Low cost carriers have made cheap traveling possible. It has increased demand for air travel, airport facilities and its support services, tourism industry, hotel industry and so on.
Full-fledged airlines are now feeling the competition and have to innovate and change in response to competition.
We all know that low cost carriers only provide the bare minimum service, that is a seat on a plane from point A to point B. You've the option to add on services like extra legroom, check-in luggage, SMS notification, food, entertainment at additional charges.
A friend of mine flew with a budget airline for a trip to Bangkok. On his return trip, he only realized that the flight was cancelled when he reached the airport.
It seemed that the airline has sent an email informing affected passengers of the cancelled flight. He flew in rage as he claimed he did not receive any notification of the cancellation. There were another 7 to 9 persons on the same flight arriving at the airport without knowledge as well. The best thing they could do is to wait for the first flight the next morning. And there's no guarantee that there will be seats available if the flight is fully booked.
Now, when a budget airline cancel a flight, it does not put you on another flight at no extra charge. On top of the uncertainty of getting a seat, he has to pay for the one-way air ticket back. He also has the option to be put on priority queue by paying an additional charge.
"Day-light robbery," he exclaimed.
After adding the price of his promotional ticket price and the price of the one-way ticket back, he ended up paying about $500.
He spent one night sleeping at the airport and the next night in a hotel near the airport before finally being put on a flight back.
He was ranting how bad the service was and insisted he did not receive any email notification at all.
Two weeks after he was back, he posted on Facebook that he just received the email.
Another two days later, he finally realized that he indeed received the notification 3 days before his return flight but somehow it went into his junk mail.
So why did he receive the notification two weeks after he's back? Was there something wrong with the system?
What's more strange is why did the airline communicate with its passengers only through email?
I'm not sure about you but I do not check my email when I'm on a tour.
How about sending an email with a link for passengers to click to acknowledge they've received the notification? And sending an SMS to those who do not reply. After all, most of us will bring our phones along and are unlikely to miss it.