It used to be that airlines were in charge of attracting passengers while airports just quietly went about their business. In the last few years, though, industry dynamics have changed and airport facilities are now front and center. Cities have been left to to sell themselves to potential flyers, with the result being what USA Today is sensationally calling "The Airport Wars." These involve campaigns and travel ads that promote home airports, highlight their amenities, and even sometimes explicitly trash rival airports.
Before we get to some examples, a bit of context. There are positive and negative changes driving these efforts. On the good side, you've got a combination of LCCs, online travel agencies, and technological savviness empowering passengers. Flyers can and do mix and match their own connections. On the downside, you've got airlines decreasing their amenities, forcing airports to step up. The results have included everything from SFO's cheerful "I Wanna Go Through SFO" campaign (see the video after the jump), to Edmonton International's gloves-off attack ads on rival airport Calgary:"When you go south, so does your air service." That's just mean.
If you look very closely around the 1:00 minute mark you'll see one of our absolute favorite SFO perks. Free pinball machines! If we had done the spot, that would have been pretty much the entire commercial. Just people stuck on layovers playing free pinball. How awesome would that have been? Honestly, we should be in charge of things.
Do you think the "Airport Wars" are for the good of passengers, or should airports just stick with they've got?
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