Good luck, Rose Colley, you have plenty to do

From Peter Bewers.

AS a supporter of the work of the Jersey Consumer Council, I welcome the proposed appointment of its new chairman, Advocate Rose Colley.

I am delighted to see that she has got off to a flying start by putting at the top of her list excessive credit card charges by many airlines, including Flybe.

Of course she will have noted that it is not just final payment when buying on line where many of us get caught. There are extras such as reservation of a seat, excessive charges for baggage and booking fees.

Then there are taxes and charges, which you may wonder whether the Airport or the government ever receive, or whether they are valid and not just an excuse to bump the cost of the fare up.

The well-known airline operator in Ireland, Michael O’Leary of Ryanair, even wondered whether he could levy a charge for passengers who needed to use the aircraft toilet while in flight.

Fortunately this threat was not carried out, but I, for one, would never use his airline on principle alone. Although strangely millions do, and suffer cancelled flights when abroad, and finish up in airports miles from their destination.

I am a great believer in competition and on our local London Gatwick service where the route is shared by two operators, British Airways and Flybe, British Airways get the lion’s share of the business simply because they are fair and do not charge for credit card bookings, seat reservations and baggage and the penny has dropped with the management of Flybe because they have had to come into line, if only on this route.

All is not, of course, gloom and doom. The Minister for Economic Development, Senator Alan Maclean, has recently appointed a new chief executive of Harbours and Airports to look into all the staffing and running costs and the possibility of more air and sea services to the Island. This is with a view to getting costs down and providing better value for money for us the people of Jersey, and I wish him well, as I am sure we all do.

So I say good luck to Mrs Colley, following on from the very good job from Senator Alan Breckon. She has plenty to do, as rising costs are the concern of everyone.