31 Oct, 2009
Ancillary Fees Tack on More Cost to Your Flight–I’d Pay for More Oxygen
Posted by: Beach Reporter In: beaches| california| travel
At a lovely hotel along the Southern California Coast last week the buzz among airline industry execs was how to make a profit when the chips are down, literally. Discussion surrounded charging for everything from a bag of chips, to use of the airline toilet, to paying for getting on the plane first.
This chatter has been going on for quite some time and the traveler isn’t just nickel and dimed to death, but beaten up over fees that cost anywhere from a few bucks to tens of dollars. That cheap ticket you bought doesn’t look like such a stellar deal now, does it?
Ancillary fees, prices tacked onto things that either used to be free, or were never offered in a la carte ticket buying, have been discussed among the industry leaders and their biggest question at the latest conference was “How much can we charge before the consumer balks?” (My bank used to tell me how lucky I was to talk to a live teller in the bank without being charged. That bank is out of business.)
With a lady and her child taken off a plane this past week in Texas as she tried to fly back to her Bay Area home, no doubt she will in the future consider paying an ancillary fee for “screaming babies and kids”. Southwest Airlines actually turned the plane around and made her and her child get off the flight. They apologized and refunded her money and a newspaper contacted them and asked for a public statement. But the spokesperson said they were right in removing the mom & kid, as other passengers were upset and complained before the flight left the ground.
A fee I’d willing pay would be for clean air in my own personal, sterilized oxygen mask. The airline industry has become famous for pumping quality air into the pilots’ cockpit, and the sick, unhealthful air into the passenger cabin. They save money by controlling the amount of recirculated air that goes into the passengers area, and the quality suffers in the savings. On a flight to China one year, I couldn’t breathe, the air was so stretched. I came home and was sick for a month, even while taking antibiotics to try to get rid of the bug.
Ancillary fees from unbundling of business- and first-class passenger services traditionally not available to coach seats include priority seating ($19-25) or United’s $39 one-time access to the airport lounge. Airlines collected $10.25 billion in added fees in 2008, and see this as a way to help pull out of the slump and loss of profits in recent years.
Some fees seem outrageous and unavoidable such as the extra baggage fee, but sugar-coated with candy on it, Alaska Airlines added a guarantee that the luggage will arrive at the baggage claim area within 25 minutes of the plane’s arrival at the gate or passengers will receive a voucher worth $25 for future travel.
In the future, airline passengers can expect to see ancillary fees repackaged to appeal to a variety of customers, according to experts at the conference. And, the potty fee in which you place coins in the pay toilet door handle to open it–that’s no joke.
Tip: Friday the 13th or Sept. 11 are unlucky days in the mind of the public. Bookings drop well over 10%, thus making tickets sometimes cheaper on these particular days. It’s just one way to save.
If you are as anal as we are about saving on airfare, you may find yourself planning your entire trip around the cheapest hotels and flights. For a San Francisco getaway from L.A., by traveling and booking this way, I can reduce the cost of the same airline seat type and same hotel rooms by $500 for a two night stay, working my way down to $300 vacation, instead of $800.
