Flight Surcharges... And other stuff

This, dear reader, is another mini-rant. Today I am angered because I hate being coerced into spending more money on something while being glibly reassured by the seller that it is all for 'my benefit'. Nonsense. As an apparent consequence of the 'credit crunch' currently being experienced (hyped) in Britain, flights overseas are obviously becoming more expensive. This is fair enough I think; I have booked to go away to Spain in a week and had to save up for it, when a couple of years ago we could go so cheaply we could pay for it almost on a whim. As a conseqeuence I am looking forward to it so much more - its exclusivity adds to the 'out of ordinary'-ness that is necessary to make a holiday a holiday. A special time to be appreciated. So flights being pricey is not really a problem in that way. What I am really narked about is all the hidden charges they have. I honestly would prefer to book with someone who openly stated their prices at the outset than add 60 quids worth of charges during the booking procedure. I booked with Jet2 as they work from an airport near me. My flight was a reasonable price, however I was charged £5.99 to check in each bag, each way, (total: £24) and then directed to a screen to pay for the priviledge to 'book my seat'. On this screen there is no option to not buy a seat, however if you are curious and try and go through to the next stage without booking one you are able to. That this isn't stated anywhere though and gives people the impression that they have to book, especially after having come from the prior page where it is compulsory for you to book in space for your bag. Obviously, they let you know that by not pre-booking you risk compromising possible in-flight merriment with friends and family, but for two hours who cares that much?! Unless they are implicitly threatenening that you and your young children may be separated because you didn't pre-book and therefore will have to sit apart. How exploitative! If I was a mum of young 'uns I would book these seats for fear of not being able to sit with them otherwise... These seat prices range from 3.99 each way to a whopping £12.99 for extra leg room. So long-leggedy people beware! The cheek of it winds me right up. Then you go to the final page where, luckily for you, they have already signed you up to insurance (around 9 squids each) and it lets you know that you are each paying for a fuel surcharge (to cover the cost of inevitable petrol increases). I did not book a seat, I think that I will cope if I have to sit on my lonesome for two hours (anyway, you can keep checking the online seat-saver screen and it looks pretty empty to me still!) and am not paying for something that should be parr for the course. Between agreeing to buy the flights and paying for them they added on about £55 worth of extras for me and DB. Cheeky bug*ers.

What I find interesting though, is that if no-one pre-booked the seats then the airline wouldn't profit from it and we would all be able to get seats allocated together when we check-in... Like has been done for donkey's yonks.

Rant over. Sorry to have been ranty. I get wound up though and this seems to good place to let off steam. In contrary to ranty-ness, Britain's Got Talent last night was brilliant! I so enjoyed it! X Factor last year after Leona's stunning success was a total damp squib and the last BGT was a foregone conclusion with Paul Potts. So this year's tense final of talent was very entertaining. I was shocked that the wonderful, gangly 12 year-old wasn't in the top three but I love Signature; and George! What a cutie. Am so glad he won.

Shall I exercise today or not? Hmmm.... I should do really but am pretty bored of it. I went to the gym yesterday and it was the biggest struggle ever. Just no enthusiasm although I completed the designated 45 mins on the x trainer. Should swim today. But it's raining and Sunday and I think I may cut my hair instead... I am a big fan of cutting my own hair though don't worry, I don't look mad. I need to finish off the latest chapter too.

Hmmm, with my anti-mercenary, anti-establishment rants, coupled with expressions of intent to cut my own hair I would forgive anyone for thinking I am this huge, crazy hippy. I confess that I look forward to having a veggie garden too. But actually I conform very well.

x J