When I travelled to the fabulous city of Krakow a few weeks ago, I flew with EasyJet. As their name implies, what you get is what you pay for, a no frills service with a cheap (but not always cheerful) service. I received an e-mail from EasyJet on Friday advising me of cheap deals throughout the forthcoming winter season to places like Amsterdam, Madrid and Krakow. Tempting though this is, the despair that many holiday-makers are experiencing this weekend is making me think not just twice but several times.
The collapse of XL Leisure Group, added to that of Zoom Airlines the other week, may well have sounded the death knell of the cheap flight culture. XL were the third largest package holiday group in the UK and their demise has left thousands of holiday-makers either stranded or stuck at home without a holiday to go to. High fuel costs and the 'credit crunch' are the reasons cited for these companies going bust. Now clearly this means hundreds of people who work for them are now out of a job and with mortgages to pay and families to feed this is obviously catastrophic news for them. But in an age when communication has never been easier - the internet, mobile technology, 24 hour rolling news etc. what I can't understand about all this is why people were allowed to go on holiday with the axe poised to swing - and why, as late as Friday morning with the axe already swung, no one thought to get a message out to the hundreds of people heading to airports all over the UK, high with excitement about to start their long-anticipated holiday.
Damn it, we work hard enough for most of the year, with the long hours culture still prevalent in this country for a salary that is largely swallowed up with the ever-increasing cost of merely trying to keep your head above the water. So when people scrimp and save to put some money aside for few days away from the pressures of life, for a few days in the sun away from the incessant wind and rain in this country, to escape the often hum-drum nature of their existence, they do not want it taken away at the very last minute.
Firms like XL and Zoom and no doubt a few others who will follow suit in the days and weeks ahead are quick to take money off people for the promise of a bargain deal. They must have known they wouldn't be in a position to continue trading at some point yet still let people travel and make their way to the airport. They have no right to treat people with contempt. True, those customers who paid for their holiday with their credit card may get a refund. But that's not my point. The prospect of getting away for a few glorious days is what keeps many people going during these hard times. To have it taken away like this is a kick in the teeth to those who use the airline industry.
I had contemplated going away for a few days at Christmas to escape the commercial madness this country descends to at that time of the year (that's another rant for another time) But I may decide to pass on EasyJet's admittedly tempting offer and stay in the UK.
And grapple with engineering work on the railways, never-ending roadworks, bus drivers on strike.....
2 comments:
Unconscionable business practices. My grandparents took two weeks a year in the sun every year with companies like that to get away from the winter. Didn't matter where it was, as long as it was hot. It would be devastating to have that pulled out from you at the last minute.
The same thing is happening here in the States too. It would be so sad and disappointing to be all happy going to the airport because you are about to go on a much needed vacation and then - oops, sorry...that just sucks. I just bought my mom's ticket to come out here to Seattle to stay with me for a couple of weeks and I pray that little Midwest Airlines stays in business.
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