Originally Posted by
pinniped
One other tidbit that we haven't discussed much here: Ryanair got a lot of global publicity with those 1-euro fares. That may have helped "grease" their fee culture along. It's sort of like a game, pay a euro and then try to dodge the fees. Here, outside of a few routes operated by Spirit, nobody's really tried this. Our general take is that fees come on top of the existing fare structure. The feeling is that we just paid more for something we used to get for less. The Ryanair feeling is frequently "this system sort of sucks, but my total bill is lower than Lingus so I can live with it."
Fair point.
I think there are 3 things going on here.
1. People's entitlement mentality (see recent election results as Exhibit A). Everyone wants their free stuff. Don't bother me with the details of who pays for it or if it's sustainable in the long run, I
DEMAND my free stuff now. And if you don't give it to me I'll throw a tantrum.
2. Consumers acting irrationally. Give someone 2 options of $300 for a fare with no checked bags and $20/bag fee or $320 for a fare with a checked bag and even people who know they will check a bag will choose $300. People want the better deal, they don't want to be bothered with what will happen tomorrow. And tomorrow they show up and have a heart attack when told it will be $20 to check a bag.
3. The media loves this stuff. Nothing more a travel "journalist" loves more than to tell his/her viewers how awful airlines are. When's the last time you saw a positive story about travel? It's nothing but negativity which feeds on itself in a never ending loop. I had a discussion about this with my sister over Thanksgiving. I showed her that the cost of her flight to my parents' house was cheaper that what it would have cost her to drive. Plus it got here there in 2.5 hours as opposed to a 15 hour drive she would have had each way. So she saved 20 hours of her time, saved the wear and tear on her car and came out ahead money wise. But still she wasn't happy because last year she also flew home for TG and it was $50 cheaper and damn those greedy airlines. No matter what an airline does, my sister won't be happy. And she is representative of the general flying public.