Hundreds of passengers traveling from India to Britain were stranded when their Comtel airline flight stopped for fuel in Austria over the weekend. The charter service asked them to kick in more than 20,000 pounds ($31,000) to fund the rest of the flight to Birmingham, England.
via Airline passengers asked for extra cash for fuel.
This is obviously an exception, not the general rule. It was a chartered flight, not a typical commercial airline. But it is the extreme example of a growing problem with commerce in general these days.
The whole notion that price trumps everything needs to go away. It’s our own fault. When Wal-Mart came to town, we were all far too willing to give up customer service, sustainability, and an all around good shopping experience to save 50 cents. As a result, companies learned the lesson that being cheapest was the be-all-and-end-all of success. Literally nothing else mattered to people.
And we’ve been suffering for it ever since.
Once they dropped prices as far as humanly possible by laying off workers, cutting corners on benefits, and shipping products in from China, companies had little choice but to start giving the “appearance” of cost savings, by hiding fees and extra charges behind every corner of the experience.
And it’s no different in the airline industry. Do a flight search on Kayak, or wherever, and you get quoted a price on the first page, but by the time you’ve checked out it’s a different story. So price comparison becomes a major hassle, as you need to get all the way to the last “buy” button page before you know how much something is actually going to cost. And even that is far from guaranteed, as they’ll probably tack on some more fees down the line. So much for convenience.
What we need is a simple rule: tell me how much it’s going to cost. Period. All-inclusive. If you can’t afford to offer cheap prices, then don’t. Put the cost of bags, food, and yes, gas, into the cost of your ticket. We may all have a heart attack the first time we see your adjusted prices, but at least we won’t hate you for trying to trick us.
And customers, in the meantime. Stop always trying to nickel and dime yourself on everything you buy. I know times are tough, but what you’re saving in dollars you’re paying for far too dearly in quality of life. And so are your neighbors.
