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Originally Posted by airhead
- passengers are already compensated for delays that are within the control of the airline. A sliding scale or trickle down a la carte menu of time may further complicate the ticketing system. Passengers should be aware of the potential of any type of delay and the consequences. The contract explains this in more technical terms.
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No they're not, at least not consistently. Such compensation wouldn't need to be tied in any form or fashion to ticketing systems.
Quote:
Originally Posted by airhead
- -a transparent form of pricing would indeed be nice but who can enforce that? If that were to happen then that would have to be effective on other consumer goods and services. Personally, my internet/cable bill comes to about $78 a month after the taxes and fees. The base amount is $49. That is about a 58% price increase. Phone bills, utilities, cars, real estate, credit cards and many others have added taxes and fees. Taking away the fees to be include in the base price would mean more work and calculations for the pencil pushers and bean counters thus raising the price. The IRS and FDA, just off the top of my head, would have to grow thus increasing more taxes. I don't want more taxes, I pay enough.
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What a totally preposterous response. First of all, the FTC can and does monitor and enforce rules with respect to false advertising and deceptive pricing. There's no reason why they, or another government agency couldn't respond to consumer complaints if price transparencey rules were enacted for airlines. The "calculations" that "bean counters" and "pencil pushers" seem to have no problem with are the extraneous "fuel surcharges" and other add-on fees that go directly to the airlines and are simply a deceptive part of the fare structure itself. Including taxes and fees in the fares upfront wouldn't create any extra labor for the airlines at all. It would simply be fairer for consumers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by airhead
-"limiting the scope and nature of fee-based services airlines can implement" why would one want to limit the scope of a free based service airline if it works? if it does not work, let the airline fall.
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There is an alarming trend of what amounts to bait and switch tactics on the part of airlines to entrap passengers with low fares and then attempt to extort extra fees for everything from using the bathroom on board (e.g. Ryanair) to excessive checked luggage expenses. There seems to be no end in sight as to what airlines will attempt to charge extra for. This practice needs to be controlled before it gets totally out of hand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by airhead
-I think if the pie were to shrink it would be a double edge sword. Service may improve but many jobs and flights would be lost.
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Yes, that's the point. With common-sense regulation some airline jobs would be lost, capacity would shrink, and consumers would enjoy higher quality of service.