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Air travelers in the United States are already paying for sandwiches and drinks, pillows and headsets. So, as airlines look for more ways to help their bottom lines, they have started asking the next logical question: Why not sell limousine services or even tickets to Broadway shows?
For most carriers, the idea remains just that. But American Airlines [ AMR 7.32 
+0.02 (+0.27%) ] has begun a limited test of the retail concept. It is selling Heathrow Express train tickets on London-bound flights, and it is offering in-flight Internet access and items from SkyMall — the glossy catalog that has had a reserved space in the seatback pocket of airliners for 20 years — on 165 airliners.
“We wouldn’t invest if we didn’t feel comfortable it would provide a fair rate of return,” said John Tiliacos, managing director of onboard products for American Airlines.
“Given where we find ourselves as an industry, financially it behooves us to identify every source of revenue we can identify.”
Other airlines declined to talk on the record about their plans, but nearly all the major carriers acknowledged that they were working on expanding retail offerings.
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