One of the stunning aspects of KLIA Ekspres, the Airport Express between Kuala Lumpur and its international airport, is the VIP service, e-XKL. You have to pre-book and pay a premium fare, but it's well worth it!

As you walk out of immigration at the airport, someone is waiting for you with your name on a board. They take you through Customs and down to the train, and put you in charge of a porter who rides with you to the city. At Sentral station, the porter takes your bag and escorts you up the escalator to the station concourse, where a driver is waiting to show you to a limo: this takes you to your hotel or office. It's wonderful!

One reason it can work as it does, I imagine, is that Malaysia is a relatively low-wage economy. Could such a system work in the higher-paid west? How?

There are bits which could be cut back - the porter escort isn't needed as long as the passenger is properly met at the downtown terminus, for example.

How much would a system cost in Rome, Vienna or London? How much would it need to be used - how many customers would it need - to pay its way? At what price?

These are hard times, financially, but people are showing they appreciate value for money. And now is a good time to be assessing this kind of value-added service for when the upturn comes.

Your ideas would be appreciated.