Letters

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday April 19, 2008

Value in premium economy

I'm not sure what Megan Peniston-Bird was expecting in premium economy on Air New Zealand (Traveller, April 12).

Premium economy is all it's advertised to be - slightly better than economy service and fare with a bigger seat, not business-class service and fare with a smaller seat. I've travelled premium economy with BA to Europe. I would judge it value for money, getting you out of the cattle-truck conditions in economy at a fraction of the cost of business class.

Nick Evans

Sit down and shut up

To all those complaining about flight attendants not hanging up coats, slow meal delivery, legroom issues, inflight entertainment that goes on the blink, lack of newspapers and magazines delivered to your seat when travelling on short trips on airlines such as Jetstar or Virgin, and when sitting in economy seats on Air New Zealand or Qantas: you just don't get it.

Making those trips 10,000 metres in the air at 900kmh has safety issues that don't exist on similar trips made by bus or train at a similar price. Flight attendants are there to ensure passenger safety.

If you want to be pampered and grovelled to, pay for the privilege. Otherwise, do as I do on a short flight. Bring your own book, sit down, shut up and hope that the trip on the bus with wings doesn't take one minute longer than it has to.

Andrew Dobson

Outraged at fuel surcharge

Is there anyone who is outraged by the retroactive fuel surcharge imposed by cruise companies?

I booked a cruise on Discovery Cruises for this August and paid a non-refundable deposit of $1000 in October 2007, the balance to be paid in May. I was informed in February of an increase of $145 a person for fuel surcharge. I objected to this increase and received a letter from the cruise company saying it would not waive the surcharge, nor would it allow me the option of cancelling my cruise without penalty.

I am aware that fuel prices are increasing but a retroactive increase on booked fares in the form of a fuel surcharge is not acceptable. The cruise price was determined in 2007 but the Australian dollar has gained significantly. I am aware that in Canada and the US the cruise-ship companies have had to refund this surcharge after complaints from more than 150 passengers.

Josephine Lee-Joe

See Cruising column page 18

Suite in Normandy

For anyone thinking of a holiday in Normandy, we would recommend the Chateau de Bonnemare, halfway between Rouen and Giverny. Sylvie and Alain offer wonderful bed-and-breakfast accommodation in various suites, ranging from the ducal glory of the parade suite to wheelchair-accessible ground-floor accommodation. Sylvie's breakfasts are delicious and are served in the 16th-century kitchen. The area has some good restaurants and is just over an hour's drive from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Barbara McKay

Deal brokered, trust broken

Our experience with car rental from a well-known company by an internet broker was not good. We handed over all booking emails when we collected our car in Ireland but were amazed on coming home to find credit-card statements showed we had been billed twice for the $250 rental component: once by the broker, once by the renter.

The rental company's reply to our complaint states it was "unable to retrieve payment" as we "did not present our prepaid voucher at time of pick-up" (isn't plonking it on the desk classed as presenting?). It sent a paltry upgrade voucher as compensation. We determined to take it up with the broker but read on its website that the broker, with our duplicate fee, had gone into administration. We also found that online quoting and inquiries took inordinate amounts of time. In future we will deal directly with renters. Broker discounts aren't worth the bother and risk.

Heather Wigham

Seat denial a pain

Chris Dingle's experience with Qantas (Traveller, March 29) was similar to my experience with Korean Airlines.

Booking our trip through Flight Centre, we made a request for emergency exit seats. I have a chronic back injury that makes it difficult to sit for lengthy periods due to constant pain (and being 190 centimetres tall the extra space comes in handy). I had medical certificates to attest to the back problem.

Flight Centre spoke to the Korean office, which advised that the request had been noted and that we should arrive at the check-in desk early to confirm our seats.

On checking in, the Korean Airlines staff said that while there had been a mention of my request, it only stated that I had a back injury, so nothing had been done. Staff then said that they do not reserve emergency exit seats for anybody with a back injury.

In response to my complaint, Korean's representative referred to International Air Transport Association regulations in which he claimed that a passenger seated in an exit seat has to be 100 per cent fit. When I pointed out that on its own website, customers were able to preselect their seats, the representative could not explain how it could ensure that a passenger with a disability or injury did not put themselves in an exit-aisle seat.

If we had been told at the outset that Korean would not assist us because of these IATA regulations, we would have gone elsewhere.

Claude Tomisich

Alliance not so cosy

Last year I flew business class with South African Airways to Johannesburg return on a code-share flight with Qantas. Qantas frequently operates this flight.

As I was a KrisFlyer, I believed that I would gain KrisFlyer miles as Singapore Airlines is now a Star Alliance partner with SAA. My travel agent also believed this to be the case. On my return, SAA said it believed this was the case but Singapore Airlines declined, even though it does not operate flights to South Africa. Not such a cosy alliance after all.

Alan Edwards

We welcome your travel-related opinions, experiences and letters. Email us at travellerletters@fairfax.com.au including your name, address and phone number.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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