The other day whilst planning yet one more back-to-back trip from Turkey to the United Kingdom and known to be a seriously big fan - without giving away the name and making untoward PR – of well, let us say, a famous national airline me and my family had this idea: throw caution to the (tail-)wind and go no-frills.
As our esteemed regular readers might recall your friendly columnist is happily married not simply with his wife of Turkish origin but thus and by default married into what one would refer to with all due admiration as a coach-load family where the inner circle by now amounts to over sixty proud members comprised of all possible generations! Hence, no surprise then that wherever we go it is hardly me as the lone voyager taking to the skies but at regular intervals other family member’s children, parents, grandparents as well.
So besides looking for airborne safety thus reputable carriers which is of course our paramount concern there is only one subject left worrying us all when making a booking – the bottom line, bottom line as in not parting with too much of our hard earned cash!
So from time to time a compromise of sorts has to be made. Assuming that safety with regards to airlines operating in and out of the European Union, Turkey and the United Kingdom is not normally an issue choice is enormous indeed. As the internet allows us to book and pay for tickets in an instant and as we are only human, we tend to expect to complete entire rather complicated transactions within a few minutes, too.
Log on, start your airline or ticket broker search engine, key in dates and number of passengers and wait for the options, scroll up and down a little bit and hey, bingo, a one way ticket for less than five 10 Pound Sterling banknotes. Look for the return leg and wow, even better. Why wait? Click ‘pay’ there and then and another dream trip no matter for how many family members this time around is sorted.
Or is it?
Unless you knew well in advance how many spare T-shirts your daughter, how many sneakers your wife’s sister’s son, how many presents for friends and family you wish to pack estimating the correct hold or hand luggage weight of your belongings requires a crystal ball (or if you are clever, a handheld scale!). But never mind, cheap tickets bought and e-tickets already well received in your e-mail’s inbox.
Closer to the day of departure and at least in our case the traveler’s alarm bells rang. Wait a minute – did we not wish to bring that special jumper to grandma? Had we not promised to pack those three rather heavy hardcover chemistry books we used at college for the new intake, intake as in family members just enrolled at university and happy to get textbooks for free as long as they are still up-to-date?
A frantic return to the airline’s webpage and seconds after typing in our PNR number the sobering truth is revealed – at that cheap price no check-in luggage was included at all, merely eight kilos of carry-on hand luggage per person.
The airline comes to our rescue, yet at a price: for a further 20 Pound Sterling (!) we can add 20 kilograms of checked in luggage per person (!). Did we overlook this tiny detail in haste whilst applauding our search skills sourcing the cheapest ticket? Very well possible!
As there were still a few days left in-between having added extra luggage allowances and actual take-off we promised ourselves to be more careful next time. Only to realize that another trap had been neatly laid out for unwitting no-frills fliers: any other seat - except for the back row next to the restrooms - had to be bought in advance with a range of between five and (not joking) 23 Pound Sterling additional payment should you require extra legroom.
Once on board refreshments were not free either, not even a small water bottle for the children.
Granted: the flights were safe; please return to my comment of what really matters, airline safety. But if everything is added up the original ticket price as advertised was less than 50 per cent of what we actually paid for per person per journey. Now add the location of the airport which was for sure not central and thus setting all adult travelers back another 17.50 Pound Sterling one way to ever get to the plane we must admit that it was a first, and perhaps a last.
As we are embarking on a similar journey in four weeks’ from now during early April we did our homework this time around: flag carrier, central airport reachable by underground or cheap public transport both ends, hot meals and drinks included and 30 kilos of checked in luggage as standard – and guess what? Still cheaper than the so-called ‘cheap’ airline; that includes very comfortable leather seats and of course free seat selection except for emergency exit rows even flag carriers tend to charge extra for these days, point taken.
Choice is what we travelers demand, choice is what we have. My family realized that despite most fliers arguing the opposite it makes absolute perfect sense to check our flag carriers first before resorting to supposedly more affordable airlines. No promise that it will work out every time – but as money is too tight to mention anywhere and everywhere why not spend a few extra minutes in front of our laptop before hitting the ‘pay’ button?
Have a wonderful early spring in fabulous Kusadasi.
