WOW bargain not so "wow"
Nov 11th, 2017, 08:10 AM
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WOW bargain not so "wow"
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...-a8046106.html
Some governments have tried to force airline advertising to be transparent about total fares and extra charges above the base rate. Yet the industry still harbours too many snake-oil salesmen. Travel journalist Simon Calder has examined a recent ad for the Iceland carrier WOW Air for 99-pound travel between England and New York, claiming the fare is cheaper than the taxes on other carriers. In the UK newspaper The Independent he writes: The fare is one-way and the return flight has a substantially higher rate; there will be a change of plane in Iceland; there is also a hidden “booking” fee. Add it all up and it costs more than the official taxes elsewhere.
I can also add that some of WOW's additional service fees apply to each leg of a flight, so with a connection they double. Calder is always worth reading, at least in part because he does not accept free travel for publicity.
Some governments have tried to force airline advertising to be transparent about total fares and extra charges above the base rate. Yet the industry still harbours too many snake-oil salesmen. Travel journalist Simon Calder has examined a recent ad for the Iceland carrier WOW Air for 99-pound travel between England and New York, claiming the fare is cheaper than the taxes on other carriers. In the UK newspaper The Independent he writes: The fare is one-way and the return flight has a substantially higher rate; there will be a change of plane in Iceland; there is also a hidden “booking” fee. Add it all up and it costs more than the official taxes elsewhere.
I can also add that some of WOW's additional service fees apply to each leg of a flight, so with a connection they double. Calder is always worth reading, at least in part because he does not accept free travel for publicity.
