Oshkosh 2003 Redux

Yeah, I paid 20c a gallon more to encourage the other guys to come back
again.
And, they promised us AUTOGAS next year.

We were somewhat aggravated by the fact that the EAA greeters were
trumpeting the fact that BOTH FBOs were charging $1.99 per gallon. Since
this was the case, we opted to give the new guys on the block, Orion, our
business.

Imagine our surprise to find out that we'd been the victims of "bait &
switch" (inadvertently, I suppose, by the EAA) when we had to pay $2.10 per
gallon before departing! The lady in the booth apologized profusely, and
offered the somewhat lame excuse that "they had *asked* the EAA to stop
spreading that information". Of course, I had personally spoken with the
Orion truck driver as he filled the plane, and joked about the $1.99 price
that they were "both charging". He conveniently never mentioned anything
different to me...

When I asked the lady why they didn't simply match Basler's price, she
responded that they would just cut another 20 cents, in an effort to drive
them off the field.

It seems to me there are State-dictated minimum prices for gas in Wisconsin,
in an effort to prevent the "Big Boys" from running the "little guys" off
the playing field -- although I'm not sure if those laws apply to airport
FBOs. Either way, I didn't object to paying $2.10 -- but I DID object to
not knowing how much I WAS paying...

Ah, well -- if they get autogas next year, all is forgiven!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"