In these times when everyone (rightly) bitches about the state of the domestic civil aviation industry, calls to bring back the glory days of airline regulation grow louder and louder. As bad as things have gotten, it's hard to see it happening, but who knows?
What did airline regulation bring us that was good? Higher prices, yes, but sustained profitability too! Oh and because there were very few opportunities to compete, companies competed on whose stewardesses dressed the sexiest. But everyone knows that.
Anyway, cool piece in the WSJ about what KLM did to get around regulations that limited its ability to lavish gifts on first and business-class passengers back in the 70s. Apparently (and they still do this today) they got to giving out fancy, collectible bottles of booze in the shape of famous Dutch houses:
For 56 years, KLM has handed out a coveted souvenir: small ceramic replicas of historically significant houses filled with Dutch gin and topped with a cork. Many people can't get enough of them. The rarest houses -- given only to honeymooners -- can trade for upwards of $1,000.
"It's crazy the lengths we'll go to," says Ms. de Boer, a South African who has collected some 300 houses and displays them at home in a house-shaped cabinet. On her recent trip, she asked the flight attendant to start distributing houses near her seat, in hopes of getting first dibs.
Apparently some aren't so expensive, though I'm not totally confident about the authenticity of these eBay listings. But at least they give a good picture of what's for sale here.
So yeah, bring back regulation. No more competition on price and routes, but some hella cool bottles of gin.
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