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May 9, 2008

Watch Out: Potential for New Fees Ahead

Filed under: Customer Service, Airline Fees — Rick Seaney @ 1:36 pm
Comments (1)

When it comes to fees, European airlines are way ahead of us here in the States.

Take baggage fees.

Our “pay-a-fee-to-check-a-second-bag” charge is nothing compared to Ryanair’s longtime policy of “pay-a-fee-to-check-ANY-bag”.

Anyway, an airline analyst says, European carriers typically enact new policies between 8 and 18 months ahead of their American counterparts.

So what’s ahead? Cell phone and internet use fees. Maybe.

Keep reading.

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May 5, 2008

Feel-Good-Story: Courtesy Can Get You a GREAT Airline Seat (maybe…)

Filed under: Customer Service, Airline Fees, Northwest — Rick Seaney @ 10:09 am
Comments (7)

A friend of mine recently took a trip on Northwest, and she is now a firm believer that “courtesy counts”. Here’s her story:

“While making my reservations, I got to the seat selection phase, and, as usual, there were plenty of seats you could pay extra for, but no other seats were available (at that time). This confused me, since in the past, there were always at least a couple of “free seats” to choose from, and I was getting a little worried — would I have to pay for a seat?”

Keep reading — here comes the payoff…

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May 1, 2008

Chicago Gets Money to Reduce Street Traffic. What about Air Traffic?

Filed under: Airline Fees, Airport — Rick Seaney @ 10:30 am
Comments (0)

Under a new Department of Transportation initiative, the city of Chicago will receive $153 million to reduce traffic congestion. The DOT states that the “innovative proposal will reduce gridlock through the use of congestion pricing for street parking spaces and faster, more reliable bus service…”

I don’t argue that Chicago should get the money. Anyone who has spent some time in the Windy City knows how backed up things can get downtown on both sides of the river, as well as on the Dan Ryan and other highways. However, I would like to see the same type of money and effort put forth to handle air traffic problems at Chicago O’Hare. O’Hare is generally viewed as the second busiest airport behind Atlanta Hartsfield, and it’s used as a point of connection for domestic and international travelers on their way to destinations all over the world.

We as travelers are giving money to the FAA each time we fly, and money could be used to reduce traffic at O’Hare and other major airports throughout the country. Keep reading to see how much we’re shelling out to the federal government and how it should be used…

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April 29, 2008

Air Travel Fees That Make Me Crabby - Introducing the “CRABBY Scale”

Filed under: Customer Service, Airline Fees — Rick Seaney @ 1:00 pm
Comments (44)

UPDATE: More FEES Added!

Before I launch into this semi-rant, I want to make it very clear that I know the current price of fuel is killing the airlines — figuratively and literally. And believe me, I don’t want to start driving from Dallas to Los Angeles or New York any time soon.

That said, I don’t blame the airlines for trying to make a buck or trying to keep their head above water, but — I do have a bone to pick with some of their methods.

And, notice that much of my “crabbiness” stems not from airline fees, but from all the fees imposed by our local airports and the government!

Crabbiness Scale: from 1 Crab (minor grouchiness) to 4 Crabs (utterly outraged).

I now present to you — “Rick’s Crabby List”: click more to see it for yourself.

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Domino Time: More Airlines Join in the Rising “Fee Fest”

Filed under: Airline Fees, American, US Airways — Rick Seaney @ 12:57 pm
Comments (0)

Oh, how the dominoes are falling.

First, longtime hold-out American Airlines decides to join the other airlines by instituting a $25 charge for checking a second bag.

Now comes word that US Airways is upping its “change fee” on non-refundable tickets — bringing it to a whopping $150!

Well, maybe it’s not all that “whopping” — after all, United already charges $150.

April 21, 2008

United Raises Fees for Ticket Changes, Revives Saturday Stay Requirement

Filed under: Airline Fees, United — Rick Seaney @ 11:36 am
Comments (1)

 

United Airlines is upping the ante when it comes to the “ticket change” fee; it’s upped it from $100 to $150. Some hike, huh?

And United is also reinstituting the old “Saturday Night Stay-over” requirement; this will affect about 65% of the cities it serves. Essentially, it means business folks who like to get home for the weekend will be penalized with higher fares.

But you can’t really blame the airlines. As United’s Robin Urbanski put it, “We are facing a cost increase of more than $2 billion this year, and that is more than twice the operating earnings we generated last year.”

I think this is what’s called a “lose-lose” situation.

April 17, 2008

US Airways’ New Fee: Pay to Sit (in the best seats, anyway)

Filed under: Airline Fees, US Airways — Rick Seaney @ 11:08 am
Comments (0)

I saw this one coming: US Airways has announced that, beginning May 7, it will start charging $5 minimum per flight (not roundtrip) for the privilege of sitting in aisle or window seats in the first several rows.

You know, the seats we all want. See more on the airline’s FAQ page.

For members of US Airways’ “Dividend Miles Preferred” program, this is free. But, for a lot of us out there, it means paying for the seat you want, or sitting in the back, or getting squashed in the dreaded middle seat. For the airline, it’s $ub$tantial $um$ of Ca$h.

January 31, 2008

Online Booking Bonuses - Going the Way of the Dinosaurs?

Filed under: Airlines, Airline Fees, Frequent Flyer, United — Rick Seaney @ 1:24 pm
Comments (0)

Used to be, booking airfare online with one of the legacy carriers meant a “booking bonus”; usually, extra frequent flier miles.

But, according to Ben Mutzabaugh in USA Today, those bonuses are going the way of the T-Rex. Today is the last day United will be doing that; the only remaining bonus-giver of the big-6 is American, and who knows how long they’ll continue.

What’s going on? Hint: it’s got to do with money (what else?). Click “more” and I’ll explain.

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November 15, 2007

You, Too, Can Board the Holiday Travel EXPRESS LANE!

Filed under: Customer Service, Holiday Travel, Airline Fees, Airport — Rick Seaney @ 5:34 pm
Comments (2)
The President took a look at all the crowded airports and said, “We can do better.” And apparently, we will. As reported by the Associated Press, the Pentagon is going to open up unused military airspace from Florida to Maine, which will create a kind of “Thanksgiving Express Lane” for us commercial travelers.

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October 26, 2007

How Do You Fix JFK’s Traffic Jam?

Filed under: Airlines, News, Airline Fees, Airport — Rick Seaney @ 12:42 pm
Comments (2)

JFK is a mess. This summer, a third of all its takeoffs and landings were late. So what do you do?

In what the New York Times characterized as a “pep talk“, the Transportation Secretary suggested charging higher fees for the most popular (and most crowded) slots. If that happens, the thinking goes, airlines won’t over-schedule.

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October 8, 2007

The White House vs. The Airline Industry

Filed under: Airlines, News, Airline Fees — Rick Seaney @ 3:03 pm
Comments (0)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been following developments regarding the government’s role in air travel.

Travelers were pushing for a definitive Passengers Bill of Rights, and the House responded, but their legislation was more focused on the allocation of funds to the FAA and certain tax increases than on the passenger experience.

Many within the House Committee on Rules and the DOT see a need to limit the time stranded passengers can remain on the tarmac and a need to take care of air traffic and scheduling issues that led to this summer’s dismal performances by major airlines, but the recent bill didn’t necessarily address these changes.

Click “more” to see if the White House can help.

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September 4, 2007

Aaagh! Southwest Increases Prices, Others Follow

Filed under: Airfares, Airlines, Airline Fees — Rick Seaney @ 5:24 pm
Comments (1)

munchscream.jpg

We got indications late last week that Southwest had initiated air fare increases, and over the Labor Day weekend, FareCompares technology got wind of other activity, which was the other major domestic airlines matching Southwest, on those routes that overlap the carriers.

These increases are based on the number of miles traveled. Increases you can expect on one-way flights of varying lengths:

  • $1 for one-way trips less than 500 miles
  • $3 for one-way trips less between 500 and 1000 miles
  • $5 for one-way trips between 1000 and 1250 miles
  • $5 and $10 for one-way trips over 1250 miles

To put this in context, the number of miles between Chicago and Los Angeles is 1757. Plus, these increases include business (less than 14-day advance purchase) and leisure travel.

Who’s following this lead? American Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Continental Airlines, Northwest, Frontier, Alaska Airlines and, to a lesser extent, Delta. The story has caught the attention of the media, and I was contacted and asked to comment on it by reporters.

It’s always amazing to me how you can have an in depth interview, and one random quote gets pulled from it. Check out the story in the Baltimore Sun (via Bloomberg) to see what I mean.

As for the Southwest move; is it unusual activity for this time of year? You bet. But these increases are significantly smaller than normal, system-wide increases. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out and what it’ll mean (if anything) for the upcoming holiday season.

August 31, 2007

Changing Your Airline Ticket - Waiving Fees

Filed under: Airline Fees, Ticket Changes, Ask Rick — Rick Seaney @ 9:21 am
Comments (8)

aloha.jpg

As time permits I will be selecting questions from the Ask Rick Blog Post (in the comments section) and providing some advice. Be sure on all questions to include departure, destination, airline, time frame (as they apply).

Kim asks:

I just discovered the Aloha flight I booked from Maui to Sacramento has a stop. We will be traveling with my daughter who will be 22 months at the time and I really need a non-stop. I contacted Alohas reservations and the would allow me to change the flight for a $125 fee plus any increase in the ticket cost. When I looked online the return flight available was actually about $5 less than what I originally paid, not the $86 increase they quoted me. Is there any way to get them to waive the $125 and get the lower priced airfare?

I wasn’t familiar with the non-stop from Maui (Kahului, Airport Code: OGG) to Sacramento (Airport Code: SMF), a quick check on Farecompare.com flight schedules shows the flight and the list of airfare prices on this route.

As background, airline change fees are governed by a rule on the airfare called — oddly enough — “Penalties” — and to some degree requirements in the Aloha contract of carriage and other applicable reservation fee policies (like charges for making a phone call to an airlines reservation agent).

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