This 'new math' stuff leaves travellers scratching their heads.
I was never great in math but here are some numbers that every traveller should be concerned about.
‘Tax Dude” on the FlyerTalk Forums was looking to take advantage of a recent Westjet seat sale. Before pulling the trigger, he figured he’d check what Air Canada was offering for the same flight. Not surprisingly, Air Canada’s non-sale rate was substantially higher. Then Tax Dude got cute by going one step further and pricing out the same ticket using Aeroplan rewards.
It turns out that after burning 15,000 Aeroplan points, your “free” Aeroplan seat ends up costing $2.27 MORE than it would to simply save your points and buy the seat outright on Westjet.
Check out Tax Dude’s breakdown here.
I am constantly amazed that the Canadian public allows itself to be cheated this way. In so many ways.
“Oh but it’s tax and that is not the airline’s fault”, is a frequent retort. Nonsense. The airline pays taxes on tires, too, but they pay those.
I use points a lot, and always have the same experience: the “excuse charges” (taxes, airport fees, terrorism fees, etc) amount to much more than the entire cost on Westjet, or out of Buffalo.
We are conditioned to this by tax not being displayed with the price of goods. In Europe, when an article says “$19.95″, it costs exactly that, not a higher amount. Also in Europe, airlines are not allowed to publish fake fees.
Normally being the last one to call for regulation, I feel that here, some consumer protection may be warranted.
And until that time, Edward, do keep pointing out these things. Education helps, too.