"Are we are trying to blow-up the notion that it [flying] is some kind of orgasmic experience rather than a glorified bus service? Yes, we are" - Michael O'Leary, Ryanair.
I have highly mixed views about low-cost airlines. I'm glad that low-cost travel exists in ways that it didn't before, and I'm glad that airlines have forced the train companies to improve their value in some ways - for instance, National Express East Coast have started to price many of their advance-purchase single tickets at half the return fare, rather than "barely less than the return fare" as used to be the case. It's also got to be a good thing, from an egalitarian perspective, that more people get to travel than ever before, and that travel is no longer the preserve of the rich. From that point of view, I can see O'Leary's point.
That said, I hate the cynicism and outright lack of respect for the customer that his airline embodies (for instance, the whole concept of hitting the customer with either an airport check-in fee or a web check-in fee and no way to avoid them both, yet saying that that is not part of "the fare") and the "race to the bottom" that he has started. Furthermore, I fear that low-cost airlines will drive out full-service ones, though, and we soon won't have the option of full service if we want to pay for it. (For instance, while I can't be bothered with TV shows about amazing mansions, fast cars or gorgeous holiday destinations, I love reading about just how much airlines indulge their highest-paying passengers - for instance, Singapore's "Suites" super-first class in its A380s.) Given that it's much easier for airlines to compete with each other on the same routes than train companies, that's less of a concern for train travel.
Urban rail systems may yet be cooler than all of the above.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-03 01:06 pm (UTC)I have highly mixed views about low-cost airlines. I'm glad that low-cost travel exists in ways that it didn't before, and I'm glad that airlines have forced the train companies to improve their value in some ways - for instance, National Express East Coast have started to price many of their advance-purchase single tickets at half the return fare, rather than "barely less than the return fare" as used to be the case. It's also got to be a good thing, from an egalitarian perspective, that more people get to travel than ever before, and that travel is no longer the preserve of the rich. From that point of view, I can see O'Leary's point.
That said, I hate the cynicism and outright lack of respect for the customer that his airline embodies (for instance, the whole concept of hitting the customer with either an airport check-in fee or a web check-in fee and no way to avoid them both, yet saying that that is not part of "the fare") and the "race to the bottom" that he has started. Furthermore, I fear that low-cost airlines will drive out full-service ones, though, and we soon won't have the option of full service if we want to pay for it. (For instance, while I can't be bothered with TV shows about amazing mansions, fast cars or gorgeous holiday destinations, I love reading about just how much airlines indulge their highest-paying passengers - for instance, Singapore's "Suites" super-first class in its A380s.) Given that it's much easier for airlines to compete with each other on the same routes than train companies, that's less of a concern for train travel.
Urban rail systems may yet be cooler than all of the above.