Crafty hidden fees.

[Freds Dad]

When I was a kid you didn't have to pay extra for particular seats, they gave you food onboard, and you got a decent luggage allowance. Then again, the price of my ticket to NZ and then back as far as LA (I couldn't afford further) cost £1050. In 1983. Last year my daughter's NZ return cost a bit under £800.

And they used to ask you if you wanted a smoking or non smoking seat.

We travel regularly to Portugal but now have to use either Jet2 or Ryanair, who both like to charge you any extras they can. We have never paid extra to choose our seats and have never been separated on the flight.

We were flying back once from New York and the flight was overbooked and the airline was looking for volunteers to take a flight the following day. We volunteered which resulted in an extra day in NY, our original flight was mid morning and our changed flight was early evening next day. They paid for our hotel, taxi there and back along with $300 compensation. A good result all round.

 

[screenman]

Is it paying extra or discount if you do not use it. Nice to have choices in life.

 

[swansonj]

There is a serious debate to be had about whether we are better off as a society in breaking down the pricing of the things we do into their component parts (adv: we get a better appreciation of the costs and are more able to tailor our behaviour; disadv: it further benefits those already savvy enough to play the system to their advantage).

That debate struggles to establish itself against people’s sense of entitlement to partake of environmentally damaging activities, unthinkable until relatively recently, at ludicrously cheap prices.

 

[Kajjal]

Being very tall it is handy to be able to book seats with extra leg room or on some planes flights of longer than an hour get increasingly painful.

 

[Dave7]

Last year we chose our seats (not paid for) and sure enough, when boarding they forced us to sit separately..... claiming it was because there were so many young children on the flight.
This time we PAID FOR and chose our seats 7 weeks in advance. Collected the boarding passes 1 week before flying and guess what.......they (TUI) had not put us in the system and we had to accept what seats were left. They (TUI) refused to refund the extra carges. We are still fighting that but not holding our breath.

 

[nickyboy]

When I was a kid you didn't have to pay extra for particular seats, they gave you food onboard, and you got a decent luggage allowance. Then again, the price of my ticket to NZ and then back as far as LA (I couldn't afford further) cost £1050. In 1983. Last year my daughter's NZ return cost a bit under £800.

This

I fly a lot. Nothing is free, it's either included in the basic ticket price or it isn't. Those airlines that charge extras offer the lowest basic fares

I like that model. Buy a cheap basic fare and add on whatever you need. Fly with a main airline and you're paying for all the extras whether you want them or not

 

[Milzy]

Hotel tax recently got me in Spain. Complete joke. The Natives don’t have to pay it.

 

[marinyork]

That debate struggles to establish itself against people’s sense of entitlement to partake of environmentally damaging activities, unthinkable until relatively recently, at ludicrously cheap prices.

It struggles against any offset cost, but particularly moral hazard.

 

[marinyork]

Hotel tax recently got me in Spain. Complete joke. The Natives don’t have to pay it.

For this reason and others although there are some bad cases I think the UJ is generally transparent on hidden costs.

 

[numbnuts]

I suppose if you don't like it say at home

 

[screenman]

I suppose if you don't like it say at home

Sometimes you need to take a bit of pain to get a bit of gain.

 

[raleighnut]

WARNING NSFW

View: https://youtu.be/uVASZ2lCY5Y

 

[srw]

When you book a holiday and pay your money, you might think all you need then is just spending money when you get there and budget accordingly: wrong!!
When you feel in your passport details for the flight, the airline 'gives' you the option to reserve your seats so that you travel together!! Why? You have already paid for your seats as part of the holiday. In our case, it is another £40 but for my step daughter because there are four of them, it is £160 extra. Luckily, she can afford it but I think it is disgraceful and a very poor practice on the part of the airlines as they know families will want to sit together on the plane.

If you're unhappy enough about something you could easily have found out before you paid your money - book another holiday. The model you describe is a fundamental part of the absurd and ecologically damaging cheap flights industry.

 

[Cycleops]

I like that model. Buy a cheap basic fare and add on whatever you need. Fly with a main airline and you're paying for all the extras whether you want them or not

Not on my KLM flight to the UK last month. They still want to charge you for choosing a 'better' seat.

 

[nickyboy]

If you're unhappy enough about something you could easily have found out before you paid your money - book another holiday. The model you describe is a fundamental part of the absurd and ecologically damaging cheap flights industry.

Ecologically damaging, yes. Absurd? I don't think so.
Low cost carriers have created a market that didn't previously exist. It's very easy to be sniffy about them but they are extremely popular, and profitable (certainly compared to the legacy carriers)