Makes you wonder Why they were saying how wonderful they were doing then, in local rag, mind would you want to pay full price for fares in winter that ran in middle of night, some nights it was 10/11 pm they were leaving BLK.
Apologies if this has been reported before but have just noted Monarch are following the flow and will charge for hold luggage on scheduled flights. £3.99 per bag, online, £10 at the airport.
I'm sorry but this is getting beyond a joke. What else will they have us paying for next. Use of a seatbelt maybe?? And it seems that you're no longer safe with a particular carrier because once one airline introduces new charges, it's guaranteed that everyone else will follow shortly after.
And will be see any reduction in fares as a result of this additional charge? Highly unlikely!
This may be naive but I cant see any fares on Monarch services for £0.01.
If I choose to fly FR or EZY then with low fares then I will bung the odd fiver for hold baggage. For an airline with goodish routes, a good charter programme and a healthy scheduled service why go down this side street?
Someone will wake up to it all and come out with the slogan of 'no hidden charges' etc etc, kind of similar to Ryanairs no fuel surcharges ever slogans that we see. Pity it wasn't Monarch as they are a decent outfit too.
Monarch could well, have shot themselves in the foot here. "Expect more, pay less " my A*SE.
They are one of the more pricey locos, but do give you more..eg .papers, towels etc.
This just flies in the opposite - they should be saying -fly me !! No hidden extras - Check in Included, seat res included, papers included, hot towels included, baggage included , freq flyer points included = expect more pay less. Maybe they will change it now to pay more get less ?
Well they no longer give away newspapers, apparently to help reduce weight and save space... So i bet it won't be long until they stop giving hot towels. Perhaps the only real difference now between them and low fare carriers is the fact that you can buy hot meals onboard and the higher prices.
Just returned from Palma with ZB, had newspapers both ways, but no hot towels.
Also when we were dept. man, there was a lot slf for the LAA flight to Tripoli,
in the toilets washing there feet. Is this normal! I presume it is perhaps connected to religious belief. Anybody know if this is the case,save me looking it up.
Regards
Peakp
Forgive me, I'm not particularly well up on how successful ZB is at LGW but I think that the problem with routes like GRX and LIS is that their aircraft are too big. Filling an A320 or 321 on a regular basis on non-bucket & spade routes is going to be more difficult than filling a 737 or 319. If ZB really want to make a go of more cities/business destinations than perhaps they should look at adding some smaller aircraft to their fleet. A319's would be the obvious choice with the majority of their scheduled flights already operated by Airbuses. Even if the likes of LIS have been doing ok, they know they can utilise 174 or 214 seater aircraft better on other routes and that's what they've done.
I admit, I'm a little surprised to see MAN-XRY dropped. It has done very well in it's first 6 months of operation but again, that aircraft can probably be better utilised on a different route. MAN - NAP was always an odd choice IMHO and struggled even in the busy summer months. Ironically, MAN - MAD would probably work well for them now there's no competition but I don't think they will explore that avenue again.
All this said, I can't help feeling that Monarch have lost their way a little. Once the airline who were proud to be different, they have effectively copied fellow LCC's, introducing charges, doing away with 'frills' left, right and centre and basically removing all the aspects of their product that made them so popular. It now seems that they're willing to be ruthless by axing routes they no longer deem worthwhile a-la WW or LS.
I'm not saying they should continue to operate loss-making routes to save face, or continue to serve free food and drink just to offer something different, but everything that made them stand out has now disappeared and they have become just another face in the low cost crowd. Any stability within the airline seems to have gone. Routes dropped, products dropped, charges increased and often far more expensive than their competitors, how much longer will their frequent fliers remain loyal? Are you listening Mr. Jeans??
Well if Monarch were to resume the Manchester - Gibraltar they would benefit of a huge whole in the market as there is no competition and a lot of demand. It was axed for the wrong reasons. So if they are axing Jerez (the replacement) then it makes no sense at all.
It would be good to see MAN - GIB return, But MON do well on the LGW - GIB route, GIB is frequented more by the south, And the charges increased at GIB made MON discontinue the MAN - GIB route.
With AGP down the road, MON knew they could transfer the MAN - GIB there.
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