Post COVID and Ukraine war with the resultant longer air routes air travel has become more expensive. So when you are trying to stretch your travel dollar, booking with a budget airline seems like the smart move. However things are not necessarily that simple. There may be a hidden price you end up paying with these low cost air carriers. If you do a bit of research on the internet you may find that, depending on the flight and the extras you choose, a full-service airline may end up costing more or less the same.
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as no-frills, budget or discount carrier or airline, and abbreviated as LCC) is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing operating costs and without some of the traditional services and amenities provided in the fare, resulting in lower fares and fewer comforts. Thus facilities like free preferred or assigned seating, catering, differentiated premium cabins, satellite or ground-based Wi-Fi internet, and in-flight audio and video entertainment are usually not provided by these airlines.
I am very concerned about travelling overseas on budget airlines for many reasons and I have enumerated my concerns in a previous blog: https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2018/03/budget-airlinesare-they-any-good.html
Long flights in limited seating spaces are distinctly uncomfortable and except for the fact that they let you use the rest room free of cost almost nothing is free. You pay for your choice of seat, choice of meals and check-in luggage and you end up landing in a remote airport at an unearthly hour with costly connection to the city centre if any. What is worse some overseas budget airlines are known to cancel your ticket and not offer any refund if you do not do a prior web check-in.
You must always remember that the published fare isn't the only thing to factor into your budget equation. Before you book budget, ask yourself these five questions.
Is this flight going to the right airport?
Many metropolitan cities have multiple airports and the newer ones are invariably farther from the city centre. How far, you must ask. If you have ever flown Jetstar to or from Melbourne's Avalon airport, you will appreciate that which airport you land at or take off from makes a big difference. While Melbourne Tullamarine is 20 Km from the city centre and takes 30 minutes Melbourne Avalon is 60 Km away, takes 60 minutes and if you are in a taxi then a lot of money! Similarly in Norway's capital, Oslo, Oslo Gardemoen airport is 47 kilometers out of town but Oslo Torp airport is a whopping 110 kilometers from the city centre. Over in Germany, Frankfurt (Hahn) and Munich West are other airports that are a long way from the centre of town, which means a longer and more expensive trip into town. Do you remember how much you saved on the budget airlines ticket?
Are you travelling with Check-in luggage?
It is no secret that cheaper airlines charge for checked baggage, but it is easy to underestimate just how much that may add to your fare. Looking for flights between Paris and Berlin once, I found a budget airline flight that was almost $100 cheaper than Lufthansa — until I added on the cost for baggage, at which point only $20 separated them. That is a negligible difference, particularly if the full fare airlines is giving you frequent flyer points and taking you to an airport closer to the city centre.
Do you fuss about the Window seat?
Some people don't really mind where they sit on a plane. Others have a definite preference — mine is window, yours may be aisle, or for the first few rows or for an exit seat. On a budget airline, you don't just pay extra for exit rows; you pay extra for the ability to choose your seat. If you don't want to fork out the fee for seat selection and your flight turns out to be full, you may well end up in the middle seat — the one place no-one wants to be. Again, if you are travelling with your family and have not booked your seats before reaching the airport you may be forced to sit separately scattered in different rows and columns.
Do you get hungry whenever you fly?
I admire people who stick to a diet, avoid airlines food and can sit quietly when their co-passenger in the next seat is enjoying gourmet meal. I am not one of them and a full fare airline pampers me with food and drinks. On a budget airline you will have to buy all the goodies and this too will add to your ticket cost. What is worse is that if you have not booked your meals at the time of ticketing it will cost you even more inside the aircraft! So for short duration flights a budget airline might not be bad but for a long haul I will always choose a full fare airline unless I am saving enough for food.
Can you have a change in your travel plans?
When you go to a travel site and start looking for fares, the fare that comes up is always the one with the least flexibility. Most tickets on budget airlines are non-refundable. Even if it is refundable and if you are forced to cancel or change the time of your flight, this will usually result in a charge set by the airline. Budget airlines' change fees are often — though not always — higher than those of the full-service airlines. Read the fine print before you make your choice. I have burnt my fingers – after the budget airline and Make My Trip extracted their pound of flesh I was left with a few bones only! So if your plan is fluid, stay away from budget airline.
While on the subject of changing flights, before booking, consider how often your chosen airline flies that route. It is often smarter to opt for the airline which has multiple flights a day. If your flight is cancelled for technical or other reasons, it is comforting to know that you may be transferred to a later flight.
Lastly, if you are travelling on a budget airline always opt for travel insurance so that if you have a flight cancellation and are forced to stay overnight in a hotel your extra expense is compensated.
So, if you are planning to travel by budget airlines then go to their website and extract as many details as possible about company policies on check-in, seat selection, cancellation policy, destination airport and its distance from city centre, whether baggage is included in the payment, etc., to make an informed decision as to whether the price of the flight will indeed pay off after all the additions which you are going to pay extra.
No comments:
Post a Comment