You might have heard that Spirit Airlines just announced they will be charging fees for carry-on bags. Yes, that’s right – carry-on bags.
In a spin-laden press release, the airline says “In order to continue reducing fares even further and offering customers the option of paying only for the services they want and use rather than subsidizing the choices of others, the low fare industry innovator is also progressing to the next phase of unbundling with the introduction of a charge to carry on a bag.”
I don’t know anything about Spirit Airlines but I do know they likely aren’t using this to lower fares and that this has a decent chance of being adopted by other airlines soon. It has nothing to do with pleasing customers and has everything to do with increasing revenues. It is an excellent example of what I call “Company Focused Service”, which is what many companies prefer to Customer-Focused Service.
The travel world seems particularly beset by such companies. We all know airlines are trying to survive by charging to check bags, board the plane earlier, or even using on-board toilets. Upscale hotels have practiced Company Focused Service by charging “resort fees” for use of swimming pools or fitness facilities.
The worst, however, are car rental companies. This started with their insistence on customers paying extra for car insurance, even though many renters have such insurance through their own auto insurance policy or via their credit card. It progressed to gasoline charges, in which they deviously offer to let you return the car on empty for a “lower price”, even though we all know it is almost impossible to return a car completely empty and more times than not you will leave too much gas in the tank to justify this option. And the newest unscrupulous practice is when a car rental agency hands you the keys to a car that is half filled with gas. That means 1) they didn’t bother to fill up the tank, even though the previous customer probably got reamed for returning the car less than full and 2) you, the customer, now have to worry about trying to fill the tank to the exact right amount, or worse, driving enough miles to use up the gas you already put in!
All these examples are just ways for the company to make money at the expense of the consumer. And the only way they work is because the consumer basically has no options. Car rental companies, airlines, and even hotels are essentially oligopolies – industries dominated by a few players. We measly consumers have few choices when deciding whom to fly from Minneapolis to Baltimore, which car rental company to use in an airport, or which cell phone company to pledge two years of our lives to.
Right on, Allan!