Are airline ticket price surcharges a form of consumer price gouging? Some think so, when they charges show up after they have already purchased the ticket online at a .Com website. But if the small print says this maybe possible or if the company calls you back due to changes is it price gouging? Or right sizing due to rapid oil price raises in oil future commodities? The extra surcharges really piss off customers, but the sudden price spikes can kill an entire quarter for an airline and harm investors [also consumers] and we must also realize that the FTC has not gone after OPEC? That is all about price fixing. But if the Federal Trade Commission or the United States Justice Department did go after them, well then OPEC is almost in a position to sell to India and China and tell the USA to kiss off. Give it 8-10 years you watch. Every time the US has an ethical issue with an oil-producing nation, what happens? It results in long-term contracts with China and no one can even guarantee that those are viable long-term contracts, because look at Germany before WWII, slow to pay exploits or the fact that China has not had their industrial revolution or peasant revolt yet and has their currency being manipulated now. Maybe we should look at the bigger picture and get some guarantees on prices when you buy airline tickets from the airlines themselves and not rely on the government regulatory bodies to go and screw things up worse. Consider this in 2006. |
