You get what you pay for

You know, despite my cheapskate ways, I’ve never ever purchased a flight on a budget airline (the closest was flying BMI in 2003). It isn’t because I think it’s worth paying for flights on the big airline companies, but more because when I travel, it tends to be long haul — and budget airlines haven’t (yet) started doing long haul, halfway round the world journeys.

Also, after watching a few episodes of Airline, I’m not too keen on being stranded in transit while I’m trying to get home. Especially if it’s somewhere like the middle east / gulf states, they’re going to be bloody hot.

One thing I noticed when people didn’t get their flights on Airline — they didn’t just get upset, they got really belligerent most of the time. There was one bloke who did a lot of pointing and shouting, saying that the airline ticket was a contract, promising to get him to [destination] on a certain flight at a certain day and time. When in fact it doesn’t; an airline contracts to get you from your origin to your destination and that’s it.

There’s also something these customers fail to realise. They bought a budget airline ticket. Budget airlines strip everything down to the bare minimum, everything else is extra — and if I could get bumped off a BA flight that I had re-confirmed over the telephone, budget carrier passengers really can’t expect anything better.

Not that I think budget airlines are bad. Consumers just have to understand that paying a heavily discounted rate means something has to be traded off in return. I think the general rule of thumb is, if you’re not up for an adventure or unforeseen circumstances and unscheduled extended holidays, budget airlines aren’t for you.

This post is sponsored.

• 8 Jan 2007

• Thinking