Thursday, December 29, 2005

What Else Can Airlines Charge us For?

Continuing the discussion from an earlier post about specialized airline fees:


What else can the airlines charge us for? That’s the question asked by St.
Petersburg (Fla.) Times
travel columnist Steve Heuttel, who writes that
“hardly a month goes by without a traditional airline introducing a new charge
for something you used to get free.”


American, United, Northwest and Alaska Airlines are all charging $2 for curbside check-in at some airports.

I'll say it again: It's time to just charge a reasonable ticket price and get away from all these add-on fees. I believe travelers want to know what it's going to cost to travel, rather than be lured in by a low-price ticket and then get hit with the add-on fees. But, hey -- that's just me.



via Today in the Sky

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree. I was on a flight recently on which they were selling "assorted trail mix" for $2.

HA HA HA. I will be VERY VERY hungry before I pay for airline "assorted trail mix".

Anonymous said...

So, when will they start charging for breathing air while on board? How about pay toilets? Oh, I guess that I shouldn't give them ideas.

Given that the price quoted years ago WAS the cost of flying, then you just get irritated customers when the price quoted is only half of the cost of the flight. That's not a good business model. The airline execs seem unable to figure out why their customers no longer have loyalty to a particular airline. Well, duh!

Fly Girl said...

I guess part of the issues becomes if you are going to charge for food, it better be damn good food!

Astroprof: A number of years ago, one of the airlines ran a commercial about passengers having to pay for bathroom use. In it, someone was asking for a quarter or something. It was very funny at the time. It doesn't seem quite so funny now.

Anonymous said...

Paying for curbside checkin... hmmmm.... well, no ones forcing anyone to use it... its a luxury... like everything else, it has a tax. $2 isnt really bad, seeing as irish LCC "Ryanair" is charging for checked-in bags... o_0

Fly Girl said...

Yeah, Joey, I agree that curbside check in is a luxury. And I don't have as much of a problem with charging a convenience fee for this service.

My point, however, is once again there is a charge for what was once free of charge.