Otrdiena, 9. februāris
Žurnāls LD
Nedēļas žurnāls biznesam
S3
Stratēģiskās sacensības uzņēmumiem
10:00 - 14:00
Nothing about the IMF package today……
airBaltic President and CEO, Bertolt Flick, announced on 24 March that the airline might establish its own taxi company since, in his words, "Our experience shows that taxi service providers in Riga are often highway robbers, and they charge too much for their services" .
Very laudable but perhaps he should check his own web site and the way tickets are purchased there. There is a whiff of highway robbery there, too.
Recently airBaltic changed the currency in which prices are displayed from lats to euro. They most likely have some smart explanation for this but a cynic cannot help calling it hedging against devaluation. But it also introduces a serious lack of transparency, which is not worthy of a majority state-owned company. Here is an example:
I looked at a roundtrip to Stockholm 29-30 June. 2 EUR to Stockholm, 1 EUR back – a steal! Then comes taxes and surcharges (73.97 EUR). Then there is the transaction fee of 10 EUR for doing the job yourself (!). But wait a minute – that used to be 6 LVL?!? 6 LVL = 10 EUR. Well, only if airBaltic has revalued (revalued, not devalued) the lat to 0.60 LVL per EUR. Or as most would put it, made a price increase from 6 to 7 LVL but done by stealth by quoting it in EUR.
And now experienced airBaltic.com users know that it is time to be careful. By default airBaltic "assumes" that one wants to travel with one piece of luggage (again with a price increase from 6 LVL to 10 EUR each way), that one wants to buy the right to change one’s flight dates (17 EUR each way, another price increase from 9 LVL) and that one wants to insure against delayed arrival (this is a new one – at 13 EUR each way). You thus have to deselect no less than six times if you don’t want these extra fees. The European Commission has rightly blacklisted airBaltic for this practice. And, by the way, the original 3 EUR has now become 153.97 EUR.
But to add insult to injury, one has a final option of having the amount converted into lats at the Bank of Latvia parity rate of 0.702804 LVL per EUR.
Is it really acceptable that a state-owned company prices in euro and not in lats? Is it acceptable that they introduce price increases by stealth (e.g. 6 LVL to 10 EUR)? The whole thing is both byzantine and non-transparent but that is perhaps befitting for a state-owned company here.
Certainly, Michael O’Leary of Ryanair must be envious of these practices……
Citi šī autora blogi
-
Living in Absurdistan
|40| -
End game? High Stakes at High Noon at the Riga OK Corral
|56| -
Hudson revisited
|128| -
Michael Hudson – travelling snake oil salesman
|52| -
The art of conspiracy-theory making
|20| -
Plan T
|27| -
More or less than minus 22.4% – that is the question!
|19| -
Lithuania’s Parex
|23| -
The wolf is not coming, the wolf is not coming!
|43| -
"There is no government like no government"
|14|
Komentēt rakstu
Ievietojot savus komentārus portālā www.diena.lv, lietotājs automātiski piekrīt www.diena.lv piedāvātajiem noteikumiem un nevar izvirzīt nekādas pretenzijas pret portālu. www.diena.lv neuzņemas nekādu atbildību par viedokļiem, kas pausti portālā publicētajos lasītāju rakstos un komentāros. Portāls www.diena.lv ir pievienojies deklarācijai par cieņu, iecietību un sadarbību interneta telpā - Internets bez naida.
Lasītākie raksti
Aktīvākie blogeri
Ryanair pirmo bāzi Centrāleiropā veidos Kauņā; Šlesers nikns uz valsti
|73|
Analītiķi: Latvijas preču eksports 2010.gadā varētu pieaugt par 8-12%
"Nordea Markets" apskats 09.02.2010.
IK pērn ceturtajā ceturksnī sarucis par 17,7%; lejupslīdes beigas gaida drīz
Valdība izlemj par divu tēvzemiešu atlaišanu no KP
"airBaltic" janvārī pārvadā par 12% vairāk pasažieru
|1|PAM investīciju stratēģija, 2010.gada februāris
PR: Igaunijas tirdzniecības centrs "Rocca al Mare" saņem Baltijā pirmo LEED sertifikātu
Ryanair pirmo bāzi Centrāleiropā veidos Kauņā; Šlesers nikns uz valsti
|73|Ja "Getliņu" tomātiem nebūs noieta Latvijā, tos eksportēs
|24|"Swedbank" zaudējumi ceturtajā ceturksnī - 19 miljoni latu
|9|Gerhards: Rīgas lidostā 2013.gadā varēs apkalpot 12,7 miljonus pasažieru
|10|Uzņēmējam Tannim piederošo "Čarlstonu" atzīst par maksātnespējīgu
|7|Par miljonu eiro piedāvā krogu "Paldies Dievam, piektdiena ir klāt"
|8|Asociācija: samazinot PVN viesnīcām, nodokļa ieņēmumi šogad pieaugtu par 5%
|11|Egle: mikrouzņēmumu atbalsts nav tāds, kāds būtu nepieciešams
|2|
Vairāk komentētie raksti
Ryanair pirmo bāzi Centrāleiropā veidos Kauņā, ne Rīgā; Peters sarūgtināts
|73|Naglis: viss, ar ko valsts var nenodarboties, ir jānodod privātās rokās
|50|Repše: Čehijas ministrs nav iepazinies ar situāciju, Latvija saistības pilda
|47|Skrundas novada domē bažas par pārdotās pilsētiņas likteni
|43|Meteorīts tikai uz brīdi aptur klientu aizplūdi
|40|ASV pētnieki: lata fiksētās piesaistes dēļ Latvija nonāks dziļas recesijas slazdā
|36|Eksperts: Latvijas tirgotāji ir diskreditējuši izpratni par "outlet" veikaliem
|32|
ReklāmaReklāma
- your social bookmarks by best-bookmarks
- Onlineshop for online shopping for you!
- Annonce gratuite
Vislabāk vērtētie raksti kanālā
Eksperts: Latvijas tirgotāji ir diskreditējuši izpratni par "outlet" veikaliem
|32|FOTO: Ādažos atklāj lielāko Statoil degvielas uzpildes staciju
|8|Meteorīts tikai uz brīdi aptur klientu aizplūdi
|40|"Madara Cosmetics" cer kļūt par spēcīgu starptautisku ekonozares spēlētāju
|16|Repše: Čehijas ministrs nav iepazinies ar situāciju, Latvija saistības pilda
|47|Ja "Getliņu" tomātiem nebūs noieta Latvijā, tos eksportēs
|24|Skrundas novada domē bažas par pārdotās pilsētiņas likteni
|43|Lidosta Rīga samazina maksu ilgtermiņa autostāvvietā līdz trīs latiem
|7|Blogs: "airBaltic" lidmašīnā Singapūrā notiks pasaulē pirmā tvikšanās
|6|Laikraksts: Parīzes Disnejlenda meklēs darbiniekus Baltijas valstīs
|3|
Jaunākais biznesa portālos
McDonald's: Europe's Lovin' It
www.forbes.comNissan apjomi sarūk
www.db.lvIran Begins Enriching Uranium
www.wsj.com"Ryanair" Latvijas vietā bāzi izvēlas atvērt Lietuvā
www.financenet.lvBanks: no to American way in handling debt
balticbusinessnews.comGM to cut 8,300 jobs across Europe
www.ft.com
Biznesa galerijas
Sūtiet savus foto uz bizness@diena.lv un parādiet citiem savus svarīgos notikumus!
Preses relīzes
Ja vēlaties par saviem jaunumiem informēt Diena.lv lasītājus, sūtiet preses relīzes uz bizness@diena.lv!
* Diena neuzņemas atbildību par publicēto preses relīžu saturu.
čekas ziņotājs jau tas fliksssssssssssss ir, Vācija nemeklē???laimīgi tikuši vaļā???
katrs cīnās, kā māk...
Are you saying without getting you in trouble Lats devaluation is inevitable?
Morten - most probably they have implemented dynamic currency conversion (search wiki) what allows foreigners to pay for tickets in their home currency. of course merchants (airbaltic) adds % for this service (3-5%) but usually not so much as 15% (6 LVL = 8,5 EUR (10 EUR - 8,5 EUR = 1 EUR / 15%) but as you might guess thanks to shlesers airbaltic is now almost monopoly so they have introduced robbery_like_margins for purchases in currency as well if you check you will see that prices for tickets also have risen.
Yes, as far as I can see it is now in EUR whatever country you access their web site from whereas it used to be in DKK in Denmark, for instance. But I just didn't think they should get away with these hidden price increases without a comment... Deflation may happen in Latvia but it won't come from airBaltic :-)
actually... what does "taxes and surcharges" mean? i tried to find it once but got NO ANSWER from airbaltic. Isn't this the case for CRPC(PTAC) or CB (KP)?
only way how to punish them for this guerilla tactics is avoiding its (airbaltic) services :)
I fly from Stockholm to Riga two or three times a month and I have NEVER found any justification to use airBaltic vs Ryanair. Granted, Ryanair is a barebones service, and the location of Skavsta is a bit disadvantageous, but their prices and fees are transparent, and always fair from my experience.
AirBaltic simply disguises its inability to do business by literally stealing the lacking income from unsuspecting customers. Fortunately such practice cant sustain itself for too long, and hopefully not much time has left until they go the deserving way of all incapable businesses.
And (to Ronald) no, this has nothing to do with devaluation of lats per se, excluding the obvious example of how most local prices will behave if such devaluation should come to pass.
not much other choice if you're based in riga, is there? a few ryanair destinations (and if you want to connect elsewhere, it'll most probably be an overnight wait), and other companies are leaving riga at the speed of light (just heard the sad news about klm)
Ryanair is just as bad, but we always knew they were shysters and not to trust any part of the booking process. But now we have our own carbon copy. It would be interesting to know the name of the person who made the decision to try to deceive us. Is he or she brave enough to own up?
The few connection flights I have done - Riga-London-Porto, Riga-Frankfurt-Girona - went fairly well. It took all day to get from Riga to where I wanted to end up, but Ryanair generally operates 2 flights - morning and afternoon - for most popular destinations, so connection options without overnight stay are there. London and Frankfurt generally offer a lot of destinations, most of which are accessible the same day if you go out from Riga with the early flights. Only you must plan early enough in advance, while some flights are not sold out yet or offered for ridiculous prices.
It is no surprise KLM left, they have suffered a lot of losses in the economic downturn, and Riga is an obvious choice for cost cutting.
And Glens: as Morten rightly states, Ryanair has their ways of ripping you off, if youre not careful, but airBaltic latest tactics overshadow everything Ryanair comes up with by a large amount. Sad, but true :(
morten, Tu esi labs, ka vienmer
Thanks, Morten. Very good article. I must say that Air Baltics really turns me on. All these countless charges are driving me crazy. Actually I don't clearly understand how Ryanair manage to give these crazy offers they give sometimes, but they are the only ray of hope in Riga airport. I still cannot understand why I have to pay around Ls 180 - 200 if want to get to Prague? this is insane.
You brought here very good example of how 3 Euros :) becomes 150. If Ryanair offer you tickets for Ls 10 most probably the total price also will be Ls 10 (there are some tricky moments depending upon what kind of debit or credit card you use to pay for that) - in case of Air Baltics it becomes insane.
So if there is any situation when Rynar vs Air Baltics there is no chance for Air Baltics . But sad side of the story is that Air Baltics is doing everything to become a monopoly here. And obviously government is fine with it.
Exactly!
agree!
Morten - I really enjoy your posts, please keep up the good work.
Readers - please note the ticket was to Stockholm, ending the "is he Swedish or Danish" debate.
Morten - surely as a lover of American liberty you have no right to complain about practices like this. people are free to tick or untick the boxes - let the invisible hand decide if Flick should float... or sink.
Flick has been flickering around for too long, has overstayed his welcome. At the beginning he looked good, but underneath there, it seems, was always a condescending attitude, which has now turned into an open battlecry: "Let us rob the poor, unsuspecting niggers!". As has been said here - with Ryanair you at least know where you stand (concerning prices and the barely existing service).
algas nemaksa bet koncertus dome sponsore ................kk stulbums nejau vini pa velti dzied:D padomajiet par citiem ari:@ varetu daudz ko rakstit bet tam nau jegas......ta pat vini dar pets sava prata :@
Come on guys! airBaltic has nothing to do with mr. Flick except the fact he is some sort of boss over there. Most of things are done by other persons. Same story with any state owned agency, company or branch. There is one who knows he'll be pwned one day and there is a bunch of guys keeping strings in their small, sweaty hands.