airplanes Archives

As one of the few airlines with a 5-star rating (as awarded by Skytrax), Qatar Airways took a step further by incorporating the number of stars it has into its marketing slogan to really bring the point home. The world’s 5-star airline – is what it calls itself on TV, billboards and in major dailies. During some of my recent trips, I got to try out this 5-star quality which they’re so proud about.

I have flown with Qatar Airways several times during the past six months alone – mostly on the SIN <-> DOH route. While I normally go for low cost carriers, full-service airlines still reign supreme over the long-haul space. One’s really got to eat on a flight that’s over five hours long. Entertainment’s more or less mandatory as well, else the flight could be unbearably boring. So is precious baggage space. This is where all the creature comforts of a full-service airline come in.

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Since I usually buy budget airline tickets several months in advance, It has been a while since I bought one to anywhere. Did a couple of bookings this past week which led to some startling if not, annoying discoveries which seem to foretell an inevitable trend in the LCC segment of the airline industry.

by 713 Avenue | CC by SA 2.0

Generally, I find the booking systems of most LCC’s to be quite annoying – this stems from their tendency to pre-select add-ons by default in a way that is not so obvious to unsuspecting passengers. Previously, the pre-selection was only confined to travel insurance. Lately, I discovered that not only more and more of these add-ons are pre-selected, but also that some airlines have made it more tedious for passengers to unselect the pre-selected add-ons (probably in hopes that passengers won’t want to exert the extra effort of unselecting and just pay the extra dollars). Smells like an unethical way to make a quick buck to me, but in a highly volatile industry I suppose every cent counts.

At the end of the day, budget airlines can still offer a lot of value especially during seat sales and I suppose that for the majority of the target market, these are hassles that one should just take note of. Thought I’d share some tips on unspoken rules with regards to LCC bookings and how to avoid getting charged unnecessarily in the booking process. These are in my opinion, 7 things people should watch out for when buying a budget airline plane ticket.

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My Qatar Airways Experience, Part 1 (Singapore to Doha)

7 Things to Watch Out For When Buying a Budget Airline Plane Ticket