Originally Posted by
Art of flight
The {customers}....have been nibbling away at terms and conditions for years with the demand to go further for less.
I was once cornered by a taxi driver extolling the virtues of cheap air travel, he told me how he flew from Stansted to Newquay for £29, the story didn't end well though, when it was time to come back, Newquay was fogged in, the airline told the passengers they could have their money back or drive to Bristol for another flight, no hire cars available, etc, etc. Apparently it cost him a fortune to get his family back to Stansted, but even then he couldn't see the flaw in the new way of doing things and seemed to be a big fan of locos.
Sadly, expecting ever lower costs seems to be many buyers' sole criteria. A flight for £5 less will get the booking over the competitor. Look on the website of a well known trade and DIY supplier, and one of the filters offered when searching for products is price. Not quality, not build materials, not country of manufacture, just price. And then house owners wonder why their new installation goes wrong or has poor performance.
Having said all that, some legacy contract BA staff have enjoyed frankly extremely generous salaries. BA CSD's for example earned more than I did as an F/O in other airlines, don't know if they still do.