Shelf life of an ice cream cone
Up front, a confession. I don’t fly. No wings. And, by extension, no frequent flyer points. The industry has sales techniques that I find rather sketchy. In fact, I’ll go a step more. I find them to be merciless.
Consider your standard air ticket. If you miss your window of opportunity (my bus was late, whatever), your ticket is valueless. The shelf life is less than that of a cheap ice cream cone on a summer afternoon. (Now, I’m hungry…) The point is that airlines sell a product that is particularly time-dependent.
As well, their tickets are never cheap. Many flyers require the loans provided by a credit card. Not cheap, either. So, when I read on my favourite news feed that those same airlines are playing the “long game” with clients in these troubled times, I was immediately dissatisfied.
The airlines are unable to fulfill their contractual obligations, due to conditions NOT related to weather. In most other sectors, you take the clients’ money, in escrow, and when you are unable to provide the services or product, you issue a refund. Basic commerce. In the case of the airline industry, the “party line” is that they can’t issue any refunds, because that would bankrupt them. Their business model depends on you paying up front and accepting their terms, or something.
This is not something involving a few customers. Things are now at the point where “class action suit” is being used. Unfortunately, the federal government is clearly in the arms of the airlines. No blanket rule about how the customers should receive their refund without hesitation. Our minister actually said that we can’t afford to lose the airlines, given the geographical size of the nation.
Right now, consumers are expected to provide interest free loans to the industry, while they cover their own credit line.
From my place on the sideline, I have a view that tells me if an airline fails, there will be someone there to pick up the slack immediately. After all, is there anything more predatory than an airline?
