfort while flying” mean? Coach is the equivalent of the city bus of the skies. What’s affordable about something that was free up until now? There’s so many things wrong with that statement.
A bende ganuvim. charge an extra 7$ for the ticket.! Make ur customers feel good that u provide them good service. Paying for each pitshivke does not make good service.
Who needs it,you can put your seat back and sleep.I never had it really cold on a flight …….so no cover needed.
do you get to keep it or not???
lower prices more people fly
Get real!
1, Many of us pick flights based on lowest fare. The airline stherefor sell the lowest fare they can and then unbundle and sell pillows as an extra.
2,I am not germ-phobic but I wold rather pay for a new pillow than se the free,USED pillows on board. NO, they are not washed betwen uses or even daily anymore.
so who wants to shlep it back and forth on each flight?
I might as well just take daytime flights, so I won’t have to be bothered about sleeping on the plane…besides sleeping on airplanes are no picnic…
and where is this money going to exactly….
could you imagine that one day the price will be $7.05 because you will have to pay .05 cents for the bag
How much do they charge for life jackets?
I cant believe there are so many comments about charging $7 for a bissle comfort.
i just flew jet blue and was offered the $7.00 pillow I figured what the heck I’ll bring it home as a suvenier for my kids. BTW the eye shades and ears plugs are still free on jet blue
Soon they will charge for the seat!!!!