Today, I chanced upon Scoot Airline's offer - $88 for a one-way trip to Taipei. Being a big fan of Taiwan, I decided to try my luck.
Unsurprisingly, the $88 tickets were already sold out. But I still managed to get a reasonable deal; after factoring in all the taxes, surcharges, convenience fees, seat choice fees etc, the total bill came up to around S$380 per pax for a return ticket. No check-in luggage on the way there, but with 15kg of check-in luggage on the way back to Singapore. I did a quick reference check with Jetstar; for the same period, it costs around $460, so I went ahead.
I have some gripes about the convenience fee. It is basically a credit card surcharge of S$8 per sector. This means that a return ticket would incur $16 in fees. But I wasn't given the option of an any alternative payment method. Booking via their call centre is worse - it will cost S$30 per guest. So why not just bundle it together with the air ticket? Calling it a 'convenience fee' does not seem apt, considering that I was conveniently forced to pay only by credit card. If they offered alternative methods, say, paying by internet banking, AXS, cheque and so on, then it would make more sense.
Okay, actually I know why they didn't bundle it together. It's a tactic to lure customers in with low prices first, then add fees incrementally to test the customer's 'marginal tolerance' to extra fees. If the customer quits halfway, so be it. But at least the airline had the opportunity to try and lure the customer. It's better than not having any chance at all.
This makes the whole experience of buying an airline ticket less than satisfactory. Because people tend to have higher expectations when they go in, and get turned off incrementally when the airline slams another fee in their faces. The total fee may still be within their budget, and if they decide to go ahead, the feeling is usually more of "oh well, it's still not that bad" rather than "I got a damn good deal!".
Here is a summary of my experience:
1) I select my date of departure, and the departure fare is $150. Not $88 as I hoped, but still reasonable.
2) I get slapped with three fees. An airport imposed security fee of $8 + a government imposed aviation levy of $6.10 + an airport imposed service fee of $13.90. Ouch.
3) I select my date of return, and the return fare is $150.
4) I need some check-in baggage allowance. Let's see, 15kg would do. That's $12 more.
5) Another fee? Government imposed service tax of $12.82?
6) I pay by credit card. What? Convenience fee of $8 per sector, totalling $16? And there's no alternative payment method! What the hell...
7) I choose my seat. $5 per sector again, so it's $10 in total. And I didn't even choose those seats near the emergency exits or at the front rows with more legroom; those cost up to $99 more... per sector.
8) Finally done. Total damage was $378.82, instead of the baited $88 x 2 = $176. The flight only cost $312 (with check-in allowance on the return flight), but the smaller fees contributed to a hefty 21.4% more.
9) Oh well, it's still not that bad.
Unsurprisingly, the $88 tickets were already sold out. But I still managed to get a reasonable deal; after factoring in all the taxes, surcharges, convenience fees, seat choice fees etc, the total bill came up to around S$380 per pax for a return ticket. No check-in luggage on the way there, but with 15kg of check-in luggage on the way back to Singapore. I did a quick reference check with Jetstar; for the same period, it costs around $460, so I went ahead.
I have some gripes about the convenience fee. It is basically a credit card surcharge of S$8 per sector. This means that a return ticket would incur $16 in fees. But I wasn't given the option of an any alternative payment method. Booking via their call centre is worse - it will cost S$30 per guest. So why not just bundle it together with the air ticket? Calling it a 'convenience fee' does not seem apt, considering that I was conveniently forced to pay only by credit card. If they offered alternative methods, say, paying by internet banking, AXS, cheque and so on, then it would make more sense.
Okay, actually I know why they didn't bundle it together. It's a tactic to lure customers in with low prices first, then add fees incrementally to test the customer's 'marginal tolerance' to extra fees. If the customer quits halfway, so be it. But at least the airline had the opportunity to try and lure the customer. It's better than not having any chance at all.
This makes the whole experience of buying an airline ticket less than satisfactory. Because people tend to have higher expectations when they go in, and get turned off incrementally when the airline slams another fee in their faces. The total fee may still be within their budget, and if they decide to go ahead, the feeling is usually more of "oh well, it's still not that bad" rather than "I got a damn good deal!".
Here is a summary of my experience:
1) I select my date of departure, and the departure fare is $150. Not $88 as I hoped, but still reasonable.
2) I get slapped with three fees. An airport imposed security fee of $8 + a government imposed aviation levy of $6.10 + an airport imposed service fee of $13.90. Ouch.
3) I select my date of return, and the return fare is $150.
4) I need some check-in baggage allowance. Let's see, 15kg would do. That's $12 more.
5) Another fee? Government imposed service tax of $12.82?
6) I pay by credit card. What? Convenience fee of $8 per sector, totalling $16? And there's no alternative payment method! What the hell...
7) I choose my seat. $5 per sector again, so it's $10 in total. And I didn't even choose those seats near the emergency exits or at the front rows with more legroom; those cost up to $99 more... per sector.
8) Finally done. Total damage was $378.82, instead of the baited $88 x 2 = $176. The flight only cost $312 (with check-in allowance on the return flight), but the smaller fees contributed to a hefty 21.4% more.
9) Oh well, it's still not that bad.
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