Low Fare Airlines to come under scrutiny

[Robert Zweck]

Making the airwaves here in Adelaide over the last few days.....


As from next Jan 1st, low fare airlines will become more accountable under new legislation.

Forfeiture of your fare, etc and other harsh conditions for having arrived late at the check-in desk will apparently become a thing of the past.

These penalties will be deemed to be an " Unfair Contract "


One to watch with interest.

[Michael Morrison]

Kiss good bye to low fares then.

Seriously... what legislation is this under? If someone misses their flight and they are on an el cheapo fare, why should they not forfeit it?

[Marty H]

I think this has been hightlighted by the show Airways, I think the huge issue is people are getting to the airport joining the queue and then once time hits 45mins before departure those pax still in the line miss out, in that case no you shouldnt forfeit your fare, if you rock up at minus 30 then yes there should be no issue with it.

IMO 45mins is ridiculous to be cutting off check in but I also understand that the check in staff for Tiger then have boarding gate duties so I guess that would be the primary reason for doing it.

[Greg F]

What a load of rubbish, if you cant get to the airport on time then stiff!
30 min's or 45 in TT's case is not that long a time or unreasonable!

your $40 fare is not worth a LCC waiting for you!

[Benny Zheng]

I think staff normally will make a last check-in call for the remaining passengers still in queue. So i guess if you didn't hear it, then there goes your money and stop nagging "i didn't hear" it as shown on the TV show.

[Scott L.]

I am not sure why Tiger have not retorted to some of those scenes which have painted them as unreasonable with their check-in procedure.

What Airways has not shown in some of these clips is that prior to to closing the check-in, 2 announcements are made to passengers who are in the queue to make themselves immediately known to check-in staff as check-in is closing for their flight. The flight number is mentioned in the announcement, I have heard it.

[Robert S]

I can't see any hits for this story in a Google News search.

Originally Posted by Marty H

I think this has been hightlighted by the show Airways, I think the huge issue is people are getting to the airport joining the queue and then once time hits 45mins before departure those pax still in the line miss out, in that case no you shouldnt forfeit your fare, if you rock up at minus 30 then yes there should be no issue with it.

All airlines - with or without a hard check-in cutoff policy - will make final check-in calls and pull people out of the queue. It was plainly obvious that the pax in the show this week who was claiming that she was in the queue for 45 minutes was lying through her teeth. Note how their travelling companions had no problem getting on and in fact were long since gone... not just checked-in, but presumably went off through security to make sure they didn't miss the flight.

Anyone who's ever worked in customer service knows full well that not only is the customer not always right, some customers will quite happily become BS artists for whatever reason, if it suits them.

Hard check-in times are nothing new, nor are they an unfair contract.

Originally Posted by Scott L.

I am not sure why Tiger have not retorted to some of those scenes which have painted them as unreasonable with their check-in procedure.

I haven't seen them being unreasonable. The only thing missing from the show this week was footage of them actually doing the late check-in calls they said they did, but they have shown it happen at other times - and of course they do it, they're an airline, they all do.

[Adrian B]

Have to agree with Michael and the others here.

Why should my flight have to wait for you because you cannot get to the airport on time, well before the check in closure time? Perhaps we should make all trains wait for you, because you wanted that extra five mins sleep, or that drive through breakfast??

This world seems to be made up of discourteous people that thinkt that every one else should be inconvenienced for their benefit.

If you want to turn up late, fly full fare with another airline, and allow us, the majority of people who do plan their lives and arrive early, to enjoy the benefits of LCC.

My only beef with LCC is if there is not enought staff to adequately process checkins within an appropriate time. Waiting in line an hour is not acceptable and it should be a rule that if you are in the queue prior an hour from departure, you should be processed. If not, then tough ****ies.

I had a run in with a LCC, who denied me entry despite processing the group of school children in front of me (about 70+ minders).When I produced a credit card receipt showing the time I paid the taxi(1 hour prior to check in closing), they backed down the plans to deny me boarding. Not much to do at the airport at 7am other than check in....

[Ash W]

You should re-read what you wrote. Your very last 2 paragraphs are what is at issue, not people who turn up late. In your case your were lucky that you had something that kind of proved you were there ontime, but alas if you didn't have that no doubt you too would be bemoaning the LLC.

I currently live in the UK and avoid LLC's like the plague and all because of the show Airline and the fact that their prices are generally not that cheap when you take into account all the extra BS you need to do to get to Luton or Stanstead. What Airline showed was how rude and unreasonable EasyJet's staff are, in particular when there is an operational issue causing problems.

One that made me laugh was a flight from Rome to (I think) Newcastle. Sleazy jet for some reason had to cancel the Newcastle flight but could accomodate the PAX on a flight to Bristol. So they put them on, but when the PAX arrived in Bristol Sleazyjet had the hide to try and charge them extra for the next flight.

[Nick W.]

wow, everyone is too cheap to pay for a full fare airline, but too precious when an LCC doesn't bend over backwards for them...