In February 2023, overcome by an irrepressible desire to visit the Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Sophie Baron, resident of Ain, engineer and mother of three teenage girls, quickly realized that the weekday visiting slots -end of Ascension were almost all sold out. From then on, what she imagined as an impromptu getaway turned into a rigorously restricted stay… After rushing to reserve the very last places, she immediately secured entrance to the unmissable Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House. , its “beaten” to block a round trip by plane and took a more or less decent hotel room without making any fuss. There, when she thought she had everything locked down, she became disillusioned the first evening. “Unable to find a table for five in the restaurant, we were forced to skip dinner. The next day, same problem. We fell back on the only address accessible on a Saturday evening: the cheeses at the Gouda Museum. »
Also listen Train tickets: why are they so expensive?
Even though the world has recently tested our sense of improvisation – pandemic, war, global warming – we are required to book our vacations and leisure activities well in advance. A sheepfold on the GR20, a cinema ticket, a day in a cove, a visit to Machu Picchu, a blood donation… “It became a sufferingregrets François Briat, a 48-year-old engineer from Lyon. Everything is just scams and traps. The Internet has transformed into a marketing monster. » Scalded by messages “agonizing” – kind “There are only two rooms left” –, it takes care to delete its browsing cookies to divert attention from booking platforms that abuse the push selling (push the product towards the customer) and pull-selling (pull the customer towards the product).
“For me, the worst is the SNCF”says Michel Blanchard, a former journalist at AFP, annoyed by the yo-yo of prices practiced since 1993 based on demand, which very little competition calls into question. “At the beginning, you could exchange your ticket up to three days before departure, with a 5 euro penalty. Today it is 19 euros per trip, less than six days [pour les TGV inOui domestiques et internationaux] ! It’s a real scandal. » “The train is helljoins him Brigitte Martin, retired from national education. Unless you book five months in advance or leave at 5:45 a.m., it’s overpriced! »
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