Medway Travel eNewsletter September 2009
No Frills fares may be more expensive than you think
Many employees and holiday makers believe that no frills airlines are clearly the cheapest source of air tickets. However, this may well not be the case!
The results of a recent comparison of costs associated with on-line booked fares with no frills airlines, suggests that some of the services one takes for granted on conventional airlines, are now considered to be rich “hidden” seams of revenue by their no-frills competitors
Thus, headline fares cannot be relied upon as a basis for decisions and a genuine comparison can take a lot of research. For example, popular no frills airlines will charge up to:
£10 for payment by credit card (conventional airlines – no charge)
£80 for airport check-in (conventional airlines – no charge)
£8 for priority boarding (conventional airlines – no charge to reserve your seat up to 24 hrs before departure)
£260 for a 23kg suitcase (conventional airlines – no charge)
£2 for a minimum snack
£6 for tea or coffee
£8 for wine or beer
Therefore your trip could cost £100 above the headline fare without hold baggage and as much as £360 more than the headline fare if you have a heavy case to go into the hold.
In addition, many no frills airlines use less convenient airports (because of their lower landing fees), which can involve travellers in higher cost transfers to their final destinations.
Some may call all this clever marketing – others might consider it closer to deception. Either way, beware of the possible unintended and unnecessary additional costs of falling under the spell of the no frills airlines’ selective PR.
We would, naturally, say it is the job of the good travel agent to help you to avoid such hidden pitfalls, and to get for you, the most out of your travel budget. But as professionals, this is undoubtedly our primary objective.
So contact our experienced consultants, get their expert advice on the most cost effective solutions for your travel requirements and a firm quote – without your having to spend hours of research, investigating the small print in all the options!
