Comments on: 5 easy way to avoid a la carte anarchy when you fly

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:44:55 +0000

I don’t mind the unbudling. The idea that cruise ships should provide unlimited Coca Cola for your children was obviously written by somebody who was unaware of the obesity epidemic in America. I guess I’m the kind of person who packs lightly and doesn’t expect a meal to be included in the price of my airline ticket. I’m glad that some travel providers offer a simple service for people like me who don’t require much pampering.

By: MrsKruse

MrsKruse — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:22:49 +0000

I wouldn’t mind that they unbundled, if all of the sites let you pick the things you wanted and quoted the price including that. It’s annoying to have to dig around to figure out who includes what.

By: Carver

Carver — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:09:43 +0000

@Adrian

I think he was alluding to Chris implication that mileage runs are strupid. I agree with Duke. A mileage run, like every dollar spent needs to be evaluated on what you receive.

I once did a mileage run to the Chicago from SFO. The trip costme $500. The result was that I received Executive Platinum Status on American Airlines

What did my $500 get me

* $5000 worth of free domestic upgrades the next year
* 4 International Upgrades
* $50 off the Admiral’s club membership
* Top priority during irregular ops.
* Top Priority for standby
* No telephone or counter fees when purchasing tickets

So my 5500 mileage run wsas an excellent deal

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:10:58 +0000

I don’t mind auto tips on cruising at all. I’m on vacation and would tip anyway for the good service I receive. If I receive bad service, I know that I can adjust the tips, but if the service is good, I don’t have to worry about getting envelopes, cash, etc… to tip personally. If I want to tip more, I can do that and have. There’s an argument to including them as part of the cruise cost but then there is no incentive for good service because that can’t be removed if you get a bad waiter or room steward. And the maitre’d isn’t typically included in the auto tips. When the maitre’d has been personally attentive to me or fixed a problem, I will tip some at the end of the cruise. And everyone should remember that one of the best tips you can give a crew member on a cruise is your word by mentioning their good service in a letter to the cruiseline or in the survey at the end of the cruise. That’s what the cruiseline looks to for raises, promotions and the like. Ice cream is free on Carnival. Pop isn’t but I don’t drink much of that anyway and you are allowed to carry some onboard at embarkation and in each port. I’ve never paid for a meal on a cruise ship (aside from a birthday cake) and have never eaten anything that resembled gruel. I’ve had escargot, lobster, chateaubriand, creme brulee, etc…and as much of it as I can eat. If somebody chooses to pay more to go to a pay restaurant onboard, that’s certainly their choice and they should get better cuts of meat, better plating, etc for that.

The baggage fees are annoying, but only because I think that if they are charging extra for baggage, they should lower the price of the actual airfare. I also think it would be more convenient if I could pay my baggage fees in advance for a discount. Maybe not at booking, but a month or so before the trip so that they aren’t coming out of my vacation/trip budget. And if I’m paying for my baggage to ride along, it had better end up on the same plane as me and in one piece. If it does go missing or is damaged/stolen from, the airline did not hold up their end of the bargain and the baggage fees should be refunded. In other words, if I’m paying a baggage fee, the airlines should step up their security, care and tracking so that I get back what I gave them in the shape they got it.

By: Adrian Shadowmoss

Adrian Shadowmoss — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:52:59 +0000

Duke Nukem:
Were you on or smoking something when you blogged here? What on earth are you refering to?
AJS

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:08:58 +0000

I am in agreement with Carver. It’s not the fees that are the problem, it’s the presentation of the fees. Most people have no problem with a Resort Fee as long as they knew about it ahead of time and could take it into account when making their decision to go there.
Here are a couple examples of everyday things that OTHER industries do that people simply ignore because they have been around so long, people are used to them.
a la carte prices – Almost Every Restaurant in America is A La Carte to some extent or another. Most places do not bundle the Appetizer, Main Course, and Dessert altogether because they realize that the customer enjoys having some power in the decision making process for what they’d like to eat. Nobody complains that each dish is priced seperately.
Bait and Switch – Almost Every Store in America advertises the price the store charges. Very few of them ever mention that there is a Sales Tax on top of that. How come nobody complains that the $1,000 TV actually costs closer to $1,050?
The Government needs to come out with a Full and Clear Disclosure Policy that applies to ALL industries that they must disclose all madatory charges and fees prior to purchase and in their advertising. If this were in place, no one could ever claim they were duped out of their money or forced to pay something they didn’t know about…
All that said, there are some fees and practices that ARE a little shadey:
The Mandatory Rental Car Issurance.
The Resort Fee or Parking Fee that is not Disclosed until Check-out.
The Mandatory 15% Gratuity at Restuarants.
Any sort of Facility or Site Fees.
While these are all bogus charges that are generally applied on a local level, as long as they are clearly disclosed ahead of time no one would complain about them because they would be considered part of the price. People only complain about them when they are blindsided by them. BUT, as long as the traveller can afford to stop and take care of the situation on the spot, all of them can be avoided. Most of the companies that charge these fees depend on the traveller being too busy to dispute them on the spot AND too either too lazy or forgetful to dispute them once they return home. They are generally Correct on both assumptions so they continue to do it. If people would slow down for a minute, take care of things on the spot, places would realize that it’s actually hurting their business to charge these things and stop doing it.
Until the consumers or the government forces these companies to change business practices, they will remain exactly the same

By: Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:24:48 +0000

And by the way, mileage runs are NOT foolish! I think this article was written on a rush, because it’s got a rare sloppyness to it….now THAT would be foolish!

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:40:50 +0000

Chris:
I see you mentioned those onerous “mandatory tips” for cruise lines. The prices for cruises have remained the same – on paper, at least – however, the ever-increasing ‘gotchas’ are getting larger and larger. The cruise line automatic per-day, per-passenger, charge for “tipping” from the chief cook to the bottle washer it seems), is nothing more than masking an increase in cruise costs.
It’s ridiculous to pay a maitre d’ a $1.00 per day, per passenger gratuity for simply doing his job! I have learned to go to the purser’s desk and request that they DO NOT charge our room for the per-day gratuities, instead allowing us to tip (or not to tip) if we deem that the cabin steward, for instance, has done an outstanding job for us, or that our table waiter has gone the “extra mile” for us. In that case, we still opt not to pay the automatic charge, rather we pay individually to each person. And, I might add, the amount we give them is far a away more than the auto deduct more often than not.
It used to be you could get Cokes, ice cream, etc. for free on board but no more – nickel and diming us to death in this instance is a good metaphor.
BUT, most passengers, like sheep, pay it and don’t complain so the cruise lines will continue to impose it.
I’ve even had a purserperson to question me as to why I would not want it automatically charged as if that was a right of the cruise line and that this was my way of showing my appreciation. They have even started to brow-beat us (yep, it happened to a friend of mine, in front of me in line at a major cruise line). Sooner or later, we will all quit cruising, or enough will stand up to them I should say, and they may stop this ridiculous practice.

By: Carver

Carver — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:35:58 +0000

I know I’m the lone voice that likes unbundling. But my $29 trip from SFO to LAX suggests that it can work.

In any event, I mentioned negative check-offs in a previous post, which Chris seems to be advocating in the last paragraphs. But they’re still spin. If the airline intends to chare $15 for a checked bag. What the difference between

Scenario A:

Airfare $of 100 plus additional $15 for baggage fee

Scenario B

Airfare of $115, option to lower it by $15 if you don’t bring a bag.

Its the same thing, but Scenario B is easier to sell.