There appears to be a large anti-Capitalist sentiment brewing in the political class and the media. I can understand why politicians want to blame all the country's ills on 'Greedy Corporations', as it helps cover up their own ineptitiude and the damage they have done
What I don't really understand is why the media tend to go along with it all. I'm having trouble remembering when the media was not just a propaganda arm of big Government
Tax the rich has been around longer than I have. It's just the lazy publics way of saying they want something for nothing, and it's a predictable part of any society
Recently we've had tax the evil energy companies, as their profits are going through the roof but our bills are still going up. The Government love this one; they've recently brought in a 'windfall tax' on energy companies and campaigners are demanding they do it again, which they probably will
Of course the problems with energy cost and supply, are all of the Governments own making, from energy price caps, to net zero malarky, the Government is creating a situation where any short term profits made by the energy companies cannot be passed straight on to the consumer, as the company might be bust next week, just like all those cheaper energy companies that went the way of the dodo last year
Then there's eggs in America. Apparently they've had a bit of bird flu and as per Government policy, millions of healthy birds have been killed to stop the spread, resulting in less eggs and higher prices
The Government of course, then blame the increase in price on the greedy corporations
Now, according to the Telegraph, the new public enemy is the airline industry
EasyJet’s cash grab shows the airline industry’s contempt for holidaymakers
Now I seriously doubt that the airline industry has contempt for its core customer base. In fact I would go as for as to say that statement is probably libelous
Airlines are fleecing flyers wherever they can – and making a fortune off it
They're not and they're not
This article is not really about the airline industry, rather a personal attack on Easyjet. It does say further down in the text, that Easyjet are just starting to get back into profit after the events of the last few years, so the idea that they're making millions from fleecing customers is misleading at best. They are making enough to become solvent once again, by selling things that customers want, would be a much better description, after having read the full text of the article
And what were the events of the past few years that caused airlines to lose huge amounts of money?
Government
I could just stop there with that one word. Whenever anything goes wrong these days, the one word answer is 'Government'
But to break it down a little, it was governments grounding all the airlines and stopping air travel because there was a bug about
The cost of 'cheap' flights has definately gone up a bit and the cost of adding baggage has increased quite a bit. Yesterday I booked our annual two weeks in Corfu. The flights were £302 for both of us, but the two cabin bags and two hold bags for all the crap we take with us, added a lot to that cost
I also booked extra legroom seats and we will eat on the plane, as I don't mind spending a bit of ectra money making flying day part of the holiday that can be enjoyed, rather than it just being one big stressful chore, but the flight cost above, will be doubled when we're done
I had to do a brief round trip to Corfu at the beginning of January to look at a house that was for sale. That involved a few flights as there are no direct ones out of season, but I travelled with a small rucksak on my back and did not book any of the extras, keeping the costs down
Flying ceased to be a pleasurable experience years ago when the airline industry began prioritising cost-cutting above everything else. But the real sucker punch is that passengers are now routinely hit with a plane-load of hidden charges - and that’s before you’ve sat down and reluctantly peeked at the on-board menu.
I wouldn't say that this is a new thing with budget airlines, but what i would argue, is that the costs are not 'hidden', and because everything is broken down into an individual charge, you only pay for what you need (or want)
When we go away for just a week, we make do with only taking cabin bags, as the cost saving outweighs the need to take large suitcases full of excess clothing and random gagitry that we don't really need
The option is there though. If Mrs Bucko wants to take 15 dresses on a seven day holiday (been done), she can pay an extra £60 for a big suitcase
There was a time when it was just Ryanair that tried its level best to squeeze customers at every opportunity, which was fine because you could just fly with someone else
Yes, but 'someone else' would have been more expensive in the long run. By breaking everthing down to it's component cost, Ryanair are not squeezing customers, they're offering a cheaper alternative to airlines that charge a flat, all inclusive, fee
Most carriers now charge for everything individually, so you could say that Ryanair have brought prices down (Even if their service is crap and their planes feel like they could fall apart at any moment)
Sadly, EasyJet has jumped on the bandwagon too, meaning another airline can be added to the list of those to avoid like the plague
You can avoid them if you wish. I now find myself using them more oftern than not. Where we go, they are usually the cheapest option and they are a far sight better travelling experience than Ryanair
On Wednesday, to much unabashed excitement from chief executive Johan Lundgren, the airline announced that it was on the path to recovery, thanks in no small part to what it referred to rather innocuously as “ancillary products”.
Maintaining the company’s dedication to corporate gobbledygook, Lundgren hailed the airline’s “step-changed revenue capability” by which he means EasyJet is now raking it in on the back of baggage charges, seat reservation fees, along with poor quality food and overpriced drinks.
What the 'journalist' refers to as raking it in, is explained in the same paragraph as the company selling products that people are chosing to buy. Prices for these items may have increased since covid lockdowns were removed, but the price of everything has. Getting a failing company out of the red by offering products people chose to buy (and can chose not to), is hardly corporate gobbledygook
And for the avoidance of doubt on that last point, I checked: nearly £5 for a molten-hot ham and cheese toastie, which from personal experience leaves you feeling like you need skin grafts on the roof of your mouth; £2.30 for a can of Fanta that would cost 55p in Tesco or Asda; and my personal favourite, “a passion fizz” – better known as prosecco with J2O. Price? £10.
If your cheese toastie is a bit too hot, I would suggest you give it five minutes and let it cool down. As for tins of pop, feel free to buy them in Tesco, but when you leave the store, you'll still be in England, not Magaluff. And the Prosecco thing is just an indulgence. Some people will pay ten quid to start their holiday early by drinking something on the plane that makes them feel fancy
You also have the option to buy overpriced provisions in the airport and take them on the plane. Your toastie would have time to cool down if you did that
Mrs Bucko and myself tend to drink Jack Daniels and coke on a plane, and after two or three of those each, we could have bought a bottle in Tesco, but we're on holiday, so What The F...
In the first financial quarter alone, these costs added an astonishing £406m alone to EasyJet’s top line – equivalent to more than a quarter of its total turnover, and a 77pc leap on the same period last year.
I would be surprised if it was as little as a quarter of their turnover. Like I said, the flights I just booked came out at double after booking seats and baggage, but as clarified earlier in the article, the £406m helped to get the company solvent again, which is not really an addition to the 'top line'
And the 77pc leap on last year is bollocks, pure and simple. Last years profits would still have been hurting from the covid debacle, so 77pc is not a 'leap', it's a slow return to normality
It means that every one of the 20.2m customers that flew with the airline between the beginning of October and New Year’s Eve forked out an average of roughly £20 each more in add-ons, on top of the cost of their flight.
Twenty pounds?
An extra £20 on top of flights that cost a few hundred quid, was surely worth the effort of writing this hit peice
It wasn’t the only reason losses narrowed – its planes carried nearly 50pc more customers compared with 2022 – but it is clearly a major factor in the airline boasting that it expects to beat City expectations and return to profit this year, a prediction that drove its shares up 10pc to an eight-month high of 513p.
Here we go again. He's been complaining about corporate greed, but now states with a straight face, that all Easyjet have managed to do by charging us twenty quid more, is narrow their losses. He even calls the announcement that they may return to making a profit this year, boasting
I think what he wants, is for Easyjet to bust, rather than start to make some money again
Lundgren rejects the suggestion that it is stinging customers at every opportunity. On the contrary, it is proof that EasyJet offers “great value for money”, he says. “People wouldn’t be buying these things unless they thought they were,” he says, which is obviously silly.
It may be a bit of a reach, but it's not silly. I don't think cheese toasties and Jack Daniels on planes are great value for money, but I do think they are worth paying for when you're on holiday
I don't think baggage charges and seat reservations are great value for money, but I'm aware that they are options and I know I would struggle to find a cheaper deal with a more mainstream carrier
For a start, it is very easy when booking a holiday or flight these days to feel like you have no choice but to fork out for extras such is the dizzying array of charges that travellers are bombarded with during the process, or to find that you’ve paid for something you didn’t intend to.
The dizzying array of charges I was bombarded with after selecting the flights I've just booked, were as follows:
- Cabin bag - booked
- Hold bag - Booked
- Seat reservation - Booked
- In flight meal vouchers - No thanks
- Travel insurance - No thanks, already covered
- Car hire - No thanks
That was it. Dizzying
And as it happens, I never booked anything I didn't intend to. That's more likely to happen with Amazon Prime, than Easyjet
A breakdown of EasyJet’s various fees is available on its website. There are 27 in total including a £60 penalty per passenger, per flight, for changing the name on a ticket; a £48 levy if you choose to put a larger piece of luggage in hold upon arrival at the airport, as opposed to choosing to online, and a £25 charge to travel with a baby on your lap.
I didn't see 27 charges when booking, but he includes charges for changes or fuck-ups, which have been around as long as budget airlines have
And quite frankly, the charge for travelling with a baby on your lap, should be at least a grand. The problem with flying on budget airlines is not the costs, it's the kids
This from an airline that claims its mission “has always been to make travel easy and affordable”.
Well I always find it easy, and if you find these prices unaffordable, maybe you need to re-think your need for a holiday (I balk at some of the prices, particularly baggage, but there isn't anything cheaper out there, and I can afford it, as I factor it in when we save up for a holiday)
Lundgren’s suggestion that passengers could go elsewhere if they wanted to is equally unconvincing. On many of the popular European routes, there is actually very little crossover between the major airlines, so choice is often comparatively limited.
Another big crock of pap. Ryanair, Easyjet, Jet2 and Tui all fly to Corfu in the tourist season. We could also get there with one stop, by Aegean Airways, KLM, Olympic, Swiss Air, British Airways, and these are just off the top of my head
Ryanair usually comes in a little cheaper, but we select the next cheapest, Easyjet, as their service and planes are a little better
Choice may be limited by certain definitions, but when Easyjey are among the cheapest, what more does he want, cost wise?
Besides, just because a company can get away with squeezing customers doesn’t mean it should. Ryanair turned it into an art form long ago. It even briefly toyed with the idea of making customers pay to use the toilet, and imposing a “fat tax” on overweight passengers.
Again, when Easyjey consistantly come in as among the cheapest, if not the cheapest option, what does he actually want from them? He doesn't say, but reading the dribble he wrote, it seems like he wants Easyjet to bundle their entire offering into one, much higher cost, and increase the cost of air travel for everyone
I can only conclude that he is one of these climate change nutters who hates airlines because he's scared of 'carbon', and is trying to vilify the industry amond the left wing sheep
The last thing long-suffering holidaymakers deserve is yet another airline taking them for a ride.
But higher prices would be just the ticket?
Disclaimer: After everything I've said about Ryanair in the past, I had to go take a shower after stepping up to their defence in this post. It also didn't help that I've spent so much time on defending Easyjet and their prices, when I usually shout 'How Much?', when booking my flights
The fact is, after complaining about the cost, I usually book with Easyjet, as they are almost the cheapest and have a lot better service than the ones who usually are the cheapest, Ryanair
I just ranted against this article as it's another 'Corporate Greed' whinge, that doesn't offer any alternatives or any basis for the whinge in the first place
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