"We're not fleecing customers - it's just market forces" say budget airlines

[webfact]

"We're not fleecing customers - it's just market forces" say budget airlines

 

Picture: Thairath

 

BANGKOK: -- BANGKOK: -- Low cost airlines have responded to accusations that they are fleecing customers stranded because of the flooding situation in the south.

 

Air Asia and Nok Air said that the rise in ticket prices is a natural result of market forces and supply and demand.

 

The airlines were in agreement that people paying for tickets nearer departure dates were bound to pay more than those who booked in advance, reports Thairath.

 

They said that the more customers they had the more they would charge.

 

They said they had received no complaints from the public about their prices and there was no fleecing going on to take advantage of the situation.

 

Furthermore, many people were going home after travel over the New Year period so it was an expensive time to travel, said the airlines.

 

The price of a ticket from Trang to Bangkok ranged between 3,178 baht to 3,403 for today’s departures, said Thai Rath. while the same route was only 1,793 to 2,749 baht on the 13th of this month.

 

Reporters said that some consumers had asked the government to look into the charges that the airlines were demanding.

 

Source: Thairath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-01-10

[ukrules]

The airlines were in agreement

 

There you go then, they all agree...

[Ricardo]

...  and taking-advantage of customers would be un-Thai, wouldn't it !

[colinneil]

Market forces  

[Rhys]

..and the executivesalso have forgotten their raises as well.

 

[LoongJohn]

"Market Forces" translation:  We do it because we can get away with it.

 

[daboyz1]

Seems like simple supply and demand. The more demand and less supply, the higher the price.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[FritsSikkink]

tickets are still dead cheap

[sahibji]

it is ok to let market forces control prices under normal circumstances but not during calamaties when humanity requires assistance and a helping hand.

[sahibji]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

 

 

There you go then, they all agree...

sure they would  agree. lines their pockets.

[little mary sunshine]

Greedy, criminals basta***... Govt should investigate 

and fine them heavily 

[sahibji]

8 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

tickets are still dead cheap

for the poor guy whose house is under water or the farmer whose crops have been washed away by floods? dead cheap?

[sahibji]

2 minutes ago, little mary sunshine said:

Greedy, criminals basta***... Govt should investigate 

and fine them heavily 

i do not think they are doing anything illegal. but morally is it acceptable? definitely NOT

[halloween]

Just checked Bangkok Air Samui-BKK tomorrow. Cheapest flight B4910, cheapest seat (promo ) on more desirable flights B8160, "Web Freedom" seats B12990.

[LivinLOS]

21 minutes ago, sahibji said:

it is ok to let market forces control prices under normal circumstances but not during calamaties when humanity requires assistance and a helping hand.

 

 

Nonsense.. its this kind of socialist claptrap that results in not enough seats being available. 

 

free market force self corrects.. competition self corrects.. Both up and down.. I dont hear the consumer complaints when theres a 200b flight on offer with a mostly empty plane.. 

 

The best way to 'provide assistance and a helping hand' is to provide a service of value priced at what the market will pay.. 

[daboyz1]

it is ok to let market forces control prices under normal circumstances but not during calamaties when humanity requires assistance and a helping hand.

I'd agree with that when it comes to basic human needs. Food, water, clothing, shelter etc. Airline tickets don't meet that criteria.

[LivinLOS]

5 minutes ago, daboyz1 said:

I'd agree with that when it comes to basic human needs. Food, water, clothing, shelter etc. Airline tickets don't meet that criteria.

 

 

Same with basic human needs, you want services to flow rapidly into an area, incentivize taking them there, as the incentives rise, more focus is applied until the problem solves itself. 

 

The surest way to create a shortage of something is to put a price cap on the free market. Voila, empty shelves and welcome to socialist utopia.. 

[Moonlover]

26 minutes ago, nongkhaidude said:

last week flew AirAsia from Phuket to Singapore we prebooked and paid for 50 kilos of luggage unfortanaly we were 10 kilos over and was charged 500 baht per kilo ! On top of that the checkin attenendent was so estattic about being able to fleece us that she forgot to give my wife and daughter the Imigration form so after standing in line for 45 minutes we had to get the forms and stand in line for another 45 minuets , Air Asia sucks  I will never fly AirAsia again  

Try weighing your baggage before you go to the airport! I rather doubt that the check-in attendant was ecstatic at the extra work you had caused her.

[russius]

Fleecing customers is part of AirAsia's business plan. Next, they will charge for using the 'john'.

[captspectre]

that's the way it is all over the world! if you purchase a ticket at the counter you will pay more! that's LIFE! if you use the internet and schedul a your trip in advance you will get a lower fare.

[uptoyoumyfriend]

i fly to cambodia and back from chiang mai,usually for around 120$ rt ,these are promos,of course,but they cannot live on that.

is there no ttrain service from the south?

 

[bkk75]

People seem to forget flying is a luxury.  If you can't afford to fly take alternative transportation.

[MadDog2020]

6 minutes ago, russius said:

Fleecing customers is part of AirAsia's business plan. Next, they will charge for using the 'john'.

If you don't like them the answer us crystal clear.  Don't fly them.

 

I have had great service flying them many times.  I don't need the frills of Thai and Bangkok Airlines that come with the crazy high price.

 

It's a low cost airline for a reason.

[russius]

It is treated as a luxury, when it is really a service licensed by the government by giving an airline a monopoly on routes.

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Air Asia and Nok Air said that the rise in ticket prices is a natural result of market forces

Nature has nothing to do with market forces

[chiang mai]

Try walking up to the BA desk in Heathrow and asking them how much they want for a ticket to anywhere on the day you want to fly!

[Mickmouse1]

It is not market gorces but Air Asia and Nok Air are indeed taking advantage and exploiting the opportunity capitalising on passengers misery. Recently I was badly treated by nok air for having 16.3kg and no hand luggage. I informed them that I am quite sick with high fever and extremely weak they refused and insisted that I carry some on board.My ticket from  Krabi to Bkk was 2000 baht while Smile air from Suvarmbhumi cost me 1287 only.

Air asia on many occasions were found to be more expensive than scheduled airlines . just check around before buying your ticket.?

[Dustdevil]

Well, look--market forces dictate the prices of the airline execs' vacation homes in the south of France.

[hawker9000]

30 minutes ago, daboyz1 said:

I'd agree with that when it comes to basic human needs. Food, water, clothing, shelter etc. Airline tickets don't meet that criteria.

 

Yes, they absolutely do, just not within the same timeframe. Market forces governing supply & demand of "human needs" operate over a far shorter timespan than airline ticketing and operations.  An airline might want to add flights in a time of unexpected demand (which would include emergency scenarios), because there are profits to be made there, but it can't just put new aircraft, new crews and new flights online overnight.   Over time, if an airline was overcharging competition would eventually enter the market to re-establish a new equilibrium point (if not prevented by govt over-regulation, that is...).    Now budget airlines are the answer and the alternative to full-price airlines in the first place.  They live for and survive by being agile enough to exploit short-term opportunities.  If you arbitrarily and continually bar them from these opportunities, they'll eventually just go out of business, and consumers will be left with the full-price oligopolies.   So pick your poison, but don't go spouting off about how airlines are somehow an exception to the laws of supply and demand.

Edited January 10, 2017 by hawker9000

[daboyz1]

Spouting off. Another TVF *** Now I remember why I don't spend much time here.