Scrumpy492003 From Canada, joined Jul 2007, 140 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 8679 times:
Per The BBC
Two seats on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger plane - have been sold for $100,380 (£49,755).
The premium seats were auctioned on eBay by Singapore Airlines (SIA), which is operating the superjumbo flight.
A regular one-way first class seat would normally cost $3,391.
Starting prices did range from just over 3 pounds and up.
Sure the money all goes to Charity, BUT who has that to spare except for the likes of Sir Richard B.
KC135TopBoom From United States, joined Jan 2005, 7556 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 8661 times:
Quoting Scrumpy492003 (Thread starter): Two seats on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger plane - have been sold for $100,380 (£49,755).
The premium seats were auctioned on eBay by Singapore Airlines (SIA), which is operating the superjumbo flight.
A regular one-way first class seat would normally cost $3,391.
That's a lot of money to pay for a ride that will be like most other airplanes (except the Concorde).
MD80fanatic From United States, joined Apr 2004, 2429 posts, RR: 14 Reply 3, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 8423 times:
$100000 could get you 30 Zero-G flights, and a couple million more could get you to space. What a waste. The only redeeming factor is that it goes to charity.
CXfirst From Norway, joined Jan 2007, 1680 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 8167 times:
Quoting Scrumpy492003 (Thread starter): Sure the money all goes to Charity, BUT who has that to spare except for the likes of Sir Richard B.
Maybe it is him, wanting a scheduled flight feel for the A380. After all SQ owns a lot of VS, so I don't think he or SQ have something personal against each other.
wait.......he'd probably make a PR stunt out of that, not him.
if that is true then the whale jet is worth it for the passenger, it costs almost $5000 on UA to go to europe from LAX, so $3,391 for first class sounds pretty good
PanAm747 From United States, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 11 Reply 9, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 6 days ago) and read 7518 times:
Quote: Since the money goes to charity, could it be used as a tax write-off?
In the United States, a company such as SQ can officially donate two seats for a charity raffle. As long as the recipient of every penny of the raffle goes to a registered non-profit organization, they can write the cost of that off their taxes.
Since the person who is bidding on the tickets is technically making a donation to a non-profit, I believe they can write off the cost of the tickets. However, tax laws are notoriously convoluted, and it is possible that if the money goes directly from the bidder to SQ and THEN to charity, it might not count.
Quote: Sure the money all goes to Charity, BUT who has that to spare except for the likes of Sir Richard B.
There are many people in the world for whom a $100,000 is pocket change. Off the top of my head any of the Walton family (of Wal-Mart fame), Oprah Winfrey, and J.K. Rowling probably find that kind of money in the folds of their sofas.
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
VC10DC10 From United States, joined Apr 2006, 736 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 7496 times:
Quoting PanAm747 (Reply 9):
Since the person who is bidding on the tickets is technically making a donation to a non-profit, I believe they can write off the cost of the tickets. However, tax laws are notoriously convoluted, and it is possible that if the money goes directly from the bidder to SQ and THEN to charity, it might not count.
I'm certainly no tax expert, but one possibility is that the purchaser/donor of these seats will be able to write off the total except for a "fair market valuation" of the ticket. In other words, $100k-$3.3K (normal cost for SIN-LHR in F) = $96.7K writeoff.
Brilondon From Canada, joined Aug 2005, 1497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 7491 times:
Quoting PanAm747 (Reply 9):
There are many people in the world for whom a $100,000 is pocket change. Off the top of my head any of the Walton family (of Wal-Mart fame), Oprah Winfrey, and J.K. Rowling probably find that kind of money in the folds of their sofas.
The Walton family would never part with that much money for anything. They don't even drive very fancy cars or have any real lavish offices.
Having low expectations means you won't be disapointed.
AirplaneCrazy From United States, joined May 2006, 26 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 7413 times:
Quoting Stitch (Reply 8): Since the money goes to charity, could it be used as a tax write-off?
According to the auction faq you cannot claim a tax deduction for the charity flight. SIA will not claim a tax deduction either.
"http://www.auctionwire.ca/SIA/faqs.html"
I'm sorry the above isn't a live link, but I can't get the above URL to format correctly because the forum software is automatically processing "SIA". Here is the relevant text:
1.2.13 Will I get a tax rebate since the money goes to charity?
The successful bidder will not receive a tax rebate through this charity auction because Singapore Airlines is selling a ticket and a service to the successful bidder. The transaction between the successful buyer and Singapore Airlines is a sale of an airline ticket.
Upon receiving all proceeds, Singapore Airlines will make the donation to the named charity or charities. To be fair to all successful bidders who bid in the spirit of generosity, Singapore Airlines will NOT be filing for a tax rebate for the donation.
Everyone involved makes the contribution to be part of a historical event, not gain a tax benefit
FlyDeltaJets87 From United States, joined Aug 2006, 4541 posts, RR: 24 Reply 15, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 6534 times:
Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 1): That's a lot of money to pay for a ride that will be like most other airplanes (except the Concorde).
Yea, but it's the idea of being the first to do it that's worth it to people with money to spare. I mean, look at how much people will pay for a "special" baseball that looks exactly like any other regulation MLB ball.
I wonder if any US citizen purchasing a ticket could put down all or part of the airfare as a tax write-off for a charitable donation.
Scrumpy492003 From Canada, joined Jul 2007, 140 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 6534 times:
That makes sense, because they said that the higher price in the auction - for the seat that you are bidding on, the better service erc. you will receive, the lowest starting price probably doesn't get a window, is next to the washrooms perhaps and is just along for the ride!
BEYauty From Lebanon, joined Aug 2005, 138 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 6329 times:
Quoting Scrumpy492003 (Thread starter): Two seats on the first commercial flight of the Airbus A380 - the world's largest passenger plane - have been sold for $100,380 (£49,755).
The premium seats were auctioned on eBay by Singapore Airlines (SIA), which is operating the superjumbo flight.
I hope they get more than just pretezels and a Coke during that flight!! Anyone know if they will be catering any special meals for that flight? Or will it be the regular meal service for that class flown?
777STL From United States, joined Dec 2004, 2341 posts, RR: 9 Reply 18, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 5236 times:
Quoting Brilondon (Reply 11): The Walton family would never part with that much money for anything. They don't even drive very fancy cars or have any real lavish offices.
Haha, you're kidding right? I went to college with one of Sam Walton's grandsons and lived in the same town as two of Walton's daughters. His grandson drove a Ferrari. The two sisters donated millions upon millions of dollars to the school I went to as well as various not-for profits. Hell, one of them donated $30+ million just to build a new sports arena for the school.
Charles79 From United States, joined Mar 2007, 1083 posts, RR: 8 Reply 19, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 5236 times:
This is excellent news for the aviation world, the fact that a new plane can still generate that much enthusiasm among the public. It sure brings memories when flying was an event, not part of everyday life. Plus the fact that the money goes to charity is the icing in the cake.
Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 15): Yea, but it's the idea of being the first to do it that's worth it to people with money to spare. I mean, look at how much people will pay for a "special" baseball that looks exactly like any other regulation MLB ball.
For some people, being the first to do something is worth a lot of money. In the car industry this is called a "stupid" tax, when buyers pay a markup (sometimes in excess of $50K) just to have the first F430, new M3, SLR, Gallardo, etc, on the block. More frugal folks (who are still insanely rich) wait several months after the rave is gone and now you can pick up, say, a Bentley Conti GT or a Gallardo for not much over sticker.
Ptugarin From United States, joined Sep 2006, 288 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 5041 times:
I wonder how long it will take until A380 fares become similar to other fares. SQ should donate all additional earnings to charity because the agitation over the new aircraft type probably will not calm down for a while, and there will be enough aviation enthusiasts willing to pay a high premium to fly the whale jet probably though the end of the year.
Newagebird From Australia, joined Sep 2005, 64 posts, RR: 2 Reply 21, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 4680 times:
haha a mate of mine got invited by his boss to be on that first flight...lucky basta*rd..for free might i add!
dawn of a new era
good luck to airbus and singapore
Azhobo From United States, joined Jun 2007, 343 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 4651 times:
Quoting CXfirst (Reply 5): Maybe it is him, wanting a scheduled flight feel for the A380. After all SQ owns a lot of VS, so I don't think he or SQ have something personal against each other.
wait.......he'd probably make a PR stunt out of that, not him.
Yeah randy will probably be on the flight talking EXTRA LOUD to make his blog point.
Ncelhr From Vatican City State (Holy See), joined Jul 2006, 332 posts, RR: 0 Reply 25, posted (2 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3968 times:
Imagine if you pay such an amount for your ticket and the flight crew inform you they ran out of the type of wine you wanted with your meal...
26 MadameConcorde: Not with Singapore Airlines. I bet they will have Dom Perignon and Krug even in Economy on these two flights (especially on the Singapore-Sydney leg)
27 Zvezda: Is that not enough? The beneficiaries are all based in Singapore. Therefore, they are almost certainly not registered with the IRS under Section 501
28 Alessandro: One economy ticket one way Singapore-Sydney sold for 1650 US$.
29 Wsp: How stupid. That would be money they could add to the donation. They had some Sydney hospital and Medecins sans Frontieres on the list.
30 Chase: I don't know...this house is a lot bigger than mine, and it's just Sam Walton's neice... http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...pn=0.002809,0.006781&
32 MadameConcorde: He got a really good deal. The single economy seats today went for about 1500 (cheapest) to 1700+. We will see what happens tomorrow. There are not ma
33 Phoenix9: What if the guy who paid the highest price wants to sell his ticket and make money off it (lets say for something like $150,000 after 'investing' $100
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