The New Basic Economy Fare and 4 reasons to avoid it.

When looking for a flight, price is definitely a factor, especially when you are booking travel for your whole family. The cost of airfare can make a trip for 4 or more people seem out of reach, so when searching the internet for flights, the basic economy fare can seem like a dream come true, but is it really worth the discount?

When booking our recent trip to New York City from Spokane, Washington, I was trying to find an affordable deal for my husband, myself and three kids, so when I found a basic economy fare for 267 dollars each, I thought I had struck travel gold. But upon check-in, I found out that my cheap price, did not equate to a good deal. Here’s what I learned.

1. Carry-on luggage was a no-go!

When I went to check-in our flight I found that I could not do so unless I checked bags. Well this was weird. I had instructed our family that we could only take one carry-on bag each, so that we could save the cost of a checked bag and traverse the subways with little hassle. No-one wanted to lug a full-sized suitcase up and down stairs, thru turn-styles and down the crowded streets of Manhattan. I thought we were being saavy travelers by packing light, but being forced to check our carry-ons cost us an additional $125 each way. That was the equivalent to buying a sixth airline ticket!

2. Seat choice was no longer an option!

Considering our children are grown, not being able to sit together wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but what about families with small children? These families are the most likely to book an economy flight. Am I to believe that a mother and her toddler child should be separated? Apparently basic economy flights were created to fill seats. All of the seats on basic economy were either in the middle seat or in the back row. For a quick flight, that is not such a big deal, but we were flying across the entire country. Sitting bolt up-right right outside the bathroom was not a fun time! Not only that, but this also puts you at the very end of the line for drink service.

3. Last on, last off!

No matter how quickly you check-in preflight, you are still relegated to group 5 boarding. You are the very last people to board the plane. And since you’re shoved to the back row, you are also the very last to get off the flight. Combine this with our now checked carry-ons, and we ended up arriving to our condo 3 hours later than expected. I had pictured us landing, grabbing our carry-ons and hitting the air train for the big apple, like native New Yorkers! Not only did we arrive later than expected, but we also ended up navigating the transit system after dark. Things did not work out like I pictured, that’s for sure!

4. We were treated like second-class citizens.

The entire experience of travelling on Basic Economy left us feeling like we were undeserving of basic rights and courtesies. Like we were “less-than” all the other passengers. We may as well have been wearing a sign that said, “Yep! We’re cheap!” From waiting far to the side in boarding group 5 to load, to the attitidues of the airline employees from check-in to luggage pickup. We were treated like the hitchhikers of the trip.

No…basic economy was definitely not the dream come true that I thought it was going to be. I will be avoiding it from here on out. The difference in experience from the $267 flight to the $306 flight were worlds apart. Just think, for an extra $39 each we could have avoided the checked baggage fee, boarded and unboarded much more efficiently, and we would have felt more like the fun-loving, adventure-seeking first-class family that we are!

#basiceconomy #cheapflightsvsgoodvalue #carryonwoes