Booked a sale fare with Qantas and want to change your date of departure? That will be $200. Picture: AP Photo/Paul Miller
MY NEW year’s resolution isn’t to lose weight, get rich or quit one of my vices (I’ll never stop watching My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding. Never.)
It sounds dull, but if I can stick to my guns I’m going to save myself a lot of money and hassle while travelling this year.
So here goes: from now on, I’m going to read the fine print before I purchase a flight.
It’s what I should have done in March last year when I hastily bought a bargain return fare from Sydney to Los Angeles on Qantas.
I should have checked how much it would cost to change my return date, because when I inquired with the agent I bought the ticket from about pushing it back (seven months in advance) I was told I’d have to pay $300 for the privilege.
That’s a lot of coin for a backpacker who’s been known to pocket an extra bread roll from the hostel breakfast to eat for lunch (don’t judge me).
After bypassing the agent and contacting Qantas directly, the figure dropped from $300 to $200 (always cut out the middle man). But even $200 had me feeling frustrated — is it not just a matter of making a quick change in the system?
Er, no, it’s not. As a Qantas spokesperson kindly explained, the amount does not reflect what it costs them to make the change. It’s because the airline charges a premium for flexible fares, so it would be unfair to a passenger who paid more for added flexibility to offer changes to sale fare customers for free or a minimal fee.
“A lot of people want the ability to change their date of travel and they deliberately choose to pay more for a flexible fare. Other customers prefer to get a better deal and lock in a flight on a particular day,” the spokesperson said.
So if there’s a chance you’ll change your dates, it might not be worth snapping up that sale flight after all. Always check the fees attached to your fare before you buy.
Ryanair’s ‘boarding pass reissue fee’ is another airline charge that seems excessive for the service provided. If a customer checks in online but fails to print their boarding pass, the budget carrier charges £15 pounds. That’s about $A30 for a piece of paper.
It gets worse. If you don’t check-in online and just show up at the airport — you’ll be charged £45 pounds ($A93). And since the online system isn’t accessible for the last two hours before the flight, if you get to the airport and realise your error, it’s too late to do it yourself — there’s no choice but to cop the fee.
The company’s head of communications Robin Kiely says the fee is not just for the boarding pass. There’s the cost of airport desk rental and check-in staff to cover, and it also serves as “a preventive measure to ensure all customers check-in online.”
The strategy appears to work, with more than 99.5 per cent of Ryanair customers doing so.
In comparison, Australian budget carrier Tiger Airways doesn’t charge customers to print a boarding pass at the airport via check-in staff or self-check-in kiosks. But the low-cost airline does have an $8.50 per person, per way, fee when purchasing the fare online with any card except a Mastercard debit card.
A Tigerair Australia spokesperson took a glass half-full perspective, saying the airline is proud to offer customers a fee-free way to pay. But for anyone who doesn’t have a Mastercard debit card, the fees can add up fast, especially for families and groups.
As well as watching out for fees, you can also make 2016 a year of cheap (or at least reasonably priced) air travel by bookmarking these websites.
SKIPLAGGED
This website works using the concept of ‘hidden city’ or ‘throwaway’ fares — the premise that it’s sometimes cheaper to buy a flight that has a layover in your desired destination, and get off there, rather than buying a direct fare. However, the strategy can only work for passengers booking one-way flights with no checked baggage.
THE FLIGHT DEAL
‘Six cents per mile or less’ is the motto of this website that scours the internet for truly cheap deals. They also alert their users to mistake fares — when airlines accidentally advertise a flight for less than intended. You’ll need to be quick to snap these up as the price is usually corrected within a few hours.
SKYSCANNER
For customers flexible on their dates the option to view the cheapest day of the month, or month of the year to travel are helpful. And if you’re not set on a particular destination, the ‘Everywhere’ tool allows you to see the cheapest places to fly to from your city on any date.
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