It is great that the world is more accessible but does it mean that commercial flying has become a commodity?
22 August 2019
The world is getting smaller. Everywhere in the world is within your reach, and in no more than 24 hours you could be half way across the globe. That’s great. To add to this, the prices of plane travel are decreasing drastically, making it more accessibly for people of all means to travel abroad. In fact, you can fly from England to almost any European destination for a cheaper price than a peak train ticket.
However, with a decrease in price comes with its own issues. We’ve all heard the rumours of Ryanair charging customers to use the bathroom mid-flight. Similarly, their CEO has been notoriously intolerant for mid-flight bladder control, suggesting that each plane should cut down on the number of toilets. In the end, these claims were perhaps used to ramp up publicity, but they do reveal a new side of penny pinching air travel.
Customers are expected now to pay for baggage, to pay for selecting their seats, and certainly to pay for food. What initially seemed like a cheap plane ticket may not turn out to be. Once you’ve checked a bag each for your family, reserved your seats, and bought each member a meal deal from WH Smiths, you’ll barely have enough money left for a beer on the beach!
Moreover, as soon as you arrive at the airport, you’re herded like cattle. The large influx in people makes the airport experience a nightmare. After your long and painful journey to the airport, you’re faced with queues as far as the eye can see. You join the back and spend the next few hours desperately trying to occupy the kids. Then, finally, you’ve checked in and head to security where there are…… you guessed it…… more queues. By this time your most likely tired and bored, and you haven’t even gotten on the plane yet. You may be wishing that you’d paid a bit extra to avoid this whole situation.
There is, however, a solution to these problems – just hire a private plane. This may seem like a ridiculous situation, but gone are the days when this was considered out of reach. Nowadays they’re far cheaper and far more convenient. The single engine prop plane is smaller, and can operate from a much smaller airport or airfield. This is far easier as you can eliminate the cost of transfer. Once you’re at the airport, there are no queues, no waiting. I will admit, that you may have to bring your own meal deal, but at least you’re not paying airport premiums. The private jet follows your schedule, so once you’re on board, it’s time to fly. You’ll arrive at your destination feeling relaxed and ready for your holiday, albeit looking forward to your private plane journey home!