Trojan fee

Convenience of online booking is costly

The inconveniences Matt Damon faces in returning home from wherever he is stuck – behind enemy lines, space, Troy – are well known. But the “convenience fee” people booking tickets online, pay to watch him do so is no less daunting. This demon charge on almost everything from electricity to movie and airline tickets, has now become the Achilles heel of the click of button, which was supposed to make life convenient for consumers.

Though long subjected to this contradiction in terms, it really hit me recently when I was looking for the cheapest ticket for Damon’s latest struggle to get home. Voila, I found a 6am weekend screening at a south Delhi theatre for ₹500, and quickly booked two tickets, which eventually cost me ₹1,141.6. 

While the ticket cost was ₹1,000, the convenience fee was ₹120. Then there was 18% GST, amounting to ₹21.6. The overall “convenience” fee worked out to 12.5% of the total amount paid. Yes, there was an option of going to the theatre, and buying tickets from there to avoid paying this fee, but that would have meant taking a chance with last-minute seat availability. 

I realised that convenience fee is a Trojan horse, which consumers are made to feel is a gift for them, but in reality has something else hidden in its belly. And unlike those Greek soldiers inside the horse, these extra charges don’t even wait till the dead of night to inflict their wounds. They do this all day long.

Paying ₹1,141.6 as a consolidated price for two tickets wouldn’t have hurt, but the extra ₹141.6 felt like an arrow from the screen had pierced my wallet. While I don’t know anyone in the movie theatre business, I offered friends in the travel space some unsolicited advice: Include this charge in the overall cost. Or, more truthfully, call it the inconvenient fee.

Chuckling, one callee pointed out something I hadn’t realised. This obnoxiously termed fee makes consumers overlook the bigger inconveniences they face while availing the service paid for. The penny dropped. The “inconveniences” of waking up at 4.45am, to drive to the movies on a weekend, and then getting an earful from my better half, who was bitter about doing so, were eclipsed by the ₹141.6 convenience fee. Touché, Athena, I said.

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