While I am happy that the overall flight prices seem to have dropped over the years, i think that a lot of this is actually for marketing purposes since the lower-cost airlines tend to hide a lot of their fees as "options" that you have to pay extra for.
I don't like the trickery, but it seems as though there really isn't any way around it. Take my recent upcoming trip to Vietnam.
I am moving, this is a one-way journey so while I would normally only travel with a small carry-on bag, obviously the bulk of my posessions is not going to fit into a small rolling suitcase and weight less than 7kg.
Therefore, I am going to need to check a bag or two and this is where they get ya!
I want you to keep in mind that I am traveling from Thailand to Vietnam, this is not a long flight (less than 2 hours) so in effect it is far shorter than most domestic flights in North America. That doesn't stop all the airlines from inventing some sort of magical fee that exists for "international travel."
So i am allowed 20kg included in my original ticket price and from what I can estimate a need a 2nd checked bag that is likely going to weigh another 15-20kg. Even though I live my life with as few possessions as possible, I still have SOME stuff.
If you don't feel like doing the math this means that my excess baggage fee is going to be $220. This is particularly absurd when you consider the fact that the flight itself only cost about $110. So a bag, that weighs far less a human does costs more to ship than a person. Makes total sense right?
It seems a bit absurd to me that it would actually be cheaper for me to book another ticket for a fictional person, and check the bag in under their name than it would be for me to purchase the excess baggage amount.
So after seeing this I am concerned about how they are likely going to really put me over the coals about how much they are going to charge me in order to bring my doge pal with me. I wonder what the per kilo charge is for a living creature that I can only hope they treat with far less disdain than they treat our luggage? When I was moving from Krabi to Chiang Mai about a year ago, the ticket for the dog was more expensive than the ticket was for me.
If anyone out there has some idea why the airline charges so dear a price for this I would love to hear it. The best answer I have found online is this one.
Because they can. Baggage fees are one area not subject to regulation. Baggage fees fall into a category called ancillary revenue, the fees are not directly taxed. This goes for excessive baggage fees as well.
That's crazy. You're better off buying a ticket for your cute doggy pal and seatbelting it for the whole trip.
There's also this other trick where they outline all the extra "benefits" from the flight and make it seem like you have the "option" of opting out of them. It's as funny as it is annoying
"Peter. Whaaat's happening? I'm gonna need you to pay extra for that. Oh and if you could accept this fee also, that'd be great. We're playing a little catch up. Thanks."
How frustrating! Good luck with your move. I hope corona virus doesn't add another layer of issues :(
Can you not go by land? I can see you need to cross Cambodia.., is that the issue?
Years of accumulated stuff doesn't go well with planes, you can fit a lot more in a car.
i'm getting mixed reports on this. According to some sources the only way to transport a dog legally into the country it to come in by certain means. I am already flying and will likely just mail my extra stuff to me, presumably it travels by land.
Why don't you send unaccompanied baggage the day before and claim at the airport. It travels as cargo and is a fraction of the price. Dogo is going to be expensive and you can't get around that even though she is small enough to fit in a bag.
I think that pretty much sums it up. Because they can. I know that a lot of the cheaper carriers in the US give you a zero bag allowance. Carriers like Spirit and Allegiant(sp?) have really low fares, but I think with one of them you don't even get a free carryon. You have to pay for that as well. I really wish I could have flown back in the day. Not with all the smoking and stuff on the plane, but back when you had lots of legroom and the flight attendants treated everyone like they were in first class.
I can't help you much on this issue. Sometimes I have seen where it is cheaper to buy a round trip ticket over a one way ticket. Airlines suck! NOW.. I do think that picture of Nadi is so stinkin cute. She is such a cutiepie!! I hope the trip goes well for her. Not that I don't hope you travel well too, but Nadi comes first!! hehe.
ah yes, I recall the round trip ticket being cheaper than a one-way was quite common when i had a traveling job in the United States. It seemed such an obvious way to take advantage of corporate travel, who at least in my situation didn't really concern themselves with how much it cost. It was pretty amazing to me to discover that was the case when i was booking my own personal flights.
That doesn't seem to be the case over here as 2-way flights are almost always double the price of a one way, they way i feel it should be.
I suppose at the end of it all airlines are a business, and they are going to try to make as much money as they can
Your absolutely right. Sometimes I wish I had a family member that was an employee so we could get in on some vouchers.. oh well. no such luck.
Yeah, anytime I have flown the prices for a checked bag of been absolutely fucking absurd. During Christmas time when I went to florida a couple of years back it was something, like, $320-350 for a checked bag IIRC. They just straight up give you the stink face with some dirty asshole.
it's crazy. The good news is that I found out that the price for the dog is exactly the same as a box of clothes so that is good news.
I was thinking the other day about how they keep making the carry on restrictions tougher. My latest flight is saying that it has to be less than 5kg total. This is absurdly low when you consider that the average rolling suitcase unless they make it out of friggin carbon fiber is going to weigh 3kg just for the bag.
I remember reading some airline's justification for the carry on weight limit being for the safety of the flight attendants - something about how they can not be subjected to heavy bags in the line of their jobs. I'm gonna have to call BS on that one.
That doesn't make a lick of fucking sense. I can't think of a single time that a flight attendant had to even touch my shit. It's not like people hot glue their carry on's onto their back and make them trek all your stuff across the airplane for 2 hours like a neanderthal until we land.
yeah, it's obviously a cop out answer and i think simply saying "we gotta make money, don't we?" would have been more appropriate since everyone knows that is the real answer anyway :)
Just realised you will be in Vietnam for the Grand Prix which is a street race on the 5th April. Haven't checked ,but I am sure you are miles away anyway so no point in thinking you will get to see any of it.
I think it takes place in Hanoi which is just nuts to me because that city is remarkably crowded and traffic jam ridden anyway... then they mark off half of the streets for a race. I bet that makes the people that have to go to work VERY happy :P
Howdy gooddream! Very interesting but frustrating too. Sounds like a racket that can't be avoided though. Did you end up just mailing your stuff?
I decided to leave a bunch of it behind and when i come back once every 3 months because of the fact that i will have to get a new visa at those intervals I will travel with a near empty carry on and have it be full on the way back. So basically I will be traveling initially with only half my stuff. This is stress-inducing because now i have to play Sophie's Choice with all my things :P
lol...well it's a sacrifice in the short term but I think it's quite a clever strategy!