Re the comments a couple of pages back that the public will need to realise that the days of cheap flights are over.....
Perhaps so....But it'll be a sorry day for some airlines when the public does, in fact, wake up to this fact and sees that some of the self-proclaimed low-fare airlines are really no better than the proverbial snake oil salesmen when it comes to actually delivering the promises.....
And would have to say that Jet2 are probably the worst offenders when it comes to misleading prices....
Just looked at booking a ticket MAN-NCE which was stated on Page 1 at £29.99.....By the end of Page 2, the price had risen to £57.49 because the the originally quoted price didn't include taxes - no, I don't want to hear the nonsense that it's not Jet2's money, because that one won't wash anymore....Ask BA, RYR or EZY if their opening price is with or without taxes....Taxes are taxes are taxes - it's a bit like someone advertisng and offering to sell petrol for 42 pence per litre and then telling you that there is an additional 71p taxes for each litre when you are half-way through filling the tank of your car because the Government says that you have to pay tax when you buy petrol.....Well, the government also says that you have to pay taxes when you buy an airticket, so why does Jet2 pretend you don't ?
On Page 3 the site defaults to ' One piece of Baggage ' - it needs yet another window to be opened up before a first-timer would know that there is an additional charge for each piece of baggage - but without actually quoting the cost applicable to the flight being booked even though the departure and destination have obviously been entered into the reservation system and so could be included in the ' running total ' shown at the top of the Page 3....And then there is a default to include a charge for Travel Insurance ( £4.82 if you're stupid enough ) and which, cunningly, requires three seperate ' clicks ' for the buyer to actually delete....At this stage, the quoted price on Page 3 remains at £57.49 although has actually now increased to ???
Page 4 invites you to select your seat - which varies between £3.99 and £12.50.....Humm...Haven't I just booked my seat on Page 1 for £ 29.99 or £ 57.49 depending on your interpretation of the actual cost of the ticket....
Page 5 the truth emerges - the ticket, the taxes ( which are now added into the price of the ticket but, of course, were not added into the price on Page 1 and are not itemised here on Page 5 ), the fuel supplement of £ 5.27 or approx. 20% of the base price of £ 29.99 (humm again - don't recall a mention of this on Page 1 ( the obvious place ) or Page 2 or Page 3 or Page 4 for that matter), the seat selection charge, and one piece of baggage, and hey presto - the price has risen from £29.99 to £73.74, or more than double the price quoted on Page 1...
But wait - we're not finished just yet.....
As I can't pay by cash or cheque with an on-line booking, I now have a choice to pay either by Debit Card ( £ 1.99 extra for a total cost of £75.73 ) or Credit Card ( £ 6.99 for a total cost of £ 80.73)....Oh, and if there is more than one passenger on the same booking, this charge increases per passenger even though there is a single payment transaction - do Amex, Visa, MasterCard charge Jet2 per transaction or per passenger ? Of course they charge per transaction, so why this extra charge from Jet 2 if it isn't just another plain, old-fashioned gouging of a yet a bit more money off me ??
Frankly, I won't bother - not because £ 81 is too much....But simply because they have lied to me from the beginning, so why should I even trust them to actually operate the flight on the date / time they said they would ? After all, Jet2 also cover their arses in the event that they don't / won't / can't provide the service they've just tried to take my money for, by requiring me to check that the flight is still operating both 72 hours and 24 hours prior to the quoted day and time for which thay have just tried to sell me a ticket, but this time have lost both a potential customer and my goodwill forever...
BA are AF are quoting me not a whole lot more for the same date / time and the price they quote ( yes, varies depending on the actual flight chosen but at least there's a choice ) it's the price I'll pay - not almost three times as much....
In fact, right now I'm feeling so pi**ed off I'll probably call the OFT in the UK tomorrow....