Private Jets vs. Public Perception

There are a few things I know...

You shouldn’t wear Manolos to the unemployment office.

You shouldn’t chow on filet mignon while waiting in the soup line.

You shouldn’t keep on the pool boy while your house is in foreclosure.

And, by all means, YOU SHOULD NOT FLY CORPORATE JETS TO THE BAILOUT MEETING!

Wow! File this under “What Were They Thinking?” By now you’ve certainly heard the news that execs from the Big Three automakers swarmed into DC on their private corporate jets to beg Congress for a $25 billion lifeline.

A pre-owned Gulf Stream jet costs more than $25 million. And this is before paying for all its necessities—insurance, pilots, flight attendants, maintenance, jet fuel, catering, in-flight entertainment…

Think it’s just one jet? Not so. Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives, ABC News reported. And, it costs about $20,000 to fly a private jet from Detroit to Chicago.

It’s a “perk,” the companies said. I have a thought, why don’t we give the Big Three executives the same perks my firm gives its employees—an office to come to five days a week and a bi-weekly paycheck for doing so?!

CNN contacted the Big Three to inquire further—the companies defended the CEOs' travel as standard procedure. Another thought… they are the CEOs, why don’t they CHANGE standard corporate procedure?!

Try as they might, this is simply un-spinable.

Where were the PR people in all of this? Did anyone in the comms department have the wherewithal to say, “You should not, under any circumstances, take the corporate jet while toting a tin cup”?

My best guess? The flacks were the first people to be laid off.

But that doesn’t account for the simple misstep in common sense on this one. I would’ve put them in coach and bought their tickets on Priceline.com, where a last-minute roundtrip fare from Detroit to DC can be had for $176. Or, as my car-loving, PR extraordinaire friend Jennifer Shay Campana (who is herself a victim of the economy and is currently seeking employment should you have any leads) said: “Congress should have made them drive back to Detroit in a Ford Taurus.”

Hmmmm… imagine five behind-the-times executives crammed into a $20,000 sedan for the nine-hour journey.

I’m glad I traded in my gas-guzzling Ford Explorer for a Toyota Prius.