An article in today's Times talks about airline fees - how airlines are basically charging for everything they can, and then some (one airline has a fee that you can pay to protect yourself again having to pay other fees, if they arise). The thrust of the article is about how unfair it is for the airlines to nickel and dime flyers, especially given that they charge, say, $50 for something that it costs them $10 to do.
Two things occurred to me.
The first is that this might be akin to when the hospital charges you ten dollars for a bandaid. They do it because a) they can, b)sometimes they don't actually know what a bandaid costs (first in/first out, ouchless, the ones with the clown face?), and c) this lets them charge a little less for other things, so that they can say that at their hospital, an MRI is $749, not $1000 at Hospitals R'Us.
The second is that if people focused on the overall cost, they'd be more content. Costs me $750 to fly to West Shipoo, but the fees are $150 in addition? Think of it as 'the flight will cost $900'- or even $1000. Don't focus on the smaller things, because a) it's going to drive you crazy, and b) it's going to drive you crazy. Now, I know that it's easy for me to say that -- I don't fly much, so it's like me offering advice about the best way to get through childbirth. Plus, most people who fly are going for the least expensive alternative. But there's least expensive, and then there's least expensive. It's why, thinking about the cost of this possible flight to France, we aren't looking at first class (sacre bleu!) and we're not looking at Economy. The latter's where all the fees will show up (Toilet Paper? Dollar a sheet, in advance). The former's where the airline is going to try to make another ten percent on the cost of the ticket. We're going to look at what will give us the experience we want, and pay that. And if we decide 'that's too much'-- then we just won't go.
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