TRAVEL|TAKING OFF
Don’t Be Fooled By Airline Ticket Prices
That fare may not be as cheap as you think
In the past month, I’ve booked two airline tickets; one for November to finally head back ‘down under’ after what will be three long years. The other is to spend next weekend in Toronto to celebrate my other mother’s 80th birthday. It’s a surprise and I’m super excited about it!
I was glad to have nabbed the international ticket prior to the exponential fuel price rise. Although it was all paid for by the credit that had been sitting waiting to be used since Covid canned my travel plans in May 2020, I was rather surprised that the fare I booked a month ago was cheaper than the one I’d purchased two years earlier.
Yes, it’s still pricey but it is a long way to go. Now, the price for that trip has increased by at least $500 thanks to Russia invading Ukraine.
But that’s not the point of this story. What irked me about booking both tickets was having to then go and pay for a seat on top of the quoted flight price.
The same happened when I booked the Aeroplan flight with Air Canada to Toronto. It’s irritating to have to pay the taxes out of pocket rather than using points, but to then ask for $11 more each way for a seat is ridiculous!
And guess what? They want MORE money to put a bag in the luggage hold!
Seriously?
No wonder you see people struggling along with stuffed-to-the-gunnels cabin bags that they can hardly lift into the overhead compartment!
Not that I’ll need to put a bag in the hold — I am only going for the weekend — but it’s the way airlines sell tickets that irks me. I know it’s a marketing strategy, just like omitting taxes in prices, but it’s wrong that they get away with charging extra money for seats and baggage.
Isn’t it a given that you need a seat on a plane? Like, I’m happy to sit on the loo or stand for the ride to ‘Turruno’ next weekend. It’s only an hour! But, aviation regulations mandate that passengers are seated with their seatbelts fastened, tray tables stowed and seatbacks upright.
When I book an airline ticket, I’m not only paying for the privilege of being chauffeured to my destination several thousand feet in the air in an aluminum tube with a coupla hundred other peeps; I’m required to sit in the damn thing — so I expect to have paid for a seat too when I purchase a ticket.
Don’t then go and ask me to pay more for something that should be a given. Include the full cost in the fare price rather than trying to fool passengers they’ve got a great deal.
I want to know exactly what a trip will cost me rather than finding out there are another $100 of surcharges necessary for me to get there and back.
It’s false advertising.
What do you think? Has anyone else been surprised by some extra add-ons that weren’t anticipated when booking travel?
