Resourceful representatives of the aviation business are finding more invisible ways to save on the passengers to make them pay more. It is only at first glance it seems that, despite inflation, the crisis and change in the prices of airport services, air fare increased slightly. In fact, the flight became much more expensive. To understand this, we need to only compare, as we flew about five years ago and how ascetic became avia service today.
For that there is a list of things that need to be taken into account to make the best comparison and not to forget the small tips that need to be paid for various services.
Baggage
Airlines seek to teach people to fly without baggage. Earlier in distant, for an overseas trip could take a couple of suitcases, but now we have to restrict ourselves. Many American companies does not accept baggage for free for domestic flights, and in Europe more and more airlines are inclined to model a new way of baggage payments, when you have to pay separately for every bag. The benefit is obvious: the lighter the aircraft, the less fuel it will spend. Knocked down by a decline and sports equipment: if last year you could bring skis free, then this season you can expect a nasty surprise. That’s why you better decide which is more proper from your point of view.
Meals onboard
The first place where the airplanes start to fulfill their budget is the food. Approximately two years ago, when jet fuel prices have shot up sharply upward, the carriers have significantly reduced the cost of the food: they reduced the number of dishes, replacing expensive foods with cheaper one, abandoned hot – once familiar food with the traditional “meat-chicken-fish” service can be afforded only by few airlines today.
The others replace big boxes with a pair of pickle sandwiches in plastic wrap. A little earlier, referring to the misbehavior of drunken passengers, carriers guessed to restrict or completely prohibit alcohol on board – it also proved to be quite profitable. In modern times it became difficult to obtain even an extra glass of soft drink – they supply less water and juices on board, often explaining it … total weight of the aircraft and, consequently, all the same fuel economy.
The popular companies appear to use more and more low-budget features: some have stopped free feeding tourist class passengers. Only recently some of the airlines made a decision that the passengers cannot take any kind of fluid with them and also a long list of items concerning the food and drinks, that’s why the choice of the passengers is small: to buy food at extortionate prices before leaving the sterile area of the airport or spend his daily bread onboard, where everything is more expensive, and the assortment is much poorer.
Of course there is also another option, which to starve while flying. Anyways this sounds a little bit mispromising.
Service at the airport
Well even those who had to pay a lot of money to receive a proper treatment are now being left without the proper attention. I’m talking about the VIP-passengers. If they previously used business hall at the airport and some other bonuses which were usually included in the ticket price, now the trend of paying for them separately is increasing. Carriers invent all sorts of sub-VIP-service, so if you care about, if you can calmly look through the magazine in the silence of the elite lounge, do not forget to ask about this when buying a ticket.
By the way, an assortment of free spirits in the business rooms also undergone some changes: they have decided that passengers should stump up just over half an hour to sit in an easy chair rather than on the hard metal chair in the drive.
Surcharges
The airline investors are not lazy to think of a list of things that will help them to gain aroud 5-10 euro from every passenger! It all starts with the purchase of ticket. This is the dawn of electronic technology customers attracted by lower “Internet tariffs”. Now for the purchase of the network often takes a special payment, though the airline saves money on such kind of tickets when paying less to the staff.
Separately, they can offer you to pay for the choice of menu (whereas previously vegetarian, children’s, kosher and other non-traditional foods have been in a free range). Most inventive carriers have decided to make and location of seats: a few extra euros would cost to book seats near the emergency exit. There is much more space for legs, besides you will have the chance to escape the first time in an extraordinary situation (for some people it matters!).
Increasingly, applied a rigid segmentation of the passenger compartment. This is not about business class. If you bought a ticket on a low fare, you’ll have to sit at the very tail of the aircraft. Isn’t this unfair as at the beginning there was no such a discrimation for those who had to pay less?
Staff
Money-saving based on the airplane stuff cut was something very annoying- the firing of the stewards and stewardesses became a popular policy for some of the airlines. Of course, you cannot fire all the pilots and replace them with the autopilot but you can reduce the number of staff on board and in the terminals- it is quite realistic. And that’s why when using some of the services at the airport and the plane you are coming with a long list of problems. You do not have to wait for luggage for a few hours? Of course, new baggage systems make almost everything themselves and the people there are not needed. But since then, in many airports of the world when the longshoremen are being fired, a small problem turns into a baggage collapse which will make you to wait for your baggage not for a single hour. That’s why it’s better to know that the machines cannot replace people everywhere.
