Recently I had the pleasure of travelling around Australia, and being from the UK that unfortunately meant a lot of flying. Everything was going as well as it could until I arrived in London about 4 hours before my connecting flight with BMI was about to leave.
No problem, I thought, I bought an economy ticket, instead of the tiny one, so I can move my flight to the earlier one for £30, after travelling for about 30 hours its well worth it!
Well, this was not to be so - BMI wanted £90 to put me on a flight with plenty of free seats, due to leave in less than two hours. They couldn't care less that I was supposed to have a £30 change fee.
I just don't get this - BMI could have put me on the earlier flight in about two seconds, and made £30 for doing almost nothing. There was no way any sane person would pay £90 so they just lost themselves an easy £30, and probably a customer in the process, instead of doing the right thing for the customer!
More to the point, the extra money you pay for an economy fare over the tiny one is a total waste if your intention is to make a last minute change to your flight in the airport.
