I have just made a discovery! All things considered, it is better to fly with a low-fare airline than with a traditional, national carrier. We took a late-fall vacation recently and I had plenty of time to mull over the matter, making a mental inventory of the pro and cons. May be it was just the stale air…
The first advantage of a low-fare airline is that it requires concentration and focus on an extraordinary level combined with not a little computer savvy on the part of the would-be passenger already when making the reservation. With a traditional company it might just happen that a travel agent takes over all the burdensome steps and sets us up for the trip. Making a reservation on a low-fare airline needs concentration and a wary eye so that we watch every step, lest the ticket come to a price way above what was promised… Low-fare airlines are good for your brain!
Even at the airport, low-fare airlines have their advantages. Passengers on legacy airlines will spend up to two hours in the departure hall, wasting their time and money, purchasing things no sane person would consider buying at those prices while their low-fare colleagues will only spend about an our out on the concrete where there is nothing to buy. So low-fare is good also for your purse.
Low-fare passengers, at least at Ferihegy, will enjoy fresh air and healthy temperatures ranging from min 30 to plus 40 centigrade while they watch the procession of arriving and departing aircraft. Legacy passengers will endure constant plus 25 degrees in an air-conditioned atmosphere and can only watch their planes via glass, if they see anything at all. They have to walk through a narrow corridor at the end of which a door awaits them and troublesome cabin crew who will immediately start bothering them with questions about which seat they have been allocated. Such handicaps do not affect low-fare passengers. They have a plain view of their aircraft and once on board, may sit in any seat they want. They even get to practice a few martial arts tricks as a means of securing the better places… Weight lifting is also part of the boarding exercise as they cram their grossly overweight hand-luggage into the not too roomy overhead compartments.
The low-fare advantage comes back also en-route. Passengers can choose to eat or not to eat… On legacy airlines, the food tray is put in front of everybody’s nose, whether they want it or not and since it is there, they will eat it even when they don’t really want to eat. On the other hand, wine is carefully hidden and one has to beg to get a glass of the precious liquid. So low-fare airlines protect our health in all kinds of ways and we will never get indigestion if we do not eat. Not so on legacy airlines where one may get served a salad which then ensures that we see more of the toilet than the ocean-shore for a week.
Finally, after landing some airports treat low-fare customers to something special, they do not have to wait hours for their baggage! Either they did not have checked baggage to begin with or, if they were audacious enough to check their gear, they get them right back after unloading… assuming they can find their property in the pile of bags.
One could of course come up with numerous other reasons for traveling low-cost, I could only think of these right now. Frequent low-cost flyers in particular will have their own stories to add… “Unfortunately” I am not one of them.
What both legacy and low-cost passengers share, though, without difference is the security check. Everyone has to undergo this procedure and returning from our holiday we had an opportunity to really enjoy this most hateful and incomprehensible aspect of traveling by air.
We checked in at the airport of this small island and we also checked out bags. We still had some time to spend in the departure hall (you see, I told you…) and so we turned into the small general store there. As usual, we sniffed all the perfumes, then getting to the booze department, we found a rum of local distinction. The perfect gift for our friend and while we were at it, we bought a bottle also for our own use. We paid and the cashier put our purchase in a bag that was sealed air-tight. We could not even begin to imagine that we would have a nasty surprise because of this later on. After a pleasant flight we landed at the airport from which our connection was leaving. We stayed in the transit area and went looking for the gate of the flight to Budapest.
Since we were coming from outside of the European Union, we had to pass through security, our favorite pass-time once again. It is a total mystery for me why they do not trust those countries outside the Union, why does one have to go through the trouble of a security check when it has already been performed? I am convinced this is one more idiotic brainchild of the mindless bureaucrats. This has nothing to do with the security of aviation. If me, for instance, wanted to harm someone or myself, how in hell would I get the means to do it while in a sterile area?
Was the air-tight bag not invented with the purpose of simplifying things, so that if I show it to these (I almost said idiots) people, they check its integrity and if it is OK, I am allowed to pass. Instead, the alert security agent grabbed the bag from my hands and told me that it was not coming with me on board. But why?! Well, the 100 ml rule of course… If I went out to the check-in area and checked the plastic bag, it would be ok. I got really pissed when they told me that I would need to get my checked baggage and put the bottles in there… then things would be ok. This was simply too much!
I was tempted to just smash the bottles under the nose of that bozo but not wanting to make a scene, I smashed them against the wall of the waste container only, hoping that both were reduced to smithereens.
I had to explain to my poor friend that his rum was gone due to stupid rules… We, however were richer in experience. What did the great Hungarian writer, Jokai say? The poor rich…