To fly or not to fly

I guess the last week's turbulence (no pun intended) over the volcano on Iceland is good for one thing: It clearly shows which airline carriers are serious and thrustworthy, taking care of their travellers, and which ones are merely a joke that should be avoided whenever possible. According to this article on SvD the list is as follows:

The good:
SAS - covering costs for travellers within the EU for an indefinite period of time, and 48 hours for travellers outside of the EU.
Lufthansa - covering costs for travellers for an indefinite period of time, worldwide.
British Airways - covering costs for travellers for an indefinite period of time, worldwide.

The bad:
Ryanair - as expected, violating EU regulations and cover no costs at all.
Finnair - takes the Ryanair approach, violating EU regulations and covering no costs.
Air France - only cover costs for travellers who were en-route and got stuck in Paris???

So, there you are. Food for thought when booking your next holiday.

The fuel charge disease is spreading

I've previously written about the incredibly stupid concept of fuel surcharges, and about SAS' brilliant decision to increase their fuel surcharge at a time where the oil price has dropped 50%.

Now it seems the ferry companies are adopting this ridiculous practice. Polferries, for instance, are adding this mandatory charge of a whopping 8 percent of the ticket price on the Nynäshamn - Gdansk ferry.

I'm expecting this will soon spread to the taxi industry, and why not the public transportation?

Seriously, if you need to raise the ticket price, just do so without inventing these stupid, mandatory surcharges. As a customer all I really care about is the total price, not whether or not that includes a mandatory captain surcharge, staff surcharge, boarding surcharge, bathroom surcharge or fuel surcharge.


And no, I will definitely not be a "happy driver" after paying several thousand kronor just to get from Nynäshamn to Gdansk by boat. Driving through Denmark and Germany instead will be considerably cheaper, including one hotel night.

Thank you, SAS

Got this e-mail from SAS earlier today, informing me that they will start adding their ridiculous "fuel fee" on their frequent flyer bonus flights as well, so these won't be free (well, except government taxes) anymore.


First of all, what the heck is this fuel fee anyway? I mean, the plane fuel is an essential part of any flight taking place, it's not really an option. Why don't they introduce a pilot fee as well, or a cabin crew fee, while they're at it? It's not like we can deselect either of these when we book our flights?

Second, when this fuel fee was introduced last year the oil price was double what it is now, and it skyrocketed in just a couple of months prior to introducing the fee. There should be no need for any extra fuel fees at this point.

I appreciate that SAS are in a tough spot at the moment, but if you need to increase those ticket prices, just do so without blaming the fuel prices and introducing Ryanair style fees. That is just annoying.