Sharp practice at RI airlines?

Sharp practice at RI airlines?

Although the ticket price war involving national airlines
generally benefits passengers, this may not be so if an airliner
adopts a very smart (or sly?) business tactic.

On March 7 I suddenly had to fly to Yogyakarta. I contacted
the Indonesian Airlines (IA) office and was told the Jakarta-
Yogyakarta ticket was Rp 270,000. I was advised to buy the ticket
at their counter at the airport.

At the airport I was surprised to learn that tickets priced at
Rp 270,000 were sold out and there were only four seats left at
Rp 335,000. (In fact, there were 10 left.) As I urgently had to
fly to Yogyakarta, I bought one of these tickets anyway. Some
other passengers did likewise.

On board I found, to my dismay, that there were no special
seats for holders of tickets priced at Rp 335,000. One of the
passengers joked bitterly that a holder of a Rp 335,000 ticket
might get a sweeter cup of coffee!

Later, I learned that some passengers had bought tickets at
either Rp 210,000 or Rp 270,000 from other outlets in Jakarta.

Suspecting we were unhappy about the differently priced
tickets, one of the stewardesses told us the airline sold only 20
seats to 25 seats at Rp 270,000 each, with the remainder at Rp
335,000 each. Another stewardess even suggested that we put our
complaint in writing, but none of us took up that opportunity.

Later, when I contacted the IA counter at the airport, I was
told the airline sold 40 seats at Rp 270,000 each. An officer at
the IA head office told me if there were a lot of passengers,
they would sell more seats at Rp 335,000. At Lebak Bulus bus
station, interprovince buses do not usually raise their fares,
even if there are a lot of passengers for the routes they ply.

SUGENG HARTONO, Jakarta