How have these Budget Airlines Got Away With It ?

Butts

Am I the only person who would applaud Government Legislation to stop all these cowboys in their tracks - god knows they could do with something to raise their popularity !!!

It's dead simple the price advertised for a Flight Includes The Flight, All taxes, A Seat, All card charges, Check In.

If they want to charge for hold baggage and refreshments on top ok thats fine.

My word that's how it used to operate !!!:D

johnnyroper

Butts wrote: »

Am I the only person who would applaud Government Legislation to stop all these cowboys in their tracks - god knows they could do with something to raise their popularity !!!

It's dead simple the price advertised for a Flight Includes The Flight, All taxes, A Seat, All card charges, Check In.

If they want to charge for hold baggage and refreshments on top ok thats fine.

My word that's how it used to operate !!!:D

hardly call them cowboys everyone knows about the charges the budget airlines add on for various things like hold baggage and cards etc.

personally i think with the likes of ryanair it makes it cheap to fly if you book in one of the sales and use correct card to pay and can then manage with just hand baggage.

it is a case of if you dont like them dont use them i say.

Butts

johnnyroper wrote: »

hardly call them cowboys everyone knows about the charges the budget airlines add on for various things like hold baggage and cards etc.

personally i think with the likes of ryanair it makes it cheap to fly if you book in one of the sales and use correct card to pay and can then manage with just hand baggage.

it is a case of if you dont like them dont use them i say.

Your last remark is probably the most pertinent however just because people are aware of all the extras that does not make it correct to charge them.

If you bought a train ticket had to pay for a seat , a ticket, and to board the train with an extra charge for luggage I doubt you would be to happy.

Would you not prefer an upfront price that includes everything rather than £1 becomes £50.:D

pinkcandyflossprincess

whilst it is amazing that ryan can offer flights for a few quid everynow and again so long as you dont want all the extras-I dont see why other companys have followed suit.
i remember my first holiday involved inflight entertainment, meals, complimentry drinks and even a little gift of holiday essentials!! when you got on the airoplane it was clean and tidy with magazines and the napkin on back of seat etc.
the last thomson and first choice flights i had were sadly no different to the easyjet or ryan air in terms of cleanliness etc and seem to sell the same stuff really.
If they want to charge you extra by adding on little things like debit/credit card charges then at least bring back the free peanuts and hot towels i say!!

Butts

pinkcandyflossprincess wrote: »

whilst it is amazing that ryan can offer flights for a few quid everynow and again so long as you dont want all the extras-I dont see why other companys have followed suit.
i remember my first holiday involved inflight entertainment, meals, complimentry drinks and even a little gift of holiday essentials!! when you got on the airoplane it was clean and tidy with magazines and the napkin on back of seat etc.
the last thomson and first choice flights i had were sadly no different to the easyjet or ryan air in terms of cleanliness etc and seem to sell the same stuff really.
If they want to charge you extra by adding on little things like debit/credit card charges then at least bring back the free peanuts and hot towels i say!!

I quite agree with you I'd rather pay a bit more for a better service.

BA used to Fly Between Birmingham and Edinburgh with a great service- Fly Be edged them out with at first a comprable service - but this has gradually deteriorated to the point where you are paying more now for an inferior service than BA offered.

Tojo_Ralph

johnnyroper wrote: »

Everyone knows about the charges the budget airlines add on for various things like hold baggage and cards etc.

The point is "everyone" doesn't know about all of the additional charges budget airlines charge, they don't know how to limit and/or avoid the charges and they don't know how to work the system.

The length and breadth of this country there are honest, decent folk who are occasional travellers and who place their faith in the airlines, people who don't realise they need to go carefully through the T's and C's, folk for whom even the new hand baggage rules are a mystery, which is exactly why you have so many threads of complaint and requests for help and guidance.

Then of course there are all those smug b******s who know how to avoid all the budget airlines additional charges and who will no doubt be along in a minute, so I'll make my excuses and leave.

benjus

It's not just budget airlines that charge for paying by card. Last year Opodo charged me £25 extra to pay for flights on a non-budget airline by credit card. So you might want to refine your post to say that they should only be allowed to cover the costs imposed by the card issuers...

Also seats - I don't care very much where I sit if it's a short flight and I'm alone. So I don't think it's unreasonable to allow people like me to pay a little bit less and not have a reserved seat. I'd prefer it if the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet abandoned the "scrum" method and instead allowed people to reserve seats like BMI Baby do.

Other than that, from the OP, we have the flight itself, the taxes, the check-in charge. Are there any airlines that advertise flights without all these included?

johnnyroper

Tojo_Ralph wrote: »

The point is "everyone" doesn't know about all of the additional charges budget airlines charge, they don't know how to limit and/or avoid the charges and they don't know how to work the system.

The length and breadth of this country there are honest, decent folk who are occasional travellers and who place their faith in the airlines, people who don't realise they need to go carefully through the T's and C's, folk for whom even the new hand baggage rules are a mystery, which is exactly why you have so many threads of complaint and requests for help and guidance.

Then of course there are all those smug b******s who know how to avoid all the budget airlines additional charges and who will no doubt be along in a minute, so I'll make my excuses and leave.

The fact is last time I booked with ryanair the charges are on the website when booking they do not hide them so if you fail to read the T&C's fully then that is your problem.when making payment it also says you need electron card or pre pay mastercard to avoid a fee.

One way or another you pay the fees whatever airline you fly with be it with add ons or part of fare the difference is with the budgets you can choose to save some money by not having hold baggage if you can manage with hand only.

I say again if you don't like it use a different airline.

wdyw

Blame Jimmy Carter and deregualtion! You may not like the way things are now, but think what they were like (pre 92 in Europe, pre Bermuda 2/Laker for UK/USA, ...shudder) Fares set on a governmental level and you couldn't even offer passengers an extra packet of peanuts if it wasn't in the bilateral. It may be annpying having to go through 5/6 pages of booking info before you find the final prices, but that final price is miles below what it would have been if we hadn't have gone through the deregulation process.

Butts

wdyw wrote: »

Blame Jimmy Carter and deregualtion! You may not like the way things are now, but think what they were like (pre 92 in Europe, pre Bermuda 2/Laker for UK/USA, ...shudder) Fares set on a governmental level and you couldn't even offer passengers an extra packet of peanuts if it wasn't in the bilateral. It may be annpying having to go through 5/6 pages of booking info before you find the final prices, but that final price is miles below what it would have been if we hadn't have gone through the deregulation process.

I agree with most of what you say but you don't have to go through "6 pages of booking blurb" on some flights" to come out with a hyped up price.

If you see a BA Price on a UK Domestic Flight and pay by debit card that is the FINAL PRICE for Ticket,Check In, 1 Hold Baggage, Seat,Refeshments etc.

Suprisingly when you factor all the extras in they are often cheaper than budget carriers.

wdyw

Butts wrote: »

Suprisingly when you factor all the extras in they are often cheaper than budget carriers.

Sometimes they are cheaper, most times they are not, but rarely are you comparing like with like. If few people know that the flag carriers can sometimes be cheaper than the airlines perceived as being cheap and nasty then is it down to the big boys to spend more on ticketing/advertising&marketing to get the message across, or has the battle already been lost. In the good old days BA used to have a T/A/M budget equal to about 50% of their overall wage bill!
Also, in the past, research such as the British Cascade Study showed that a $100 ticket on a BA could cost $37 with an unscheuled company. (sorry, no pound sign, and can't spare the time to change the keyboard setup!). It's quite extraordinary that they remained in the market (unlike many national flag carriers) given the changes they have been forced through since the late 70's.