Free and easy?

I’ve just booked a flight with easyJet, and was staggered to be fleeced of £8 just for the privilege of paying.  With a debit card! £8!

Still, it could have been worse. Flybe would have charged me £9. And their more-dishonest-than-RyanAir website would have fleeced me further for ‘choosing my seat’ had I not wondered why the costs were going up and scrolled down to the tiny print below the adverts.

Now I might be a fan of BA anyway, but this has got me wondering why people even look at ‘low cost’ flying sometimes.  Or why BA’s advertising people aren’t doing a better job of tearing apart the competition.

In this case, I had no choice (BA don’t fly where I want to go) but had I flown with BA, the headline price would have been what I paid.  None of this watching the totals go up as I add baggage, debit card fees, seat choice, or spend too long on the internet.  And I’d get my G&T on-board.

Fair enough, some of the charges are optional.  Sometimes one doesn’t need two pieces of hand-baggage.  Or a bag in the hold.  Or a coffee.  But the day that paying becomes an optional extra, I’ll fly with easyJet every time.

 

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