MEA and Others Will Now Only Accept Payments in USD [MEA Reverses Decision at the Behest of Gov.]

[Dark Angel]

One more time we find people fighting the wrong fight, on the wrong front; arguing about things they don’t know anything about.

Airlines are not taxis, they don’t charge by the mile flown!

Airline ticket pricing is a very complex formula, almost an art by itself! Many variables affect the final price: schedule, aircraft type, code share, direct/connection, time of booking, location of the booker, operational costs, airport fees, airspace fees… just to name a few!


MEA is a FOR PROFIT business, not a charity! If it’s able to sell at high prices and yet fill up its seats than why should it be blamed for that! If there are people willing to pay that price than whose fault is it?

As citizens and indirect shareholders of MEA we shouldn’t be questioning its pricing model but its profitability (not to go into all other financials)! In brief: knowing how much revenue the company is capable of are the declared profits/losses acceptable? Is the company overspending? Wasting money on unnecessary costs? Inflating expenses? Etc… Is management taking the right business decisions? How it is sourcing its suppliers? Any doubts of embezzlement and corruption? That’s where we should be looking and asking officials to investigate!


Flying is not a right in order for the government to subsidise it and MEA is not a monopoly, most of its destinations are served by other airlines too. If you feel its prices are overpriced (and I believe so) then just don’t book with them, no one is forcing you!


I’m not defending MEA here, it’s an airline that I avoid like avoiding the plague! I believe its management is corrupt that’s the fight not the ticket pricing. I’d rather see a clean management who better manages expenses and corporate gifts, keep same pricing (even increase them if people are willing to pay (e.g price elasticity)) and generate higher profits to the State!


What’s next? At this rate, some Lebanese will soon start asking the government to control the prices of Botox injection, fake boobs and penis enlargement pills!


(excuse my rant but I woke up on the wrong side f the bed lol)

thank you for the detailed explanation, i agree with the majority of your post in particular when it comes to the complexity and the wide number of parameters involved in ticket pricing. obviously you have more credibility and experience on the topic given that you have more exposure to that sector. there is however one key issue of which i hold a different opinion.

MEA is not a strictly for profit business.

MEA's loss of profit on books is very acceptable if it could offset a bigger loss to the treasury and the economy overall. after all MEA is not a private company, it is owned by BDL. as i have mentioned previously one of the major disagreements with hout's directives is that he does not perceive the company as an integral part of our economy and is more interested in showing profits on books than he is in leveraging MEA in order to benefit our economy overall, and this disagreement became even more obvious with minister avadis guidanian who offered a complete plan to attract tourism from europe, the plan was surprisingly successful, however hout refused to place a certain number of tickets at the service of the plan, eventually that showed as profit for MEA, but it registered as a loss to the economy and to the state overall.

if we examine how Cyprus and Greece reacted to their economical and financial crisis, we would note that they have lowered the ticket prices of their airlines in order to catalyze business and tourism. i am quite sure the state funded parts of the discounts, which could still be a possibility in Lebanon, however raising the prices of the tickets or putting further restraints on the people's ability to travel is counter productive given the crisis we are currently experiences. round trip tickets to cyprus were sold in Lebanon at an obscenely low 60$ (all taxes included), pending that you will stay one full week on the island.

so the complexity does not simply stop at the level of the ticket pricing, but it also factors into other areas, it affects in particular small businesses and frequent travelers, and could easily reflect on the economy over all and directly contribute to further isolating our country.

 

[TayyarBeino]

@maroun_nassif​

·​

11h

هني والناس واقفين بالصف ناطرين دورن ليشتروا تذاكر سفر من مكتب
الـmea
بالمطار سألت أحدهم "مش هيك بتنطروا بالصف يوم الإنتخابات لَتصَوّتوا؟" جاوبني "مبلا يا كبير بس هونيك عالقليلة منقبض ١٠٠$ هون ناطرين ورح ندفع" المذلولين يلي حدّو: "برافو خلّيك عَم تقبض ١٠٠$ وما تنقّ إنك عم تنذّل"​

 

[Isabella]

@maroun_nassif

·​

11h

هني والناس واقفين بالصف ناطرين دورن ليشتروا تذاكر سفر من مكتب
الـmea
بالمطار سألت أحدهم "مش هيك بتنطروا بالصف يوم الإنتخابات لَتصَوّتوا؟" جاوبني "مبلا يا كبير بس هونيك عالقليلة منقبض ١٠٠$ هون ناطرين ورح ندفع" المذلولين يلي حدّو: "برافو خلّيك عَم تقبض ١٠٠$ وما تنقّ إنك عم تنذّل"​

Uff it's disappointing he's a reporter, all that story is missing is the whole crowd going silent while someone starts a slow clap!

 

[TayyarBeino]

وديع عقل لـ"النشرة": محمد الحوت يتمتع بحماية من سياسيين وأمنيين وقضاة وندعو للمشاركة بتظاهرة الخميس
مقابلات النشرة 08:00​

 

[williamazar]

Don't be too happy that MEA withdrew it's policy to accept usd only.
It's an "achievement in disguise"
MEA will simply increase its fares to reflect street USD prices. A ticket that used to sell for 1500000 LBP will now become 2300000 LBP

Not so easy, they still need to sell in usd for expats.
So if they increase from 750,000 to lets 1,500,000 its like from 500 dollars to 1,000 which will deter anyone from buying.
Unless you will have 2 prices one inside lebanon in lbp and the second oustidr lebanon in usd.
and the ratiO of lbp/usd is not 1500...

 

[NiceV]

وديع عقل لـ"النشرة": محمد الحوت يتمتع بحماية من سياسيين وأمنيين وقضاة وندعو للمشاركة بتظاهرة الخميس
مقابلات النشرة 08:00​

You talk as if you are in opposition not the ruling party in power
The Ahd
@Resign
@!Aoune32

 

[NiceV]

Not so easy, they still need to sell in usd for expats.
So if they increase from 750,000 to lets 1,500,000 its like from 500 dollars to 1,000 which will deter anyone from buying.
Unless you will have 2 prices one inside lebanon in lbp and the second oustidr lebanon in usd.
and the ratiO of lbp/usd is not 1500...

Their prices are already very high
They can reduce them

 

[NiceV]

هكذا برّر محمد الحوت مسألة التسعير بالدولار

فجّرت شركة طيران الشرق الأوسط قنبلتها مع إنتشار خبر عدم قبولها الدفع إلا بالدولار الاميركي. هذا الخبر الذي سقط كالصاعقة&#820

www.elnashra.com

 

[cedarheart]

Not so easy, they still need to sell in usd for expats.
So if they increase from 750,000 to lets 1,500,000 its like from 500 dollars to 1,000 which will deter anyone from buying.
Unless you will have 2 prices one inside lebanon in lbp and the second oustidr lebanon in usd.
and the ratiO of lbp/usd is not 1500...

I get your point, valid to some extent.
It's a common practice in the airline industry to vary prices based on the location of purchase (not to mention other variables like tracking how many times you checked prices for the same route in the past, etc)
I give you a real-life example that happened to me: i needed to book a flight from Seoul to Melbourne with a stop in Singapore; I checked the prices on Singapore airlines few times over 2 days. When i finally i got an email confirmation from my client approving the travel cost, I went back on the site to purchase the flight and all of a sudden the price had jumped by 500USD!!! i fired up my vpn and emulated connection from several other countries until i got connected as if i were from Germany and booked the same flight (same class, schedule, route, etc) for 400USD less than the original price (so 900 cheaper than what i saw the moment of booking)
my advice when booking flights: always clear your browser cache or use incognito mode, and shop around by using a vpn client and changing your location.
So yes, MEA can have varying prices depending on location

 

[TayyarBeino]

الحوت أكد لدياب استعداده وقف بيع تذاكر السفر في مكاتب شركة MEA لمدّة 3 اشهر

الثلاثاء ٢٥ شباط ٢٠٢٠ 18:04سياسة​

عرض رئيس مجلس الوزراء الدكتور حسان دياب حركة السياحة وأوضاع شركات الطيران ومكاتب السفر وتنشيط الحركة السياحية إلى لبنان، مع وزير السياحة الدكتور رمزي المشرفيه وحاكم مصرف لبنان رياض سلامة ورئيس مجلس إدارة شركة طيران الشرق الأوسط "ميدل إيست"
MEA
محمد الحوت، بحضور مستشار رئيس الحكومة خضر طالب.



وبعد التداول، تم التوافق على اتخاذ التدابير اللازمة لتنشيط حركة السياحة إلى لبنان، بما يراعي مصالح القطاع السياحي وشركة طيران الشرق الأوسط، حيث أبلغ الحوت المجتمعين استعداده للتجاوب مع طلب نقابة أصحاب مكاتب السياحة والسفر في لبنان بوقف مبيعات تذاكر السفر في مكاتب "ميدل إيست" لمدة ثلاثة أشهر يتم قبل انتهائها درس المعطيات واتخاذ التدابير المناسبة في حينه لجهة تمديد المهلة أو وقفها.

كما أبدى الحوت استعداد الشركة لمزيد من التعاون مع وزارة السياحة لتنشيط الحركة السياحية إلى لبنان.​

 

[TayyarBeino]

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  13:09

  
  مخزومي:
  - اعلان شركة طيران الشرق الاوسط عن وقف بيع التذاكر في مكاتبها هو قرار ظالم
  - لم يحصل في اي بلد ان تتوقف شركة الطيران الوطنية عن بيع تذاكر السفر
  - الحوت يريد اجبار الناس على الشراء من مكاتب السفر على دولار 2500 وبهذا يكون قد نفذ قراره الشهير بتسعير التذاكر بالدولار وليس بالليرة

 

[TayyarBeino]

@w_akl​

·​

3h

شركة محمد الحوت تُلزم اللبنانيين تسديد ثمن بطاقات السفر بالدولار أو بسعر السوق ٢٥٠٠، عبر دباجة حصر البيع بشركات التيكيتينغ (الملزمين التسديد بالدولار) هذا الإجراء مسيء إلى المواطنين وأصحاب مكاتب السفر. إدارة طيران الشرق الأوسط سيئة للغاية ولا يمكن السكوت عن هذه التصرفات.​

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[AtheistForYeezus]

MEA To Stop Selling Tickets Temporarily at its Offices

A month ago, MEA took a decision to accept only U.S dollars but then had to reverse it the same day after sparking nationwide outrage. Following that, rumors spread that the ticket prices had increased but it wasn't the case from what I saw. However, I was surprised to read today that MEA has de

blogbaladi.com

So what is FPM gonna do about this now?

 

[TayyarBeino]

@jamil_el_sayyed​

·​

3h

الفاسد المرعوب رفع صوته: (لم أكن أخشاك بالماضي،ولا أخشاك اليوم عالتويتر)! بالماضي، كنا يد الدولة وكان الحوت ماشي عالزيح كسردين العلب! من٢٠٠٥ والفوضى لليوم حوّلت الميدل إيست مزرعة لعيلتك وتنفيعات! اليوم نحن صوت الناس بالمجلس وبالإعلام الميدل إيست للدولة من مال الناس لازم تخاف أكتر
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لمن لديه معلومات مؤكدة او مستندات يرغب في ضمّها إلى الملف القضائي الذي سنحيله إلى وزارة العدل بخصوص إرتكابات محمد الحوت وشوائب الميدل إيست، يمكنه مراسلتنا على الرسائل الخاصة على حسابنا التويتر ونحن مؤتمنون على السرّيّة​

 

[Rafidi]

 

[Joe tayyar]

 

[SeaAb]

 

[Rafidi]

Sad mentality and dirty approach by this baby hout.

The countries where I have been to, Lebanese, generally, do not have a good reputation when it comes to employment. In fact, Lebanese, Chinese and Indians are the most hated nationalities when it comes to employment matters. Often times, when I am asked what's my nationality and I say Lebanese, I feel uncomfortable because you can perceive the hatred and resentment in the eyes of the person and I feel compelled to make amends and sometimes explanation that not all Lebanese are cruel. Lebanese always make their employees feel they are favoured for being offered a chance to work. Employment is not seen or treated as a human right but a favor. This is the reason why often times, to get employment, Lebanese always resort to wasta and the reason why we end up with under qualified people holding the wrong positions both in govt and in the private sector businesses. The first considerations to employ people is religion, sect and nationality and not merit. And Lebanese employers are notorious for mistreating their employees both Lebanese and foreigners, who work under them. Many of my staff abroad often times would ask me "why I dont behave like Lenanese"..."am I truly Lebanese". Just plain exploitation which has given us a bad image. They under pay and overwork their employees, and many at times, resort to vulgarity in the workplace and humiliating tactics. A big contrast with western employers, who treat their subjects decently and have built a good image for themselves.

 

[Mrsrx]

When a company gives you a job you should be thankful and so should they because you sacrifice so much time at your job and even when you are on your personal time you are thinking about work problems.
They need you as much as you need them. They need you so much that they are willing to pay you to come and do what they cannot do themselves! A company is its employees and the son of a CEO should not inherit the CEO's job or be in the conversation as he is not a part of the company.

If maintenance workers in MEA go on strike it would impact MEA more than if the CEO goes on strike (a well run company can survive a few weeks/months without a leadership if the processes are set up correctly and fall back scenarios exist)!

Second a company is almost never loyal to its employees (on rare occasions they are) when they need to divert the cash from your bonus to someone elses they do not hesitate, when instead of taking a loan they do not give raises, when they fire people to push for better margins, when they care more about dividends than their "own" people, when they scheme on your retirement, when they lower medical coverage to keep a few cents. Employees have the right to not be loyal aswell!

If you feel this does not describe experiences you have had please consider yourself lucky as many people live under this!

 

[Rafidi]