Happier diner Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 1 hour ago, John Wright said: In the Independent he’s quoted as saying that it’s the “compulsion unit” that has the problem. Seems someone has lost control of their spellchecker unit😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, John Wright said: In the Independent he’s quoted as saying that it’s the “compulsion unit” that has the problem. Echoes of Cobb at the airport, who has no comprehension of the visibility requirements for landing and take off but is happy to make himself look stupid with Paul Moulton ! Seems a prerequisite for the top posts ! ( I accept of course this may be spell check lol !) Edited February 2, 2023 by asitis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 7 hours ago, Roger Mexico said: Some thought at the time that putting a marine surveyor with little commercial experience in charge of a commercial shipping company was a rather odd decision, even though, as a Manx civil servant, all his decisions will be ex officio infallible (the Pope must be so jealous). But you would assume with his background that he would at least know how ships work. Maybe he doesn't know his aft from his elbow... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manxman2000 Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 In the Independent he’s quoted as saying that it’s the “compulsion unit” that has the problem. Seems someone has lost control of their spellchecker unit😆 The compulsion unit is just a little known government department that has a "compulsion to spend money". 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two-lane Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 9 hours ago, Roger Mexico said: But you would assume with his background that he would at least know how ships work. Top of the list is drilling rigs. Why on earth to people put their history on LinkedIn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 On 12/16/2022 at 2:11 PM, Roger Mexico said: To be fair they'd get the same response from any airline in the world. And if anyone could pay no more by switching to a more expensive sailing, then everyone would be booking the cheapest and then transferring. That said, given that most sailings don't fill up with foot passengers (usually car space runs out first), then you'd think the Steam Packet could do more to promote them, especially from Heysham, and flat rates and flexibility would be one way to do it. But the sort of fast response marketing that such offers require isn't really what the Steamie does. Fair point but there is very good reason for airlines to do this. There is often a very small margin between the flight being profitable or hugely loss making and pax dicking them about, especially at the last minute, has to be effectively controlled. There are also opportunities for the sharper pax to manipulate the fares system without this financial disincentive. Neither of these reasons apply to our SP. IF the required change is clearly beyond control of the pax with a rail strike (as in zero reasonable* alternative for onward travel from Heysham), then the minimal cost to the SP of changing the booking should be waived, to avoid the adverse publicity we just don't need. *I wonder how much a taxi is from Heysham to Edale .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 22 minutes ago, ballaughbiker said: avoid the adverse publicity we just don't need. These days it seems adverse publicity is all we are good at, in just about every sphere ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringy Rose Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 On 12/16/2022 at 12:42 PM, ballaughbiker said: They tried to find alternative bus travel from Heysham to a remote bit of the Peak District (Edale), which proved impossible at a weekend, so were forced to change their booking to a day earlier. This caused a 43% increase in their fare which they pleaded to no effect. It is possible to buy rail/sail tickets which would protect them in this eventuality, but these tend to be a bit more expensive than the cheapest foot passenger fare. So I'd agree with the Steam Packet on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellanvannin2010 Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 50 minutes ago, ballaughbiker said: Fair point but there is very good reason for airlines to do this. There is often a very small margin between the flight being profitable or hugely loss making and pax dicking them about, especially at the last minute, has to be effectively controlled. There are also opportunities for the sharper pax to manipulate the fares system without this financial disincentive. Neither of these reasons apply to our SP. IF the required change is clearly beyond control of the pax with a rail strike (as in zero reasonable* alternative for onward travel from Heysham), then the minimal cost to the SP of changing the booking should be waived, to avoid the adverse publicity we just don't need. *I wonder how much a taxi is from Heysham to Edale .... Do the airlines give you a free change when the rail strikes are on?. Central London from Gatwick is pretty hard/expensive to get to when ASLEF/RMT are on strike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Quote It is possible to buy rail/sail tickets which would protect them in this eventuality, but these tend to be a bit more expensive than the cheapest foot passenger fare. So I'd agree with the Steam Packet on this one. Wouldn't that be seen by some as coercion by the carrier to 'insure' (sometimes at significant extra cost) against their own extra charges ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Quote Do the airlines give you a free change when the rail strikes are on?. Point previously made and answered earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringy Rose Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, ballaughbiker said: Wouldn't that be seen by some as coercion by the carrier to 'insure' (sometimes at significant extra cost) against their own extra charges ? No. It's a case of paying your money and making your choice. Flexibility has a premium attached. It is up to an individual to decide if the flexibility is worth the premium. It's exactly the same on the railways: a ticket for a specific train is cheaper than a ticket for any train. Edited February 2, 2023 by Ringy Rose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Quote No. It's a case of paying your money and making your choice. Flexibility has a premium attached. It is up to an individual to decide if the flexibility is worth the premium. It's exactly the same on the railways: a ticket for a specific train is cheaper than a ticket for any train. Nope. You are stretching any reasonable and conventional definition of 'ticket flexibility' so far, it no longer follow Hooke's law. The passenger still wanted to travel on the booked day so didn't reasonably believe they require any flexibility until .. actions by a third party (way after the ticket had been booked) precluded onward travel that day. The rail company changed the ticket to the following day without charge. It wasn't a ticket for another train that day (which could be termed ticket flexibility). There were no other trains. They were on strike. Regarding paying an ('insurance') premium to the carrier 'just in case' that carrier can find any reason to charge you more for making a change that you actually didn't want to do, their premium can significantly exceed the whole ferry fare. Just have a think about that for a minute.😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 6 minutes ago, ballaughbiker said: Nope. You are stretching any reasonable and conventional definition of 'ticket flexibility' so far, it no longer follow Hooke's law. The passenger still wanted to travel on the booked day so didn't reasonably believe they require any flexibility until .. actions by a third party (way after the ticket had been booked) precluded onward travel that day. The rail company changed the ticket to the following day without charge. It wasn't a ticket for another train that day (which could be termed ticket flexibility). There were no other trains. They were on strike. Regarding paying an ('insurance') premium to the carrier 'just in case' that carrier can find any reason to charge you more for making a change that you actually didn't want to do, their premium can significantly exceed the whole ferry fare. Just have a think about that for a minute.😉 That’s a cancel and refund or re route. Steam Packet has to do the same in similar circumstances as would EZY. Nothing to do with type of ticket you buy. But if you buy separately, and one leg falls through, then the one that’s on time and still running doesn’t have to do anything. In this case a sail rail ticket would have made a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballaughbiker Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 It is indeed a cancel/refund/rebook but hardly for the usual reasons. The pax has done absolutely nothing wrong, apart from in the SP's eyes, for stupidly booking on what later turned out to be a rail strike day stopping onward travel. Yes, EZY would have to charge for entirely different reasons as previously discussed. None of this has any relevance to the unique situation where a SP foot pax is forced to change a booking due to a rail strike when they still really want to travel on the booked day. The impact of this scenario on that sailing's profitability is negligible. All that's happened is that pax will see this as an unfair 40+% fine and will go on social media to whinge about the IOM (which is how I know about it) rather than the SP. That does nobody here any good, quite the reverse. Sea rail / discounted rail fare differential can very easily exceed the cost of sea part of the fare and it seems nearly as daft to say 'it's your fault for not getting our sea rail' as it would be to say 'claim on your travel insurance.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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