Nickel & Diming
Yesterday, the airlines began charging for everything. The nickel and diming continues! First, it was the second checked bag, then it was ANY checked bags, and don’t forget paying a small fee to have a better seat. By better seat, we’re not talking first class, oh no, apparently there are actually better seats in coach class! Who knew? It seems that the first few rows in the beginning of coach class are actually better seats and worth a premium price. Now, I get the idea of slapping down the Visa for an aisle or window seat. I think all of us have a story or ten about the time when you were stuck in the dreaded middle seat between two people who fought you the entire flight for an inch of the armrest. Or those times when you’re in between two people who definitely didn’t bother to shower that morning, or possibly any other morning in the previous week. So, on that note, I actually do encourage everyone to purchase a premium aisle or window seat- money well spent!
Now that the flying public has just started getting used to paying extra for “premium” seats and checked bags, the airlines also started charging for every type of beverage on board the airplane- the soda, water, coffee, juice, and of course alcohol (ok, they always charged for that in coach class, but now it’s even more!). Ever since the new charges have been announced to the public, it seems that everywhere I go, I get asked “Why don’t they just raise the fares?”. Ahhhhhh, excellent question, I will have to get back to that one another time. What has been surprising to me in the past couple of days is how I have not heard a single complaint from the passengers. The passengers appear to be content with the situation.
I say charge it all up front. Raise the fare to whatever it needs to be to allow good customer service while still keeping the airline afloat. If people can’t afford it, they can take Greyhound or Amtrak.
People need to stop taking air travel for granted. It takes money to push a 100 ton piece of aluminum through the air at over 500mph - especially at 120 bucks per barrel. Make the ticket cost what it takes to run the airline. Charging for a can of Coke just pisses people off.
Comment by kojack — August 5, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I’d rather them raise the fare so I know exactly what I’m paying before I fly. I’d prefer that to being surprised at the airport. My brother almost had to leave behind one of his bags when he was coming home from college this year because they surprised him with an extra fee ($100) for his second bag. This was months ago, before they started letting people know ahead of time that extra bags meant extra fees. He literally only had about five bucks on him at the time. If my mom hadn’t been able to transfer him the money before his flight took off, he would’ve had to leave his bag there.
I don’t have a problem with the prices rising. I just don’t like being surprised.
Comment by julia — August 9, 2008 @ 2:41 pm