Bill McElroy
Well-Known Member
Just read this!! What a bunch of BS!!
Anyone using the electronic kiosks to check in for a United Airlines flight now must learn how to navigate three more added fee hurdles. That's because United has rigged its check-in procedure with a onslaught of three pitches to load up more extra costs.
If I had pressed the wrong buttons on a recent cross-county flight I took, I would have accidentally paid another $523.68. How did I know they were the wrong buttons? Simple: They were colored and placed to look like the correct buttons.
As computer-savvy, Western-world citizens, we're used to pressing the highlight, right-hand button in order to proceed smoothly through sign-in sequences. But businesses have caught wise to our bias, and now, Web sites are trying to funnel us into the higher-cost option this way, with a wee little "No, thanks" link in feeble print somewhere off in a lonely left-hand corner of the page where only the intrepid will find it.
Ironically for an airline that still sends passengers on transoceanic flights without seatback TVs, United Airlines is mastering the dark side of the electronic age. Its baggage handling mishaps grew poisonous word-of-mouth via viral video, and now the airline is pioneering artful onscreen misdirection in airline check-in kiosks.
That handsome gold button at the bottom right-hand of the screen, where the "proceed" or "OK" button usually is on your home computer? It sets you up to spend another wad of cash.
One screen sold "Premier Line" access for $49. Another wanted $78 to sell me frequent flier miles. And a third dangled a business-class upgrade for $396.68. Grand total for extra charges I had to sidestep: $523.68. That amount varies by the length of the flight.
Are United's kiosks technically fair? Yes, technically they are, because if you read every word of them and act accordingly, you won't make any purchases you don't want to make.
Anyone using the electronic kiosks to check in for a United Airlines flight now must learn how to navigate three more added fee hurdles. That's because United has rigged its check-in procedure with a onslaught of three pitches to load up more extra costs.
If I had pressed the wrong buttons on a recent cross-county flight I took, I would have accidentally paid another $523.68. How did I know they were the wrong buttons? Simple: They were colored and placed to look like the correct buttons.
As computer-savvy, Western-world citizens, we're used to pressing the highlight, right-hand button in order to proceed smoothly through sign-in sequences. But businesses have caught wise to our bias, and now, Web sites are trying to funnel us into the higher-cost option this way, with a wee little "No, thanks" link in feeble print somewhere off in a lonely left-hand corner of the page where only the intrepid will find it.
Ironically for an airline that still sends passengers on transoceanic flights without seatback TVs, United Airlines is mastering the dark side of the electronic age. Its baggage handling mishaps grew poisonous word-of-mouth via viral video, and now the airline is pioneering artful onscreen misdirection in airline check-in kiosks.
That handsome gold button at the bottom right-hand of the screen, where the "proceed" or "OK" button usually is on your home computer? It sets you up to spend another wad of cash.
One screen sold "Premier Line" access for $49. Another wanted $78 to sell me frequent flier miles. And a third dangled a business-class upgrade for $396.68. Grand total for extra charges I had to sidestep: $523.68. That amount varies by the length of the flight.
Are United's kiosks technically fair? Yes, technically they are, because if you read every word of them and act accordingly, you won't make any purchases you don't want to make.
