Monday, 25 January 2010

Comment

Double their money

For a good while now received wisdom has been that budget airlines excel at using low headline ticket prices to distract customers from the full cost of flying. This past week I've finally seen this first hand.

And I have to admire just how well thought-out their websites are. For the two airlines I looked at, the final price to be paid was roughly double the headline ticket price. On one I just clicked the "continue" button after selecting flights and on every screen thereafter an "extra" component was added: taxes, bags, insurance, seat reservations and credit card fee. When finally presented with the full price none of these items could be deselected - I'd have had to wind all the way back to the start for that.

The website was a work of genius.

Thankfully I managed to persuade my boss that there was a better alternative though: I'm going by train. It's more expensive, but should be far more relaxing. Details will follow in a week.

Posted by pab at 09:55 | Comments will be back later in the year. Please email me instead!