Medicine Cabinet.

Venture capitalists have a saying, "sell aspirin rather than vitamins". While vitamins are healthy and we need them, aspirin make the pain go away and as such becomes a must have rather than a nice to have.

Aspirin can be seen as the panacea for many ills and good examples are found everyday from "The biggest loser" to the iPod. I didn't know I needed to carry around my entire music collection until iPod pointed that out in the most amazing way. While radio and CDs were vitamins the iPod was the aspirin as it made the pain of being individual and not being able to listen to my special music when I wanted to, possible.

So the question is, do the products you use give you everything or do you need to find an aspirin to take away the pain?

Do airlines give you everything you want and need?

If the answer is NO, as it will be, then they have an opportunity to take the pill and take some of your pain away and stand out in a commodotised industry. For many people, cheap and reliable just doesn't do it but they have been the generic multi vitamins that pander to the lowest denominator and bring airlines together in a homogenised group where no one stands out.

So what are some of the pains that airlines need to provide aspirins for? For me one would be service. With the cutbacks and the speed of transactions required for airlines to make money, I find myself Becoming a commodity within their financial cycle. My pain is not being seen as individual and commercially important within the airline thinking. Treat me with respect and empathy, find out my likes and dislikes and you'll have me for life.

Being a commodity also means we must all be the same shape and size, otherwise why would all airlines have the same style seats squeezed into the same economy fuselage? Seats with new entertainment technology are just vitamins if it is too uncomfortable to view the entertainment. No airline can truthfully say they have the most space and the most comfortable seats in economy class. One or two centimetres is not extra space just a yield manager's solution to fitting in even more passengers. Provide me with an aspirin for space. Take out some rows to provide true space and you'll have customers for life, not just this flight because it was the cheapest alternative.

While the airlines dole out vitamins in the shape of new aircraft, self checking technology and online booking sites, they all seem reluctant to swallow the pill and provde the answer to our pain. What's your pain when it comes to the airline?