Wednesday
Flying used to be so much fun and I could
tell you so many stories about it, but now it’s so difficult it’s almost not
worth it!! The amateur airlines that compete solely on the basis of price
are only professional at being amateur although I must admit that they do have
some interesting ways of “boosting revenue” which is corporate-speak for ripping
customers off.
Sterling Air (which you almost have to use if
you are flying to Oslo from where I live) is one of the most innovative in the
area of “stealth taxes” and that was where I was stuck this morning. I
have written before about how they once (without warning!) charged my
brother-in-law 21 Euros for moving from a “small” seat to a “medium” seat, well
now they have come up with quite a few new “premiums”.
For example, for the bargain price of 24
Euros you can buy an upgrade to a seat with “extra leg-room”. To me this
says many things but the most significant is the obvious admission that a normal
seat doesn’t have enough leg-room. And I don’t know many people with extra
legs anyway so perhaps we should let it go there……. nah! Let’s talk about
baggage limits for a minute….. My bag weighed exactly 20 kilos which is the
normal limit (less passenger luggage allows them more room for the freight, from
which they make more money!!) but Sterling dropped their limit to 15 kilos
(without warning!) so I had to pay 40 Euros for the dubious privilege of
checking my bag in! Better be careful not to exceed my breathing
allowance…. whatever that is. What a pain these amateur airlines are….
But we did arrive safely and on time so there
is always something to be thankful for!! I like Norway and I like Oslo so
I will take the opportunity to relax and enjoy it on my night off.
It’s a bit
chilly though……
