Greyhound to go to reserved tickets effective 11/1/12

[Nathanael]

I'm in Boston. I notice now that Greyhound is charging $2.50 "convenience fee" for purchasing tickets online (for "will call" at the ticket machine, or from an agent) as well as for print at home tickets. Trying to avoid these fees I purchased my ticket from an agent last week -- and found out they add $1 even for that!

This seems borderline fraudulent. If there's an added fee of at least $1 for purchasing a ticket by ANY means whatsoever, then really, they're just advertising prices which are $1 cheaper than their actual prices. Unless of course they allow you to travel without purchasing a ticket and avoid the fee that way

 

[railiner]

I agree....this quoting a fare, and then adding 'convenience fees, handling fees, facility fees, etc. should be stopped. Only a government tax, if applicable, should be separated from the actual price charged for passage. All kinds of businesses do this practice. Cruiselines advertises a fare, then add port charges, service charges, and government fees. And don't get me started on the phone company...the small print in their confusing bills even admit that some of the fees are not taxes, but are additional profit to the company...

 

[Anderson]

Well, it's no different than Megabus charging their $.50 "reservation fee".

 

[railiner]

Yup.....more of the same......

 

[jebr]

Well, it's no different than Megabus charging their $.50 "reservation fee".

Yup.....more of the same......

To me that's slightly different, as it's a per-order fee, not a per-ticket or per-trip fee. That 50 cents applies once even if I buy numerous tickets for different trips, or multiple people on a trip, or multiple people on multiple trips. So long as it's run as one transaction, there's only one 50 cent fee.

It's also relatively widely advertised - many of their promotional items note the 50 cent fee relatively prominently. In my experience, it's not buried but is listed separately.

 

[Trogdor]

Is it different?

I just did a couple of sample reservations on Greyhound. One was a single, one-way ticket. The other was a two-passenger round-trip (four tickets total).

The "facility charge" for both was a total of $2.50.

So, no, it's not slightly different (except in the amount that the two charge). The concept is exactly the same.

 

[railiner]

Diiferent, or the same.....either way it's an extra charge added on to the fare for the 'convenience' of buying online. I thought that buying online saved the carrier money...the costs of terminal ticketing facilities and employees, as well as the ink and paper itself. So why charge the customer more, when it is the carrier that seemingly gets the most benefit of customers providing their own ticketing?

Just because they can?

Sad....

 

[Anderson]

Well, given that there's no need to "encourage" folks to use online stuff anymore (they gravitate that way naturally), this is likely a "because they can" fee of sorts.

With that said, I rather do wish there were some sort of general rule that there needs to be a (non-arcane) way to purchase something for only the "headline price" plus tax (i.e. you can surcharge a given method of purchase or payment, but you can't surcharge all payment methods...if you do that, you just need to raise the base price).

 

[jebr]

Is it different?
I just did a couple of sample reservations on Greyhound. One was a single, one-way ticket. The other was a two-passenger round-trip (four tickets total).

The "facility charge" for both was a total of $2.50.

So, no, it's not slightly different (except in the amount that the two charge). The concept is exactly the same.

Fair enough. I've never bought multiple tickets online through Greyhound.

My only "worry" would be that they would raise prices more than the fee, since they'd want to make up that fee on every purchase (so multiple orders may get the shaft.) It definitely should be clearer on both websites, though, that the charge is applied, and the price quoted on the website should make clear that there is a 50 cent (or $2.50) processing fee when quoting the prices at first.

 

[railiner]

I wish businesses would be required to only advertise the 'bottom line prices', to make it easier to comparison shop. They don't want that. They want to make it more difficult.

Or they try to be deceptive, by giving a lowball price with a small disclaimer of 'plus fees...'.

 

[MrFSS]

I wish businesses would be required to only advertise the 'bottom line prices', to make it easier to comparison shop. They don't want that. They want to make it more difficult.Or they try to be deceptive, by giving a lowball price with a small disclaimer of 'plus fees...'.

Airline web sites now do that. The price you see is the price you pay.

 

[Trogdor]

I wish businesses would be required to only advertise the 'bottom line prices', to make it easier to comparison shop. They don't want that. They want to make it more difficult.

Or they try to be deceptive, by giving a lowball price with a small disclaimer of 'plus fees...'.

Airline web sites now do that. The price you see is the price you pay.

And it took a DOT directive to get them all to do that, and some (such as Spirit) complained to no end about it.

 

[railiner]

I'm waiting for the day when some airline will match every other lines fares, as they almost have to do now, but will then heavily promote an 'all-inclusive' (you know, the way airlines used to be in the good old days) new policy that will include a couple of free checked bags, a free meal, free pre-selection of favorite seats on a first come - first served basis, etc. I think a lot of people would give them their business. That's the way carrier's competed in the regulated days....not by lower fares, as they were identical, but by better service...

I'm sure I'm in for a very long wait.....

 

[jis]

Except for the meal bit, most legacies already have the rest. All that you have to get is one of their affinity credit cards and use it to book your trip, or have some sort of status in their FF program.

The most popular airline in India IndiGo actually allows you to buy upto even a meal on board when booking your ticket. Haven't seen that done in the US by anyone yet in economy.

It looks like it is the infrequent flyers that get screwed the worst. The frequent flyers basically have lost nothing except for the lousy food they used to serve. You just get to buy something on board instead if you so choose. Or you can take along your favorite Whopper or whatever along with you to consume on the flight using the free soda to chug it down.

 

[DET63]

Currently, customer's show up with either improperly printed at home tickets--sometimes missing segments, or wrong date and time, or no ticket at all--just their smartphone, which cannot currently be used at all boarding points....

It's probably because of these situations that Greyhound feels the various and sundry added fees (which will typically be a small part of all but the cheapest ticket) are necessary.

 

[railiner]

Except for the meal bit, most legacies already have the rest. All that you have to get is one of their affinity credit cards and use it to book your trip, or have some sort of status in their FF program.
The most popular airline in India IndiGo actually allows you to buy upto even a meal on board when booking your ticket. Haven't seen that done in the US by anyone yet in economy.

It looks like it is the infrequent flyers that get screwed the worst. The frequent flyers basically have lost nothing except for the lousy food they used to serve. You just get to buy something on board instead if you so choose. Or you can take along your favorite Whopper or whatever along with you to consume on the flight using the free soda to chug it down.

All true. But I liked it better when meals were included, and you didn't have to be enrolled in any loyalty program to get well treated--back then it was first come-first served as far as seat selection. Nowadays, I would sure not want to be a gate agent, as they have tremendous pressure to board a flight and get it out on time, while dealing with an ever increasingly complicated boarding priority protocol (proprietary info for the individual carriers).

Sure....they know which traveler's 'butter their bread', and treat them accordingly, but as an infrequent traveler, I prefer first come, first served. Oh well, that's the way it is....