February 11th, 2009

In order to serve you bett… wait, it really is better: Fuel surcharges

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

Normally, the phrase In order to serve you better means that you’re about to get screwed.

Imagine my surprise to discover that United has stopped imposing a fuel surcharge for flights between Canada and the United States due to the decrease in fuel prices. But wait, that’s only for flights between Canada and the United States. Flights within the United States appear to have the surcharge in place as usual.

Hey, I’ve got an idea. How about getting rid of this surcharge nonsense and just raise the price of the ticket? Naw, that’s just crazy talk.

I can see the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon already. “Lemonade, 5¢ a glass (plus 25¢ water surcharge, 50¢ sugar surcharge, 75¢ rent reclamation fee, $1.50 Moe appeasement fee, 25¢ capital depreciation fee…)”

Category
Old New Thing
Topics
Non-Computer

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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