In message
, at
02:04:03 on Mon, 12 Oct 2009, MIG
remarked:
On 12 Oct, 09:50, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:32:02 on Mon, 12
Oct 2009, Ian F. remarked:

I know millions of people are happy being treated like **** in order to
save a couple of quid - that is their prerogative and I'm glad that
Ryanair is there to provide them with what they require.

And to some extent trains and buses serve a similar purpose. It's not
just Maggie who thinks public transport is for losers

The thing is to resist every move by the railways to follow the
Ryanair model. Don't be fooled by the "get what you pay for"
arguments. Low price for poor service seems fine to me, but the
trickery is not, and nor is the gambling.

The so-called "simplified" fare system, plus opaque routing
restrictions, means that train fares are at least as bad.

Currently the railway operators don't just wash their hands of their
customers and leave them stranded, no matter how little they've
paid.

Actually, they do. You just tune out the reports.

"Sorry, train cancelled. Here's your AP fare back. Now find
somewhere to stay the night and get an Anytime single tomorrow. If
you like you can use it now on a train at exactly the same time as the
one that was cancelled ..."

Ah, that's a common one of the "chattering criticisms". But does it
actually happen any more? The closest is probably "You need to catch the
next available flight, which is tomorrow" (or possibly later, but that's
just a timetable thing). A colleague flying Business Class on United got
bumped Saturday (flight cancelled) and had to wait 24hrs for the next
flight.
--
Roland Perry