minicoopercraig
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2007
Okay, since I just came back from a long trip to a place I'm not mentioning for safety purposes ;-), I thought I would post a thread about something that's been bothering me.
I was so worried while I was getting ready for my trip that the airline, Continental, would charge me extra money for having a backpack with me as a second back. Then I realized that's only one carryon and one extra that would fit under the seat, so I was okay. But this is what the airline industry has "beat" into our heads that we have to worry about every little charge now when we fly and they wonder why they're going bankrupt!
I say just eliminate all these little nickel and dime charges and just build them into the inital charge of the ticket.
For example, say I'm looking for a ticket from Pittsburgh to San Diego, I find one through Delta for $109 round trip, GREAT! I go ahead and purchase, but before I check out they have an extra screen that comes up and asks about extra charges. They have $10 for 2 carryons ($10 for every carryon over one per person), $10 for meal service upgrade (would be the same as first class service), $5 for liquor purchase (including beer and hard liquor), $2 for headphone purchase (since it's nonstop, the flight would be over 4 hours) and they also state that these are per leg of trip, so it'd be $20, $20, $10 and $4 for all upgrades.
I go through, and since I don't really drink and have my own headset, say I'd like to bring another carryon and have a better meal so I check those two and continue on, it'd be another $40 onto my ticket (this is all pre-tax and I'm not talking about THAT!) so I'd end up paying $149 for my roundtrip from Pittsburgh to San Diego. I'd be less hectic when I get to the airport, feel a lot better knowing I have meals covered for myself and not have to try to squeeze everything I need for a 2 week vacation into one carryon.
But they aren't doing that, they're coming up with insane charges (not out of line mind you, just insane that I have to carry money onto a plane AND try to remember to bring exact change or else the attendant will spill a drink on me later.) to make me feel like I don't want to fly anymore.
Simple explanations usually are the hardest for companies to understand.
(Rant over, we now return you to you're regularly scheduled programming.)
I was so worried while I was getting ready for my trip that the airline, Continental, would charge me extra money for having a backpack with me as a second back. Then I realized that's only one carryon and one extra that would fit under the seat, so I was okay. But this is what the airline industry has "beat" into our heads that we have to worry about every little charge now when we fly and they wonder why they're going bankrupt!
I say just eliminate all these little nickel and dime charges and just build them into the inital charge of the ticket.
For example, say I'm looking for a ticket from Pittsburgh to San Diego, I find one through Delta for $109 round trip, GREAT! I go ahead and purchase, but before I check out they have an extra screen that comes up and asks about extra charges. They have $10 for 2 carryons ($10 for every carryon over one per person), $10 for meal service upgrade (would be the same as first class service), $5 for liquor purchase (including beer and hard liquor), $2 for headphone purchase (since it's nonstop, the flight would be over 4 hours) and they also state that these are per leg of trip, so it'd be $20, $20, $10 and $4 for all upgrades.
I go through, and since I don't really drink and have my own headset, say I'd like to bring another carryon and have a better meal so I check those two and continue on, it'd be another $40 onto my ticket (this is all pre-tax and I'm not talking about THAT!) so I'd end up paying $149 for my roundtrip from Pittsburgh to San Diego. I'd be less hectic when I get to the airport, feel a lot better knowing I have meals covered for myself and not have to try to squeeze everything I need for a 2 week vacation into one carryon.
But they aren't doing that, they're coming up with insane charges (not out of line mind you, just insane that I have to carry money onto a plane AND try to remember to bring exact change or else the attendant will spill a drink on me later.) to make me feel like I don't want to fly anymore.
Simple explanations usually are the hardest for companies to understand.
(Rant over, we now return you to you're regularly scheduled programming.)
