These are desperate days for the airline industry so we can probably understand that when readers of two Philadelphia newspapers read last week that a new airline would charge by the pound many people believed the story. After all how much stranger is that idea that than charging for customer service, meals, pillows, and all checked baggage. But, although this might be the next move for the airline industry the airline being advertised was fake as were the ads. According to Yahoo:

PHILADELPHIA - Derrie-Air has been exposed. Readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their papers Friday to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charges passengers by the pound.

But the new carrier will never get off the ground. It’s a one-day advertising campaign about a fake airline by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers’ owner, and Gyro ad agency.

In light blue banners throughout the papers — as well as on their Web site, Philly.com — Derrie-Air cheerily trumpets its policy: The more you weigh, the more you pay. The ads direct readers to the Web site http://www.flyderrie-air.com.

Visitors to the airline site learn that Derrie-Air is the world’s only carbon-neutral luxury airline, and it justifies its fare policy by saying that it takes more fuel to move heavier objects. The carrier pledges to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon its planes release into the atmosphere.

Popularity: 45% [?]