We all know that airlines charge us for all of these hidden fees that we complain about, but end up paying for anyway. They are even thinking about mandating that airlines charge for carry-on bags because it costs the government so much money in terms of security and TSA. However, last week I read about a ridiculous charge – it was ridiculous even to me, and I have been exposed to my fair share of airlines in my life.
Last week Austria-based carrier Comtel told the passengers that they had two choices– to get off of the plane or to muster up $31,500. Apparently they had run out of money for fuel and needed the passengers to pay for it. The flight was travelling from Amritsar, India, to Birmingham, England, but made an unplanned stop in Vienna to tell passengers this news. Their stop ended up becoming a six-plus-hour-long delay. The delay involved bringing police into the situation, as passengers were refusing to pay even more for their flight. You may be thinking that bringing the police in was a good idea, but guess what the police facilitated? They allowed passengers to get off and go to the ATM machines to get the money that Comtel was looking for.
Can you believe that? Most people did not want to be stranded countries away from their final destination, so they actually did end up coming up with the $31,500. The President of Comtel said that he heard about it and that he was going to investigate what had happened because it should not have occurred. He also said that everyone who paid would receive a full refund. Comtel actually cancelled all of their flights last weekend in order to deal with this situation. I personally think that may have been a wrong move; cancelling those flights stranded thousands of people in several countries. I think that is worse publicity than this whole scam. The people who no longer trust Comtel can just cancel their flights, but there were many people who would just have faith that Comtel would not make the mistake twice.
I have no idea how this all happened and how it got out of control, but I sure hope that Comtel apologizes and that everything works out for all of the travelers.
You never know..a friend of a friend (really rich) was stranded on an ship going thru he Northwest passage.
A group of passengers got together and chartered a heliocopter to take everyone off.
Might have been just a coupld of really rich people shelling out for the gas....
Ideas for 8yo girl b-day party
Do you believe in ghosts??
- steveiguana
on Feb. 11, 2012 at 10:26 PM