Dave - This isn't about premium products. It's about segregation and unequal treatment. Being able to buy a better viewing experience, or a better quality of something is a whole different question, an important question, but not the one I'm addressing.
Queuing is not a product, it is not a service, it is the process someone must wait to access a service. Whether you are buying Tesco value or Tesco finest, you are not given priority over the access to those products. In that sense we are at least treated as equals and not segregated and prioritised. The purchase of something cheap is still (in theory at least) as valued as the purchase of something comparatively expensive.
This is what Merlin is failing to do. They are failing to treat all customers with equal value. They are creating societal divides where one type of person is given priority to access a product over another type of person. This is discrimination.
When someone buys tickets for a West End show, it doesn't matter whether they are for seats in a theatre box or for the back row of the upper balcony, that purchase is treated equally. You wouldn't expect for the more expensive purchase to be allowed access to their seat before the more modest costing seat.
Also, I am not expecting a theme park to lead a cultural revolution against the inequalities of society, but on a theme park forum about a theme park whom partakes in behaviour that is morally reprehensible, I will not flinch to criticise the flaws in it's social attitude. Fast Track is an element of Alton Towers that I find repulsive and as this is an Alton Towers forum, it seems like the most appropriate place to put these comments.
I criticise any individual or company for acting against moral standards of fairness as it is all the individuals and companies operating in such a way that make it possible for their actions to go unchallenged. Do I think this is going to cause a revolution? Most probably not. But nothing is won by refusing to point out the problems or reach for the solution.
James - £5 a person on top of the entrance fee is a big chunk of money to a family who are not financially well off.
Queuing is not a product, it is not a service, it is the process someone must wait to access a service. Whether you are buying Tesco value or Tesco finest, you are not given priority over the access to those products. In that sense we are at least treated as equals and not segregated and prioritised. The purchase of something cheap is still (in theory at least) as valued as the purchase of something comparatively expensive.
This is what Merlin is failing to do. They are failing to treat all customers with equal value. They are creating societal divides where one type of person is given priority to access a product over another type of person. This is discrimination.
When someone buys tickets for a West End show, it doesn't matter whether they are for seats in a theatre box or for the back row of the upper balcony, that purchase is treated equally. You wouldn't expect for the more expensive purchase to be allowed access to their seat before the more modest costing seat.
Also, I am not expecting a theme park to lead a cultural revolution against the inequalities of society, but on a theme park forum about a theme park whom partakes in behaviour that is morally reprehensible, I will not flinch to criticise the flaws in it's social attitude. Fast Track is an element of Alton Towers that I find repulsive and as this is an Alton Towers forum, it seems like the most appropriate place to put these comments.
I criticise any individual or company for acting against moral standards of fairness as it is all the individuals and companies operating in such a way that make it possible for their actions to go unchallenged. Do I think this is going to cause a revolution? Most probably not. But nothing is won by refusing to point out the problems or reach for the solution.
James - £5 a person on top of the entrance fee is a big chunk of money to a family who are not financially well off.