THE COST OF GOUGING
Australia is coming to terms with the fact that we ll probably have to learn to live with COVID-19 forever. As we offer up our unspent wealth, many tourist and allied business proprietors will be gleefully anticipating getting back to business. And who can blame them? Come see Australia , they re pleading. So we should.
But a word of warning: please do try to resist the temptation to gouge that Aussie tourist you assume is cashed-up. Many of us have long memories and it s only the airlines who have us (to some degree, and on some routes) over a barrel. Other businesses should be looking at this opportunity to last for longer than a short time. You can facilitate that by pricing things reasonably.
reimburse passengers when their suitcases get lost. abc s steve osunsami has the details. reporter: it didn t take us long to find passengers who paid $25, $50, sometimes $100 for checked bags that failed to meet them at baggage claim. why are you paying all this money for nothing? i don t know, i just don t think it s right. it s very customer unfriendly. reporter: robin humphrey says she wants her baggage fees returned. you want your money back? yes, i would like my money back. reporter: it s not supposed to be this difficult. under new federal rules, about to kick in, the airlines are supposed to reimburse passengers for baggage fees if their bags are lost and pay consequential damages when the luggage is late but when you read the rules closely it s pretty clear the airlines only have to pay when the bags are lost for good. that s a profitable loophole in the rules. little comfort to the owners of the nearly 31 million bags that are misplaced and rerouted every year. we