Derrie-Air Ready for Take-Offby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 09 Jun 2008 11:55 PM It's an airline that would have been thoroughly embraced by Bart Simpson and his dad Homer, but alas it turns out that a new carrier called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charged passengers by the pound, is as fictional as the big-eyed, yellow-skinned characters from animated Springfield. Only not everyone who saw the ads for the fake airline knew they were a joke. D'Oh! Late last week millions of unsuspecting readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their newspapers to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which offered a way to save big on summer travel. According to the light blue banners that ran throughout the paper (as well as on a website Philly.com), "the more you weigh the more you pay." Which meant major savings on airfare for travelers who didn't tip the scales. According to the ads, Derrie-Air's sample rates ranged from $1.40 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Now think of the families who saw the ads and were doing the math in their heads: Mom weighs 150 pounds so she could fly from Philly to Chicago for just $210. And Junior could fly too for less than $50. With the cost of air travel skyrocketing this new airline could have saved families big time. But as it turns out the new carrier will never get off the ground. The entire ad campaign was a huge hoax created by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers' owner, and Gyro ad agency. The company's reps later said the goal of the bogus ads were to "demonstrate the power of our brands in generating awareness and generating traffic for our advertisers, and put a smile on people's faces." Though you have to wonder how many more frowns than smiles the ads initially elicited. The ads looked 100% authentic and backed up its low prices. According to the fake ads, Derrie-Air was supposedly the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, and it justified its low rates by saying that it took more fuel to move heavier objects. The carrier also pledged to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon its planes released into the atmosphere. Sounds legit, right? People who took the time to read the entire ad eventually found out the truth behind Derrie-Air. A disclaimer at the bottom of the ad called the entire offer "fictitious" and said it was designed "to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens." "In other words," the ad said, "smile, we're pulling your leg." Think you would have fallen for it? Related Articles: Say Good Bye to Free Pretzels and Peanuts No Such Thing As A Free Ride... Or Free Pretzels Travel Insanity---Airline Charges for One Checked Bag Airline Luggage Wars--Can It Get Any Worse? More Luggage Restrictions... Are You Ready For This? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevanttravel tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags airline, air fare, fake airline, Travel Discuss this article
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