I just got back from the airport, where I was attempting to purchase a roundtrip ticket to visit my sister in Ottawa. I went directly to the airport because I don’t use credit cards. Ever. To book online with any of the companies that use the airport, you need to have a credit card number. However, you can use debit and cash at the airport.
I drove all the way out there (approx. 5$ gas for me) only to find out that the airline industry now charges a “customer service fee” if you book with an agent, either in person or over the phone. This fee has apparently been in place since 2007.
A quick internet search of this reveals that the fee won’t be charged if you cannot book online, however “not having a credit card” doesn’t fall within their reasons of why you can’t book online.
Is it just me, or is this a huge injustice? Why should I be penalized for wanting to pay in cash for a major purchase, instead of using “invisible” money? This is not user friendly.. I would see a “convenience” fee for booking online being okay, but not for using customer service. Isn’t customer service supposed to be free? It’s unfair for those who aren’t old enough to have a charge card, or for those who don’t have internet access or are too old to understand how to use a computer.
Here’s a clue airline industry: in the middle of a recession, you’d best be starting to take cold hard cash without penalties, instead of rewarding those who are relying on the banks to pay for travel expenses (and hoping to god the bank can find the money to pay you!).
—Disillusioned Debitcard Holder
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2009.
People who aren’t old enough to have a charge card probably can’t buy plane tickets on their own. You can use a friends computer, go to a cafe, or the library. You can also have a friend help, or take a class. If you want to stick to hard currency in the age of pixels and plastic, you’re going to have to make some concessions. It’s mildly annoying, not an injustice.
You can also get pre-paid credit cards, which work exactly like debit cards, FYI.
I’m with donkey dick or soory swamp donkey on this one!!!lol
Yeah, the issue is though, some of us don’t want credit, or some of us don’t want to use it. Using myself as an example, I have a 500 dollar limit credit card just as an emergency facility or for hotel rooms. I use debit/cash for everything so I can manage my spending and budget better, as well as not being comfortable paying 18.5% (which is insane, and I used to be a banker) on the time entire deal if I can’t necessarily pay it off to the cent on time. The OP is right, should I be penalized for something of that nature? No, I should not. In fact processing payment through debit and cash costs a company less than processing a payment through the internet (less processing time, no need for Verisign to piggy back the transaction and functionally way more secure) and it’s not like they’re forcing the airline to hire more agents. They’re usually not that busy. Finally, SwampDonkey— it’s fine that there are those pre-paid credit cards out there (they’re great for online purchases) but they come with a hefty service charge with them, which is usually about 4.50 per 100 dollars, if I’m not mistaken (at least for the Visa variant). So, if you’re looking to book a plane ticket online for 1200 bucks (typical round trip airfare from HFX) you’re looking at spending $1254 to buy it online. Not a good deal. That’s a cab fare to the airport.
It’s a plain rip-off.
why didn’t you go to a travel agent? or call one to check so you don’t need to actually drive there to ask?
and then you would know whether it’s possible to book online because if they can’t, you wouldn’t be able to.
The fee is likely for taking their time when you could do it yourself. Same goes for banks… you have a limit to how many times a month you can see a teller without getting dinged (at the “imperial” bank that is).
There are people trying to check in and keeping that line moving is priority #1. It already takes hours of waiting unless you’re there oober-early in the morn or really late at night.
I think you need to talk to someone who went through the civil rights movement to get a new definition of “huge injustice”
Just out of curiosity, what was the service charge on this “huge injustice”?
I get people to give me cash for their purchases and use my credit card all the time when they don’t have one. It means I get points for using my card, and they get what they want and get to use cash for it. Win Win.
The service charge for doing this is $50.00, or $25.00 each way. This is more than the average person makes in an hour, and is a ridiculous amount for the service. It takes an agent 5 minutes to sell someone a ticket, an agent that is already being paid to be there. There is a dedicated line to purchase tickets, and it’s generally never busy unless there have been cancellations and people are looking to book on new flights. Going late at night means that the agents who are otherwise standing around being paid to do nothing are being paid to assist you.
Also, if you use a travel agent to purchase the ticket, the travel agent charges you a “commission” which is similar to this customer service fee, and it is usually 50$ as well.
welcome to 2009…adapt or be miserable its not going to change, we have become the mindless millions with no collective will…we are legion
I agree with the OP. It’s ridiculous how dependent we are on c.c.’s and how you can’t do ANYTHING without them anymore. I HAVE a credit card, but I don’t use it, have no interest in using it, and do not WANT To use it. Why should I have to give out my number when I have money to pay? I used to work at a hotel as a front desk clerk and you didn’t need to have a c.c. to book a room..now you do…what the fuck has changed in the last 10 years that you have to have one for everything? Grr.