In a move certain to polarise passengers, an airport in the UK has introduced a pay service – with a twist.
Forget buying your in-flight meal, selling your firstborn to park the car, or swiping the VISA to use the toilet – Luton London has out-done them all. Customers waiting in long queues for security screening can now pay a £5 fee to push into the front of the line.
Luton spokespeople claim it’s simply an optional premium service, akin to valet parking and executive lounges. But others disagree. As easyJet staff point out, customers should already be able to expect a reasonable amount of security, and there are murmurs that hustling the elite through quickly might compromise that.
And the whole issue is worse for the hip pocket, since it’s now in the airport’s financial interest to slow down the “non pay” lines as much as possible, in order to entice stressed travellers into the pay queue, desperate to get to their plane on time. In other words, the worse the airport’s service, the more they earn.
What do you think – would you pay for the queue-jumping, or do you stand your ground and say it’s wrong?
Photo: Grant Turner / Sydney Morning Herald
There’s no way I would pay an extra fee for my family of 4 to jump the queue. I think this would appeal to business travelers who get write-offs or the “elite” who want to feel important.
Yeah I think for people travelling on business, they will add this to their company expenses and it won’t bother them. However for the average Joe travelling to or from Luton Airport will not want to pay £5 for something they feel they should have for free. It just seems like Luton Airport is trying to squeeze every last penny out of us. Since when do we start paying to queue jump at Luton Airport. If they are going to charge, it should be cost less and be available on a first come first serve basis.