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Comment by jadence | Hacker News Reader

Along those lines I know there is a very lucrative black (maybe more gray) market in which people will pay big money to find out flight plans of important decision makers. People paid that money so they could try to buy a ticket in the seat next to said decision maker. You've then got X hours to work a pitch.

I know this happens to execs in pro sports a lot (people trying to get sponsorship, get the leagues using their products, etc) and I imagine it happens in other industries as well.

How you make a startup/product out of this I don't know but I thought it was an interesting tidbit to share.

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Eugene O'Kelly told an example of this story in "Chasing Daylight": flying from NY to Australia, to fly next to the head of a bank whose account he was trying to win but was unable to schedule a call to talk to.

But that was mostly possible because he had built up a relationship with the banker's assistant.

Alternately, this could be a service the important decision maker signs up for, reserving the seat next to them and letting people vie to fill it. The IDM would be considered to be "donating their time" philanthropically.

Why limit it to flights? You could create a whole new stalking service!

1. Aggregate location info and travel plans of key celebrities from Twitter

2. ???

3. Profit

You could call it Stalkr :)

"Oh, fancy meeting you here, on this private island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Yeah, I was just on my way to a real estate seminar. You?"

It could work.

I know you're joking around but I thought I'd answer anyway. The key aspect of flights is that your "victim" isn't going anywhere. He's stuck in that seat and can't escape nearly as easily as he could if you approached him in a cafe, museum, etc.

EG - Got a startup that'll need buy in from a major wireless carrier (you're gon' change the industry like the iPhone did!) but can't get attention from any of them? Imagine what you could work if you were sitting next to the CEO of Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile on a 6 hour flight. How much would you pay for the information to get you that seat?

That's a fair point, but it's also a little unfair IMO - on the stalkee. I can totally see the market but I would never want to corner someone like that for 6 hours. Plus, what if I snore on the flight and totally alienate the CEO? ;)

This could help raise the popularity of private jets. And don't truly important decisionmakers travel with an entourage specifically to prevent these sorts of things?

I think I'm posting all of my ideas that didn't make the cut. This one would be challenging unless you could directly book flights for people-- or at least change their seats. Also, you would need a large number of people to use it before it became useful since you're really working with a narrow population of people flying on a particular flight.

Having a captive audience is always nice, but I can see some privacy issues with this one :)

Also, it would require a lot of people working in concert to make this work, which suggests that if there is such a market right now it is organized by people with a lot of pull.

flight plans of important decision makers

If they're that important they're either in First Class or private aircraft.

Important decision makers aren't always at the extreme top of the pyramid. There are plenty of people who have the power to help you that do not get their own Gulfstream (e.g., someone who can authorize a big contract for your firm, or at least fight on your behalf).

Not to mention you can totally do this in first class.

The shot-callers of tomorrow are flying next to you in today's coach.

The lion and the mouse parable seems apt here.

Every economic buyer flies first class or private aircraft. And the seat upgrades to first class certainly wouldn't be worth the money spent. Good points all around.

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