By Ray Petersen — It was a somewhat bitter-sweet April Fool’s Day, but no joke, on April 1, when Oman Air announced, “The days of low airfares are over. Over the past couple of years, when oil prices went down, airlines lowered fares to capture the market share.
Then it was realised that they are losing money. It has already gone up, and will go up more. The period is over.”
Compare that, to CBS News, on February 13, reporting the former CEO of Delta Airlines, Richard Anderson, saying, “I think you’re going to see, in a low fuel environment, continued good value for customers.” Well, that’s quite a different view, isn’t it?
The discomfiting reality is that it never really happened! The “days of low fares” were, and are, a myth for the common ordinary traveller, who never ever gets a sniff of business or first class, and who suffers the perpetual indifference of mainstream airlines, intent only upon the business of corporate and wealthy entities who can afford to write off their travel against business expenses, income and taxes, or, as Denis Healy wrote, “by wealthy people on their expense accounts,” whose travel, one way or another, is subsidised by the less affluent.
Now, this is not a criticism of the aforesaid Oman Air, as such, more of the air travel industry, but is indicative of the distancing of the corporate traveller from the realities of the ordinary fare paying traveller.
The myth and misconception of lower airfares is focused, not at economy level, but at the first and business travel sectors, where corporates have been wooed by the airlines with either cheaper fares, or more perks!
In reality, the lesser fare structure doesn’t even matter to the majority of business and First Class
travellers as they, the fares, are taxation/income offset, and therefore largely irrelevant.
The airlines have fallen over themselves to put in place more luxuries, and where does it end? American Airlines actually boast that, “You won’t believe you’re on an airplane.” Just watch an advert on the telly! Any of the airlines.
What will they show you? Maybe a famous Antipodean singer/actress in the lounge, another, ‘girl-next-door,’ actress curled up in bed, or a certain messy footballer stretched out
with a smug smile on his face, and so on, and so on.
Respected travel gurus, Tripadvisor indicate that at the minimum, Business class travellers will have
60-80”of legroom, 21-24” seats,
bigger screens, and premium level service of blue riband luxuries as the minimum.
Add in recliner seats, lie-flat seats, and even suites, along with no queue check-in services, and you have a basis for comparison.
On the other hand, the economy traveller has 31-32 inches of ‘common’ space, only a 17” wide seat, sporadic service, and altogether a very different flight experience.
USA Today reported, on February 17 this year that “the major airlines have been selectively matching bargain fares,” as their strategy to convince the fare-paying public that their prices have been reduced since the fall in fuel prices.
So this then, is the corporate strategy, the spin-doctor’s modus operandi.
This is an indictment of an air transport industry that feigns concern for all air travellers, then finds ways to extract more dollars from those who have become part of a society that finds comfort in the fact that their families may be on the other side of the world, or another continent, are only hours away.
Or, as Michael Palin once said, “Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote.” Then, travel becomes almost a need, not a want, as we experience different cultures, sights, sounds, tastes, and our world becomes a souq for the senses.
We venture into air travel, at first, in much the same way as we enter a bathtub, or the sea, at the beach, hesitantly ‘dipping our toes, to test the water,’ before plunging in, satisfying the cleansing, revitalising nature of the water.
Travel does that to you!
It beggars belief then, that the same industry that told us when oil prices crashed, “You won’t see any reduced prices for some time, as
the airlines purchase their fuel requirements well in advance, and it may be some time before the low fuel prices are reflected in lower air fares.” Now, the price of fuel is still half what it was, three years ago, and there are still no lower air fares.
Adding insult to injury for us more economic travellers, I note that one international website advises frequent travellers to delete their browser cookies before searching for airfares, as the algorithms used by the airlines increase fares based on the frequency of website visits.
So much for airline loyalty programmes then.
As yet another myth is destroyed!
— petersen_ray@hotmail.com
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