Comments on: Conferences help companies rip off customers without losing them http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jasper http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14461 Jasper Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:11:11 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14461 BTW: the reason why ancillary stuff works for Ryanair, is that they charge next to nothing for your flight. Check the website: London - Ibiza: 10 pounds. Liverpool - Gdansk: 10 pounds. Including taxes. Good luck getting a $15 flight from Baltimore to Portland OR. Or New Haven-Miami. Many folks do not understand the reason why Ryanair and Easyjet make billions. They are brutally honest about their business plan. You pay next to nothing, you get next to nothing. Customers get that as fair, especially since they're back-up by EU reimbursement legislation in case their flight gets canceled or delayed. Having paid $15 for a ticket, people don't mind chipping in another 15 for a bag. American carriers think they can do the same after charging you $300 for a ticket and the. surcharging you $75 for fuel non-sense, and finally adding in a bunch of random taxes and a booking fee. And worse, they're surprised it doesn't work. BTW: the reason why ancillary stuff works for Ryanair, is that they charge next to nothing for your flight. Check the website: London – Ibiza: 10 pounds. Liverpool – Gdansk: 10 pounds. Including taxes. Good luck getting a $15 flight from Baltimore to Portland OR. Or New Haven-Miami.

Many folks do not understand the reason why Ryanair and Easyjet make billions. They are brutally honest about their business plan. You pay next to nothing, you get next to nothing. Customers get that as fair, especially since they’re back-up by EU reimbursement legislation in case their flight gets canceled or delayed. Having paid $15 for a ticket, people don’t mind chipping in another 15 for a bag.

American carriers think they can do the same after charging you $300 for a ticket and the. surcharging you $75 for fuel non-sense, and finally adding in a bunch of random taxes and a booking fee.

And worse, they’re surprised it doesn’t work.

]]> By: Ed http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14460 Ed Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:30:08 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14460 A recent poll was done to identify if travelers who favor Jet Blue would be receptive to the $7 pillow and blanket fee...the result was a resounding "NO"! I find it hard to believe that flyers in the United States will pay for ancillary products. You see it every day on the airplanes...People bringing food onboard instead of purchasing that nasty sandwich.. And fees for headphones have been dropped and fees for sodas are negativly viewed. I for one, do NOT make purchases onboard! One of the things I found disconcerting was a recent connecting flight on an international roundtrip ticket. After landing in the US after flying 15 hours from an international location, the stewardess came down the aisle hawking something that I wasn't paying any attention on...and it occured to me...I didn't have any U.S. currency...How could I pay for any onboard products? All I had on me were foreign currency...That's when I discovered that this bit of selling stuff onboard was not very well thought out... Ed web/gadget guru A recent poll was done to identify if travelers who favor Jet Blue would be receptive to the $7 pillow and blanket fee…the result was a resounding “NO”!
I find it hard to believe that flyers in the United States will pay for ancillary products. You see it every day on the airplanes…People bringing food onboard instead of purchasing that nasty sandwich..
And fees for headphones have been dropped and fees for sodas are negativly viewed.
I for one, do NOT make purchases onboard!
One of the things I found disconcerting was a recent connecting flight on an international roundtrip ticket. After landing in the US after flying 15 hours from an international location, the stewardess came down the aisle hawking something that I wasn’t paying any attention on…and it occured to me…I didn’t have any U.S. currency…How could I pay for any onboard products? All I had on me were foreign currency…That’s when I discovered that this bit of selling stuff onboard was not very well thought out…
Ed
web/gadget guru

]]> By: Jasper http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14449 Jasper Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:50:14 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14449 @ Chris: Just sign up under your name and profession: travel expert and mediator. Do you really think they're filtering mechanism with all annoying journalists on it? They don't lie and get their way. You can play that game too! @ Chris: Just sign up under your name and profession: travel expert and mediator. Do you really think they’re filtering mechanism with all annoying journalists on it? They don’t lie and get their way. You can play that game too!

]]> By: Christopher Elliott http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14445 Christopher Elliott Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:49:57 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14445 @Jasper I strongly doubt they would let me darken the door of either conference. But I agree ... it would be interesting to blog these shows. @Jasper I strongly doubt they would let me darken the door of either conference. But I agree … it would be interesting to blog these shows.

]]> By: Chuck http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14443 Chuck Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:18:35 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14443 Anyone old enough might remember Bob Newhart's first album ("Button Down MInd") which contained a track about the Grace L Ferguson Airline & Storm Door Company." He talked about the airline reducing cost by eliminating non-essentials such as "seats ... and landing gear." This was in the early 60's - did he nail it or what? Anyone old enough might remember Bob Newhart’s first album (“Button Down MInd”) which contained a track about the Grace L Ferguson Airline & Storm Door Company.” He talked about the airline reducing cost by eliminating non-essentials such as “seats … and landing gear.” This was in the early 60′s – did he nail it or what?

]]> By: Jasper http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14442 Jasper Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:59:15 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14442 Hey Chris, Aren't you going to this wonderful conference? I'd love to see some good articles on this. Hey Chris,

Aren’t you going to this wonderful conference? I’d love to see some good articles on this.

]]> By: Sean http://www.elliott.org/blog/love-me-love-my-fees-conferences-help-companies-rip-off-customers-without-losing-them/comment-page-1/#comment-14439 Sean Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:20:01 +0000 http://www.elliott.org/?p=5206#comment-14439 Great stuff! Great stuff!

]]>