10 July 2008

Hidden costs...

... drive me mad, but the total is still lower than elsewhere.

I've just made a booking with a no-frills airline (I'm not sure I should mention their name in order not to generate unnecessary publicity - it is the blue and yellow one).

I was used to their stunts on how to charge separately for luggage and if you want to board amongst the first ones and for drinks on board and a transaction fee for the payment. But they've managed to pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Now the transaction fee for payments is charged per person per flight (generous 4 quid - around 5 EUR). Therefore, if you book return flights for two you pay £16 for transaction fees although you only make 1!!!!!!! transaction. And this is now a flat charge across all card types. ***Unbelievable***

Anyway, after letting my steam out with half an hour of ranting over corporate ethics and EU and UK gov't inability to do something to protect the customer, I went ahead and booked the flights. All hidden charges included they are still by far the cheapest. To be honest... ridiculously cheap.

1 comment:

borjabrela said...

Thanks for switching every now and then to English, mate: lots of your non-Eslovenian acquaintances will now be able to understand your crazy thoughts.

I hear lots of people complain about the hidden charges (not hidden costs - where were they before?) of the low-cost (rather no-frills) airlines. But I get worked up with their double standards with the benefits of capitalism/globalisation, because your conclusion is right: they are still ridiculously cheap. Just try and tell any of our parents that we'd be flying to countries ever-further away at an average of 6-8 flights per year!! They'd say we were crazy. But that's what we do now. People's memory is weak.

As Adam Smith (Lord have him in His glory) wrote, it isn't thanks to benevolence of the butcher that we have our dinner on the table, but thanks to his self-interest!!

You know what: long life to the colourful, low-cost airlines that enable us live the dream and live the world!! No matter how they do it, our freedom of choice is enhanced.

Love and freedom.