Information about the 'priority lane' service fee at Da Nang airport is attracting special attention from customers and public opinion.
Da Nang International Airport will become the first of 22 airports in Vietnam to pilot a "priority lane" service fee of VND100,000 per passenger at the security screening area.
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| Da Nang Airport will provide priority lane service at Terminal T1 at the security screening checkpoint. |
Accordingly, from January 1, 2025, Da Nang International Airport will implement the collection of fees for providing passenger services using priority lanes at the security screening point of Terminal T1. Da Nang Airport is the first airport in Vietnam to implement this service.
Passengers subject to the fee collection are CIP passengers (business class pick-up and drop-off service) of Vietnamese airlines, business class passengers or equivalent of airlines, passengers who are members of the airlines' loyalty programs and are allowed to enter priority lanes at the screening checkpoint.
This service helps passengers avoid waiting in line, and also helps the security control entrance to clear quickly, avoiding local congestion of passengers going through security screening procedures at certain peak times.
When the information was announced, it raised many opinions, many of which said that collecting fees for this service was unnecessary, because the priority lane previously served a number of groups such as the elderly, children, the disabled, pregnant women, business class, business travelers, flight crew, etc.
“In many countries like the Philippines or Malaysia, priority lanes are for domestic passengers. They just need to scan the QR code and then exit and enter without many procedures. Now, if we follow this type of service, it will be much more complicated. Currently, all procedures are done on computers, why not upgrade the quality of service to be faster but charge a fee for doing it faster? Business class passengers have already paid a much higher ticket price, now what does this additional fee mean? ”, Mr. Nguyen Van Chung (Quang Nam) wondered.
When buying a premium ticket, you have to pay more to get priority. Now, if you pay for a premium ticket and then have to pay more to go to the priority gate, isn't that like charging twice? Airlines need to clarify this cost. No one will accept customers who have bought tickets that cost more than usual and have to pay more when they get to the boarding gate.
If the airport wants to charge extra for priority services, it is normal for economy class passengers to pay extra to use them; but passengers who have purchased premium class tickets are automatically allowed to use them. The airline should calculate the fee with the airport and not let passengers pay extra on top of the ticket price ," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen, a frequent passenger on the Da Nang-Ho Chi Minh City route.
Many passengers are also concerned that this will start a trend of over-commercialization at the airport. “ I would like to ask Da Nang airport a question: A hot spot that serves a large number of people, always lining up first, suddenly has an initiative to hang a sign saying “whoever pays more will be served first, no need to wait in line”, in the eyes of customers, is the service there upgraded or downgraded? Business schools that teach advanced MBA courses on service business all say: Service is business. Business is for profit, for money. But the art of business administration makes a service that discriminates because of money succeed or fail, the secret is in “emotional intelligence”, is the tactfulness and tactfulness to satisfy those with more money, but not to offend those with less money ”, Phong Vu account expressed his opinion.
“As a passenger, I don’t mind spending 100,000 VND, but how would I feel discriminated against if I didn’t spend 100,000 VND to go through the so-called private lane? So if everyone spends that amount of money to go through the private lane, is that lane still a private lane? ”, Mr. Tran Thanh Phong (Tam Ky, Quang Nam) wondered.
“ Basically, in the air ticket, passengers have paid enough for airport screening and port service fees. These fees have been collected by the airline in the air ticket. The airport has paid all the fees for port services and utilities related to passengers in this premium ticket class. Therefore, collecting service fees separately as it is now is making it difficult for airlines ,” a leader of the airline worried.
Besides the objections, there are also many passengers who agree with this plan. “It’s simple, priority lanes are for business class passengers, people who need special medical assistance, VIP guests, etc. and are entirely collected from the airline’s ticket sales to passengers. That means no additional fees and no separate collection from passengers. As for normal passengers, they can pay to buy priority entry to skip the queue, ” said Vu Tran.
Many people also believe that when more people use this service, it will reduce the burden on other ordinary passengers. " There is nothing strange. I hope more people use this service so that the poor can breathe a little easier when they do not have money to use this service," said Ms. Xuan Hien (Da Nang).
Charging for better service has been applied in many places, many countries and many industries. However, the clear decentralization of benefits will make many people worried. Instead of charging, why not improve the way you serve passengers? Because obviously, that is what the airport can do but wants to charge for it?
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