Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Of course it doesn t cost $72 to print a sheet of paper. It doesn t take much common sense to know t




Before I get to the answer, here s the sad truth: The boarding pass fee isn t new, although many passengers like Vogelfanger hotel rwanda the movie will experience it for the first time this summer. The discount airline quietly added the fee late last year . Spirit Air charges a more modest $5 to print a boarding pass and $1 to use its electronic kiosks at the airport.
What s new is that this funny airline math is leading to windfall profits. For example, hotel rwanda the movie when Spirit Air reported its latest quarterly numbers, it noted that the average base ticket revenue per passenger flight segment slipped 1.1 percent to $81. But at the same time, the average non-ticket revenue jumped 18.6 percent to $51 per passenger flight segment.
These so-called ancillary fees are big business for the airline industry. A recent survey found that worldwide, the airline industry collected $22.6 billion in ancillary revenues last year, up 66 percent from two years ago.
And not telling Vogelfanger he ll have to shell out another hotel rwanda the movie $72 to print out a boarding pass that s the wrong way. But when he complained to Ryanair, it said it would keep his money, thanks very much, even though he d paid more for the passes than for the original ticket.
Granted, Ryanair discloses the boarding pass printout fees on its website, as does Spirit. But who has the time to surf the Internet, pre-flight? Ryanair and airlines like it, know that. They re profiting from it.
What we have here is the free market run amok, one boarding pass at a time. It s a perversion of capitalism, not unlike the military being billed $500 for a screwdriver. hotel rwanda the movie It happens because an unscrupulous company thinks we aren t paying attention, and in many instances, we aren t.
Of course it doesn t cost $72 to print a sheet of paper. It doesn t take much common sense to know that. It s remarkable that no regulatory agency here or in Europe has stepped forward to say, That s ridiculous. Enough, already.
Do you pay them the posted $6.95, and then they ask you for a mug? What mug? Didn t you study their website before you went to the movies? It s bring your own mug or else you owe an extra $25 for a souvenir cup. And you can t change your mind and get your $6.95 back. Sorry.
I ve done lots of cheap one-ways in my time. But I ll build it into my itinerary to get to a computer 24 hours before my departure, hotel rwanda the movie least of all to check to make sure the flight is still on. If you re close enough to an airport, hotel rwanda the movie you re close enough to a computer
The point that you fail to grasp is that on any given day a budget airline might be great or it might not be. You simply have to know the rules and make the comparison ensuring that the comparison is truly apples to apples.
You re wrong. We know, obviously, that Ryanair s fee for the journey would be at least $0. Even if the fare is $1, only a terminal masochist would be unwilling to pay the trivial difference between that and $20 each way to avoid the budget airline experience.
Budget airlines existence is great, as is the existence of the required number of terminal masochists and people who don t know the rules to keep them in business. But it s rare that they ll work out significantly cheaper than a full-fare carrier.
The only exception is when the full fare carrier quotes fees in the multiple hundreds for a short trip (e.g. a Friday evening flight booked on the same Friday morning) at that point, budget airlines can become hotel rwanda the movie price competitive. Although they often *still* aren t, since obviously they d be daft not to jack their fares up at peak times too.
i d say less than half of those who have no papers actually have their confirm # saved on their phone or something. and then when the date is wrong or they show up at the wrong airport (happens ALL the time), they say it s my fault and refuse to accept responsibility.
When I travel I prefer a certain level of comfort and luxury. I generally do 4 star hotels. One buddy like greater comfort and luxury and he prefers five star hotels, while another can sleep anywhere. He is happy at a hostel. While I refuse to step foot in a hostel, it would be arrogant presumption on my part to call him or the other occupants terminal masochists because it doesn t fit into my own limited world view.
You also fail to grasp that while a budget carrier may or may not be the best choice for that particular route, it may be for another route. At what point in the differential sufficient that you would consider it reasonable to fly a budget airline. $20? $30? $40? $100. These are arbitrary bright hotel rwanda the movie lines for which reasonable people may differ.
At the AA kiosks you can use your credit card, ATM card, passport, or in my case, the frequent flier number that I ve had since the early 90s. The only time I ve ever had an issue, was pre-911 when I was a consultant and the travel consultant booked me under the name Sarrow.
What if the fee was $2000. If you want to sit while waiting for your flight it s $500. What if want to take a leak on the flight it s $100. What if every airline does this? How far you want to take this? Customers have every right to complain. Sadly we re headed to a future where you pay $1 initially for absolutely anything, then are piecemealed by addons endlessly. Oh, you want a fork with dinner? That s $5. How many fees to people want to have to keep track of? Fees work, are massively profitable, and as the comment here show have endless people that can t see the forest for the trees.
I can t accept either option. The fees are adequately disclosed and are not a scam. If people choose to follow Ryanair s established processes, they will be rewarded by lower fees. Me, I choose not to fly Ryanair.
hotel rwanda the movie What s your problem? If you're having trouble with a business hotel rwanda the movie - any business - and you've reached a dead end, maybe I can help. Send me an email and I'll investigate. (I can't promise a fix, but I take every request seriously.) If you want to connect with other consumers, why not sign up for my free weekly newsletter , RSS feed or free daily email updates ?
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