Are low cost airways as low-cost as they appear?
Reply: Sure and no.
In order that’s very useful, isn’t it?
Right here’s a current expertise.
Pushed barmy by two grounded years I made a decision to go to an airshow in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the Nationwide Air Races in Reno, Nevada.
That begins with a flight into LA which native journey agent Flightcentre organized. They’d a particular cope with Fiji Airways that obtained me from Auckland, New Zealand, to LAX for $1096. The most effective different on-line was round $2100. So, a very good begin.
I then requested them to cost flights from LA to Knoxville and Knoxville to Reno.
$1150 they stated, flying full-service airways like United and Delta.
I’m a lot smarter than that! I can do higher than that! I checked Skyscanner and flying Allegiant, Spirit and Jet Blue via Las Vegas I may do it for round $580.
Be careful for the “gotcha”
Oh yeah? You’d assume a combat-hardened worldwide traveller like me would know to be careful for the “gotcha” prices. Like $50 if you happen to needed to hold something aside from a small backpack as carry-on baggage. Not checked . . . carry-on. Checked was $70. And that was if you happen to purchased at reserving time. Add it later and the costs obtained increased, as I found.
Ultimately my “low-cost” flights value me $1054. I might have been higher to go together with the full-service flights for 100 bucks extra and obtained extra leg room, a meal and a drink.
However worse was to return.
D
oing a roadtrip via moonshine nation, I visited the Previous Smokey Moonshine Distillery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and acquired a jar of conventional corn moonshine.
Checking in for the flight from Knoxville to Las Vegas the safety man referred to as me apart. Immediately I knew the issue – the jar of moonshine in my backpack. I needed to both depart it behind or put it in a bag that might be checked in.
Fairly than depart it – a silly choice because it turned out – I elected to place it in my carry-on case and test it via as maintain baggage.
“That shall be $40, sir”, stated the good man on the check-in counter.
“However I’ve already paid $40 for carry-on baggage”, says I.
“Sure, sir, however to test it in to the maintain at check-in time is an additional $40”.
In Las Vegas the identical routine. As a substitute of carry-on it had to enter the maintain. On Spirit Airways the extra value was $79.
Given the price of the product, $132, plus $40 plus $79, an all-up value of $251 I may have purchased a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, a top-of-line scotch whisky.
So, kids, low-cost isn’t all the time truly low-cost.
All-in, my “low-cost” flights on low cost airways value me $1173, marginally greater than full-service airways.
And the bloody moonshine tastes like an industrial solvent. Johnnie Walker Blue it absolutely isn’t.
