In their never-ending quest to increase the turnover airlines have implemented various ancillary revenue possibilities; charges for seat selections, food for sale on board and cutting back on priority and upgrade possibilities. On shorter flights, these fees are the standard these days. Did I say shorter flights? Well, the trick is now also rolled out on long-haul economy cabins on many transatlantic routes!
One piece of luggage
Traditionally, airlines always allowed customers to bring a piece of hand luggage and a piece of hold luggage included in the ticket. While selecting a seat and the use of onboard entertainment systems was also included.
Not anymore! Several airlines, including Oneworld members such as BA, Iberia, Finnair 7 American but also Air France, KLM, Delta (SkyTeam) are introducing “Economy light fares” on their transatlantic flights.
Some interesting restrictions on these light fares:
- No free checked suitcases anymore
- Only 1 small piece of hand luggage (no trolley allowed)
- Seats are automatically allocated and cannot be changed (no guarantee that you sit together)
- Light fare passengers board in the last group
- On some airlines, the onboard entertainment on long-haul flights is not free anymore
Fooling the meta’s
The result is that the lowest possible fares these airlines show to consumers will drop a bit. A good tool to fight the low fare airlines (Wow air & Norwegian) that are often chosen by the consumers because “they are cheaper“. Because now base fares look a lot like each other. (or at least the network carriers come a bit closer)
The real thing here is “Who travels the Atlantic Ocean without some stuff? Without a suitcase? Business travellers that only stay for a short while? Yes, but they can’t book this fare because the minimum stays are often too long. Poor people? Maybe, but wouldn’t they fly anyway? So yes; the regular traveller who spends 5 to 10 days or longer in another country is the victim here.
Dropping prices
I am okay with unbundling fares (taking out all kinds of services and offering them for an extra). Of course, airlines have promised this “we will enhance the passenger experience and will offer the same kind of service for whoever wants it. But it saves money for the people who do not want it“. Fair enough.
In 2013 when KLM introduced a luggage fee of €40 for a return, they promised to decrease prices. But no, the €99 fare stayed €99 and whoever wanted something extra (a suitcase) had to shovel out another €40 bringing the price for something that was included earlier to €139 instead. And yes, KLM dropped some fares for 2 weeks as a promotion, but that’s not enough to make up for it guys.
I expect the same to happen here; base prices will drop while costs for extra amenities are increased (and they call this enhancing passenger comfort). Ultimately bringing up the total spend per passenger.
Star Alliance
It’s just a matter of time before Star Alliance airlines (Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada, Swiss, Austrian) will come up with these light fares on transatlantic routings. Although Eurowings is already doing this on their long haul flights.
What are your thoughts on these developments? Are light fares really the way to go for the future or is every new stress increasing “passenger enhancement” another trick to squeeze a little more money out of the pockets of travellers?
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