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How
are charters different?
There
are a few ways that charters are different. The most
important is how you are protected. When you fly a
charter(again in this case, Homeric), you will sign
a contract
which is two pages long and covers a lot of territory.
I read the contract and realized that there were clauses
that, if used, would not make me very happy.
One
of the biggest problems that I saw was that they could
raise the fares even after you purchased the ticket(called
a surcharge) to cover added expenses they've incurred(usually
fuel).
Cancellation-
If written notice of cancellation is received by "HTI"
for charter your cancellation charges per person
Will be: up to 30 days or more before departure, $50
penalty; from 29 days to 15 days before departure,
$150 penalty; 14 to 3 days before departure, $250
penalty: 2 days or less before departure, 100% of
charges.
The
other large problem is that they are not responsible
for delayed or late flights. If the flight is delayed
or cancelled then you are own your own. You'll buy
your own food, pay your own transport out of the airport
and back in, pay for your own hotel. These are all
costs that are usually taken up by the commercial
airline(Air France, Lufthansa, Olympic, Delta etc...)
in what the call "protection". By law, the
commerical airline must take care of it's passengers
if there is a delay. There is no such protection required
on charter flights.
The
plane itself can be different also. The charter flights
I've taken always seemed to have much less leg room
than I remember on commercial flights....and that
is because there is! Charter companies often put the
seats closer together to squeeze in more passengers.
Remember...each seat is worth $300-600 per flight.
If it were you, how many extra seats would you try
to squeeze in?
And
finally....delays. Imagine, one plane flying back
and forth to Greece(we're using Homeric still). It
is scheduled to arrive in Athens at 8am and depart
at 10:30am. That's two hours to turn around. The smallest
problem could easily cause a delay and since they
don't have their own mechanics, they will have to
wait for one to become available.
Included
n the delays....check in. I flew on a 747 that held
500 people. Working the checkout counters were 4 people.
I believe we waited in line for over 3 hours!
Takeoff
delays? If traffic is air traffic is backed up, guess
who is last on the priority list to take off(and land).
Final
Decision- should I fly by charter?
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