An Airline Has Requests for Standby Flights at Half of the Usual

Essay

An airline has requests for standby flights at half of the usual one-way air fare. Past experience has shown that these passengers have about a 1 in 5 chance of getting on the standby flight. When they fail to get on a flight as a standby, the only other choice is to fly first class on the next flight out. Suppose that the usual one-way air fare to a certain city is $156 and the cost of flying first class is $355. Should a passenger who wishes to fly to this city opt to fly as a standby? [Hint: Find the expected cost of the trip for a person flying standby.]