FedEx passenger service

The example set in the Tom Hank’s movie “Castaway” aside, cargo planes can carry people too, since the holds are pressurized and climate controlled. By creating people/seat modules for their planes similar to the cargo modules FedEx and the other cargo carriers could sell their extra capacity to travelers looking for bargains. People book passage on cargo ships why not planes? Getting NYC to LA for a couple hundred bucks would make some discomfort worth it.
Actually to make this work the best the plane should start as passenger service, since people are more likely to book well in advance. Then a day or two before the flight any extra seat modules would be electronically removed and the space sold as cargo space in an electronic auction type format. The whole thing could be done as an electronic auction. You bid for the space, and if you out bid a couple of boxes of T-shirts headed to a conference, you can get a seat. The plane would have a movable rear bulkhead wall, since you would have to keep the people and cargo separate. Seats would be fastened into the floor, and the bathroom shared with the pilots. Flight attendants really would largely be there for safety, since the food would have to be boxed.

Of course this all depends on the FAA, insurance companies, cargo companies, etc thinking this is a good idea. It also depends on people’s willingness to sit in seats in what would effectively be a cargo module, and be feed food from a carrier approved cafeteria since it would have to be picnic food in the sky.

The flip side of this would be super luxury carrier offering cargo service. The top deck of a 747 would be super luxury and the rest of the plane cargo. This configuration offers possible the best business model, since most 747 are used for cargo anyways, so selling 10-20 seats on the upper deck at $5K-$20K per seat for non-stop trans-oceanic flights could be gravy.