Comments on: A losing fight? Airlines earned $10 billion from fees last year, up 345 percent

By: DaveS

DaveS — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:10:50 +0000

All fees must:
1) Be accurately and prominently disclosed
2) Be avoidable
If not, they should be required to be included in the price. That’s it. I completely disagree with the argument that in order to sell a ticket to fly a human being from Point A to Point B they also should have to offer a free shipping service. If you don’t like the airline baggage charge, get the thing shipped by another company, fly Southwest, or pack light.

By: Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:58:33 +0000

@Ben, I too am going to let this be my last.

Spirit and Allegiant charge convenience fees for buying their tickets online with a credit card.

True, Southwest has no assigned seating, but you pay extra to be in the first boarding group. Spirit, Allegiant and AirTran charge extra for a “confirmed” reservation.

Your unfortunate refusal to see past the airline spin makes it far more difficult to rally support for my common-sense idea, which is to ask airlines to tell the truth.

But when you book your first “zero” fare, you’ll understand. Unfortunately, it will be too late.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:40:58 +0000

Christopher, after this I’ll be quiet.

“A fare that’s stripped of the ability to use a credit card to purchase it, to reserve a seat, to bring a bag, is not realistic.”

(1) No US airline (that I’m aware of” charges a credit card fee for purchasing a ticket. The fee, in the way of CC company charges is embedded in the price. If you know of one, please provide specifics.

(2) Southwest (king of the “no fees” advertisements) doesn’t even have reserved seats, so how does this square with your logic?

(3 You already know my stance on checked bags

I think you may be basing your comments on the Ryanair model in Europe. I have personal experience with this and would agree that, taken to that level, it is deceiving. I recall buying a ticket for 1 pound on them that ended up costing 50 pounds or so by the time it was all said and done. Realistically, though, no US airlines have done that and I (respectively) still think you’re all wet.

By: Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:16:28 +0000

@Ben, you seem to be buying the airline industry’s spin, when it comes to ancillary revenues. That’s too bad.

No one is saying airlines can’t unbundle. It’s all about disclosure.

If you want to quote a fare — or for that matter, the price of a loaf of bread — my point is that you need to quote a realistic price.

A fare that’s stripped of the ability to use a credit card to purchase it, to reserve a seat, to bring a bag, is not realistic.

If you want to unbundle, then fine — do it after you’ve quoted a real fare. But don’t bait me with a fare that I’ll never pay.

As I mentioned in previous posts, before long, we’ll be seeing “zero” fares on some flights (we already do in some countries). How does that have anything to do with reality?

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:03:51 +0000

Sorry Christopher. I totally disagree. I resent car manufacturers bundling options (you can’t get the sunroof without the 20″ wheels, or whatever) when all I want is the sunroof. In the “old days” options on cars were line item selectable. Unlike the airline industry who traditionally “bundled” everything, whether you used it or not (I didn’t), car manufacturers decided they could increase their revenues by essentially forcing you to buy options you didn’t want. I also totally disagree with your comment that an airline seat without the ability to check a bag is an “unusable product”. Following that logic apparently I have never received what I paid for in all the years I have been flying and didn’t check a bag. To the contrary, my opinion is that I have, in fact, been paying for YOUR ability to check a bag. You will never be able to convince me otherwise.

By: Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:55:19 +0000

@Ben, I would argue that you are not getting a usable product when you book one of these fares.

The ability to make a reservation, to check a bag, is something almost everyone wants. Just like the plastic wrapper on a loaf of bread.

You couldn’t possibly be in favor of quoting a price that virtually no one will pay and then slapping one poorly-disclosed surcharge after the next.

That’s called lying in my book. It’s why passengers are so upset.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:34:43 +0000

Sorry Christopher, your “resort fee and bread logic” simply doesn’t hold up. The simple fact is that you can indeed just buy the airline ticket at the advertised price and receive the full product, that being transportation from X to Y. Those two comparatives are completely specious because in the case of the resort fee, you (a) don’t receive any additional product or service for it and (b) have to pay it in any stead. In the case of the “bread logic” you don’t have the option of telling the bakery that you don’t want the packaging (have you asked?). It comes that way. I have been flying for more years than I care to count and in 99.9% of my travels have never checked a bag (and no, I’m not one of those people who carry all of their life’s posessions with them, I carry one small roll aboard, no laptop, no backpack, etc.). Why, then, should the fare I pay subsidize those that insist on checking baggage? Checking a bag is no more a requirement than buying alcoholic beverages on board is. All of the airline websites clearly list the fees they charge, so consumers need to inform themselves before they buy. This isn’t some “truth in lending” issue, it is simply an issue of paying for what you use. I for one prefer it that way.

By: kelley

kelley — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:36:48 +0000

Thank goodness they’re finding ways to stay in business. That’s not sarcasm – I’m serious. That way, when I want to go to some exotic, far away destination, or visit family, or go to a meeting, I can do it for an incredibly low price in a short period of time. No matter what you call the charges, the bottom line is that it’s an incredible deal. Don’t like it? A simple solution: Don’t fly. Want a more complex solution? Start your own airline. Then you can listen to the complainers whine about being charged too much, while you lose billions of dollars because they paid so little.