Possible Flight Insurance?

[MichaelT]

Something I was thinking about when traveling recently was that there should be a way where you can pay extra money, in addition to the cost of the plane ticket, to try to make sure that your flight isn't super late in its scheduled departure time compared to when it actually departs.  For example, say that when you paid this extra money, you could get a 20% refund of the price of your ticket if the plane is delayed a lot, and if the plane keeps to its scheduled time of departure, then that extra "flight insurance" money could go towards the purchase of the airline's stock.  So, the way I see it, it incentivizes the airline to keep close to their scheduled flight times, and if they do a good job of that, they get to keep the extra "insurance money" while you (the passenger) also would hopefully benefit if the airline does well in the stock market.

[TheMiddleSeat]

Sounds like an interesting business idea. Go for it.

--TheMiddleSeat

[MichaelT]

Thanks for the encouragement.  Do you think this is too similar to travel insurance that other companies already offer?

[bec102896]

I guess my question would be what would happen in delays the airline can't control (weather, airport closures) i feel like the airline would then lose and be giving everyone free stock because once one flight is delayed the rest of that day will be delayed unless they can swap planes and crews. 

[MichaelT]

That's an interesting point.  Weather, airport closures, etc, are all things I hadn't considered much (yet), but when you say free stock, I'm not talking about free stock.  I'm talking about converting additional money, besides the price of the plane ticket, that passengers have paid for the "insurance" to go towards the purchase of the stock.  So, this is money that the passenger has already paid to the airline, and the money would stay with the airline even if it is the airline's stock.

But, to answer your actual question, perhaps there would be a policy where, if your flight is the first flight after a plane has arrived from a route where there were some type of delay(s), then the flight would be eligible for stock purchasing with the pre-provided "insurance" money.  If your flight is 2+ stops away from where an unavoidable delay has occurred, then the flight would be ineligible for this 'feature'.

Or maybe, the policy says that "you have 4 hours from the posted departure time (determined 2 hours before the flight's scheduled departure time) to get the plane in the air."

I'm just thinking about these things while typing them out, FYI.  They don't sound bad in my head, but that doesn't mean they're actually good.