I was being kind of ironic, but I have another, real suggestion. The government regulates misleading pricing. The problem with the current situation is that extremists like Ryanair end up posting prices which are in effect no available. They see everything as an "optional" extra. At one point, they even sought to charge for the wheelchair people needed and only after losing a court case did they have to drop it. Even then, they simply levied an outrageous "wheelchair" charge on every passenger (avoiding charges of disability discrimination).
In the US, I seem to recall that the government had to intervene when airlines posted the one-way fare between city pairs which was impossible to buy, because it was only available if you bought a return.
This spiral is caused by the phenonomen of passengers seeking the "lowest" headline fare without understanding the total fare. Airlines exploit this.
I think the answer is for regulation of the advertising. Airlines should be required to post only fares which can actually be bought at that price, including all mandatory charges. I would also like to see a requirement that additional charges for basics such as luggage having to be posted in the same advertisement. Thus the passenger can see that all the airfare, including all mandatory charges is $100, the bag will cost $50. Total $150. This would allow proper price comparison and stop the misleading practice.
Ryanair for example, charge a credit card processing free of £5 ($8) per person, per segment for all credit and debit cards. It is often the case that the "credit card processing fee" is higher than the airfare. They avoid having to include this in the fare by allowing customers to use an "Electron" card in the UK for free. Only 8% of all cards issued in the UK are branded as "Electron". This is highly misleading and ought to be regulated.
Similarly, Ryanair will soon raise their charge for some bags to £70 per bag ($110). That is a ridiculous fee which they argue is designed to discourage people checking bags into the hold. I argue that it's real purpose is to allow Ryanair to market their services for free or very low prices, which in reality don't exist for the majority of customers.
So there you have, I have got back to my usual rant: End monopolies and re-regulate. There you didn't expect me to adopt that position did you!! lol
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