From R McCredie.
QUEUEING to check in at Jersey Airport recently, my observations were maddening.

First to check in was a young lady who would weigh at most eight stone when wet. She was (confirmed to me later) charged over £20 because her suitcase was a few kilos overweight.

Next, a person to whom I shall refer affectionately, with no malice, as an original character (who ate all the pies), well north of 18 stone. He suffered no extra charges and shuffled off.

I make the point that the combined weight of the young girl and her slightly overweight suitcase would not come close to the weight of ‘pieman’ and his luggage. The unfairness of it all!

We are informed that the most fuel used by an aircraft is on take-off, the amount used being determined by the total weight of the aircraft itself, the passengers and the baggage.

Bearing in mind that some passengers use only hand luggage and others have well-under-weight suitcases, I feel that no passenger should be charged if only in possession of one suitcase, as the baggage situation levels itself out.

The young lady in question was charged extra because she violated a self-imposed weight limit set by the airline (which can be lowered at any time) simply as a way to extort money from the passenger. Equally, to charge anyone for payment by debit card is sad, as this type of payment is immediate.

Our locally founded airline, Flybe, were the first airline in Britain to impose a baggage charge, and it has steadily increased to £7.99 a bag, per leg, per journey, while the cost of fuel has rapidly decreased. Flybe also announced the healthiest profit of any other UK airline in the last 12 months. No surprise there, then.

Is it too cynical, even for me, to suggest that Flybe, the favoured airline, have a vision of one day enjoying similar competition to that facing Condor Ferries at the moment?

The contagious greed in this Island, a rampant sickness, ranging from house prices (kept artificially high) to supermarkets, airlines and ferries is well outside a printable description.
5 Tunnell Street,
St Helier.