Top Ten Most Obnoxious Hidden Airline Fees
Airfarewatchblog
Posted by George Hobica on Friday, September 21, 2007
Let’s face it. As an industry, airlines have never made money since the Wright Brothers. Because of this mismanagement, they’ve decided to try lining their coffers by coming up with a slew of obnoxious extra charges. We’re not so steamed about paying to see TV, or using the Internet aloft, or even paying for something to eat or drink. After all, planes are not flying restaurants or movie theaters, and why should we all pay for a movie that only some of us watch? And we’re not even peeved by those escalating excess baggage charges, which can sometimes cost more than your fare, although some airlines (especially international ones) clearly overdo it. But passengers overdo it, too, and an airline ticket should not entitle you to move your entire household by air. Let those who over pack pay for the privilege. However, the following fees seem nothing more than new profit centers for the airlines, and whatever additional costs these services could possibly impose on the airlines are clearly lower than what passengers pay.
1. Making a reservation on the phone or in person
Fee: $5-$25
Can it possibly cost them that much for a simple ten minute call? Surely they don’t pay their reservationists that much. United levies $15 for the privilege of speaking to a human. American, JetBlue, and Southwest $10 (for internet only fares in Southwest’s case, but they do make exceptions we were told). Northwest and Virgin America charge just $5.
2. Re-banking frequent flyer miles
Fee: $50-100
If you cash in your miles and decide not to use your ticket, you’ll be hit with a fee to place the miles back into your account. Why? What cost exactly is involved here on the airlines’ part? These tickets are issued electronically, so what’s the big deal?
3. Cashing in frequent flyer miles without sufficient advance notice
Fee: $0-100
Who says frequent flyer tickets are free? Some airlines will let you book a frequent flyer seat even up to the day of travel with no fee. These include Airtran, JetBlue, Northwest and Southwest. But others (Continental, Delta, and United) charge $75 if you book without enough notice (defined as 3 days on Continental but an unreasonable 22 days on Delta); and American charges an insane $100 if you book 6 days or fewer before departure.
4. Bringing a pet onboard in the cabin
Fee: $50-100 (each way)
These fees have skyrocketed lately. Muffy and Buffy won’t be ringing the call button for a glass of milk, and they won’t be carrying bags or imposing on the airline’s bottom line in any way; but their fare might end up costing more than yours. Most airlines now charge $80 each way. On United you’ll pay $85 until May 5, but $100 after that and on JetBlue “just” $50.
5. Checking luggage
Fee: $3-25 (each way)
We’re talking here just about checking even one bag, even if they’re not oversized or overweight (that’s a whole other story). Most major airlnes now charge $25 for a second checked bag, and we wouldn't be surprised if next they start charging for every bag. Spirit Airlines charges $5 for each of the first two bags if paid for online, $10 each otherwise. The third bag costs a whopping $100, more if it’s oversized or overweight. Allegiant. charges $3 for the first, $5 for the second. Air Canada gives you a discount for not checking baggage, which is a sneaky way of charging you if you do.
It’s not like the airlines are giving us bigger overhead bins, so that’s the big idea here? Don’t be surprised if you see other airlines following suit.
6. Getting a refund when a fare goes down
Fee: $25 to $200 or more.
If you bought a TV from Costco or BestBuy and they lowered the price the following week, chances are you could get a refund no questions asked. Even Apple gave credits when they dropped the price of their iPhone soon after launching it. But most airlines either will refund nothing (British Airways and most other international carriers) or they’ll charge an “administrative fee” of up to $100 on a domestic ticket, and even more on an international one. What justifies this? Does it actually cost them $100 to spend a few minutes to rewrite your electronic ticket? I doubt it. Don't be surprised if eventually airlines go with a "you buy it you fly it" policy: if the fare goes down, tough.
7. Flying standby on the same day of travel.
Fee: $0-50.
Time was, if there were empty seats on a later or earlier flight on the same day as your original, the airline would confirm you for free. But now, most airlines charge to take an earlier or later flight on the same day as your original flight if you want a confirmed seat (you can still take your chances on many airlines and standby without a confirmation for free, but that's not the same thing).
Southwest is a different animal altogether: there’s no fee to go standby as such, but you’ll have to pay the “walk up” last minute fare, which could be hundreds more than your original discount fare.
8. Paying for lap children
Fee: $10 to 10% of the adult fare (international flights).
What on earth is the meaning of this? Your kid isn’t taking up a seat, and certainly isn’t partaking of the free food and booze (if any). Is the little tyke responsible for consuming extra jet fuel? On a fare of say, $1200, you’ll be billed $120 or more for the privilege of holding the child in your lap for 10 hours (on a business class fare of, say, $5000 you’ll pay $500). By the way, if there's a fuel surcharge on your flight, your kiddie will pay that too: as much as $90 each way.
9. Getting a seat assignment
Fee: $5-$11 each way
Air Canada, AirTran and Allegiant are some of the carriers that now charge for this “perk”. AirTran charges $5 if you’re on a discounted coach ticket; Allegiant charges $11. AirTran charges $15 if you want to grab an exit row seat and Northwest recently upped the charge from $15 to $20 (but I still think it's worth it).
10. Using the lavatory
Fee: OK, airlines are not installing pay toilets. Yet. But the way things are going….
Read more:
What to do if you're bumped from a flight (and how to avoid it)
Why don't other fare comparison sites include Southwest Airlines (and why you should care)
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I didn't think anything of it until I did some research after a maintenance delay of my flight caused me to miss my connecting flight. I found many complaints about overweight baggage fees at Air Tran in particular!How could such a thing be proven? BINGO! My bag was delayed, too, and had to be sent to me via Fed. Ex. two days later. Looked on the Fed. Ex. tag attached to my bag when it arrived. There it was---WEIGHT: 35 lbs. PROOF that my bag had not gained any weight after all---there was a problem with the Air Tran baggage scale!
Let's see...a charge of $39 is possible if your bag is over the 50 pound weight limit and $79 if the bag is over 70 pounds. Fortunately, I did check out the fine print on the Air Tran web site before I packed up for my trip. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't even close to the limit. BUT, are others so inclined? OR, do most people get socked by surprise by this additionally imposed fee?
I suspect that the latter is the case. I ponder---how much money would Air Tran be expected to take in with those miscalibrated scales???? No fuzzy math here---they could rake in quite a bit of pocket change this way!
Now...the real question is does Air Tran do this knowingly? Isn't this FRAUD, if so? Tell me that they allow the scales to be miscalibrated like that for days on end...and I'll tell you that I think this is fraudulent!
Let your experiences be known!
and $550/Round trip check-in charge.
Oh, and for Carry-on pets, they count as one (1) of your 2 carry-on bags!
This was to counter balance the price of fuel when it was at $133/barrel in July to... $54.40 a barrel as of yesterday.
August 17, 2009
I recently had the most awful experience I have ever had with an airline. This situation is so ridiculous I would almost find it humorous if it hadn't happened been me they screwed. Take my advice and never fly with Northwest Airlines!
I booked a multiple destination flight from Columbus to San Antonio, San Antonio to Dallas, and then Dallas back to Columbus through Orbitz. Northwest Airlines issued my ticket. Three days before my flight from San Antonio to Dallas, I decided instead to drive to Dallas early and just catch my flight back to Columbus. I called Orbitz to see if I could get some money back for driving instead of flying one leg of the trip and was told I had to cancel that flight. So I agreed and after the flight was cancelled, I was then told that my flight from Dallas to Columbus had been cancelled as well.
Evidently Northwest loves to collect extra fees for changing tickets. If you purchase a ticket that goes to multiple destinations, you not only can't cancel any portion of the trip, you have to literally show up for every leg of trip or your entire trip is cancelled! Not only was I not allowed to cancel my flight from San Antonio to Dallas, they told me that if I didn't show up for my flight in San Antonio, my flight to Columbus would be cancelled as well. How much would it cost me to drive one leg of the trip instead of flying....a minimum of $200, possibly more!
I can't believe the desperation of Northwest Airlines to try and make an extra buck by hiding fees in their Terms of Agreement! When I called their customer service, they were extremely rude and obnoxious. I was shocked! I would never have believed I would receive this kind of treatment from any business much less a big airline. Now I'm out hundreds of dollars by missing my flight from San Antonio and have to pay a minimum of $200 if I want to re-book my flight from Dallas to Columbus.
People should be aware that Northwest might be cheap to fly, but they are hiding as many fees as they can in the small print of those online agreements you agree to when you click accept. I will never fly Northwest Airlines again and I hope many people will read this and avert disaster. Just pay a little extra and fly Southwest which is an honest company.
The only consolation I have had throughout this awful experience is the knowledge that companies like Northwest, who are dishonest and corrupt, will always go out of business when they resort to this kind of dishonest behavior.
In disgust,
Jonathan
http://www.CompareAirlineFees.com is a great site to compare 25 different extra airline fees and flight prices from top sites at the same time.
http://www.CompareAirlineFees.com is a great site to compare 25 different extra airline fees and flight prices from top sites at the same time.
I like #10 and you're right, the way things are going, I'm sure they will charge you. What happens if you don't have money to use the toilet ;)
The only thing that tops this is that the last time I brought my grand-daughter to the airport to take an Air Trans flight home, the ticket agent tried to tell my that I could go, but my 3 year old toddler could not accompany me. I had to ask to speak to a manager - can you imagine being requested to leave a 3 year old behind? My grand-daughter's flight was delayed by 3 hours - taking off after 11 pm (and you have to wait until the flight is in the air until you can leave) - so they were suggesting I leave a 3 year old alone in a busy terminal for 5 hours. Where is their common sense???
Actually; I'd be okay with dropping the lap-kid fee, if the kids (and this also includes minors for whom a seat was actually bought) are held to the same standard as adults are in terms of disrupting the flight. Make too much noise and refuse to stop - you get arrested when the plane lands.
just imaging the passenger next to me doing his "little business" into bottle in case he doesn't h {if (typeof(Page_ClientValidate) != 'function' || Page_ClientValidate()) __doPostBack('dnn$ctr601$NewsArticles$ucPostComment$cmdPostComment','')}
Post Commentave coins :)
As for pet fees, I understand if it's a greyhound huge dog or even if it's a cat that sheds and could cause allergies for others. However, so many have small dogs that are either super short haired (chihuahuas for example) or are hypoallergenic (malteses for example). with dogs that small that they take up less room than a carry on who cause no noise or issues, why should there be a fee anymore than bringing a big purse on?
However, to charge less for a child who even may take up a whole seat than an 8-lb. dog who will stay beneath a seat and not make a sound the entire trip is also out of line. To charge me less for taking up my seat, eating food, going to the bathroom, etc. than my dog, who sleeps in a little case under my seat and weighs a grand total of 8 lbs (in other words, not taking much more fuel), is completely ridiculous, not to mention a bad business plan. I often drive rather than fly for just that reason, as do many others, I'm sure. Most people own pets.
Nathan-- I'm glad you agree with me on the percentage fee rather than a flat fee. Cats are a different story than dogs; many people are allergic to cats (including myself, actually). Cats can actually be left at home for a long time and don't really care, so they're less likely to be brought along than dogs, who are very attached to their owners and can't really be left alone for more than a few days.
I believe that planes are meant to transport people, other animals and luggage-- and they're quite convenient for doing so. However, a 10% fee seems like quite a small price to pay for bringing a baby on board, considering that they often require a little extra effort on the part of the airline (checking strollers, TSA checking the bottles for liquids, etc.) I agree that if a child is simply sitting on a lap and being quiet, they are similar to my dog in that they are costing the airline little to no money and whatever fee is levied is pure profit to the airline.
In fact, on a Continental flight this year, there was one person left without a seat and a five-year-old child had to sit on his mother's lap all the way back from Puerto Rico. His mother had surely bought him a full-price ticket, as had I for my dog who stayed under my seat the whole time. We both got royally ripped off.
It depends on what you call, "double standard", I guess. I do not equate dogs/cats with children as you do, so my perspective is different. Airplanes are designed to carry people around for the convenience of people; pets and luggage are secondary to this task in my mind.
As Christina touched on, children cry and that sucks, but as long as the parents are trying to do whatever they can to calm it down again, no harm no foul in my mind. Feel free, of course, to get annoyed with the parent that lets their toddler run free! But as she said, there are other passengers that annoy as much or more than this -- I've sat near some pretty bad drunks on international flights and wished they had some parents around to quiet them down. :P~
I do think there is also a big problem with allergic reactions. I'm allergic to cats. I would be very, incredibly annoyed to be placed on a 15-hour flight to Oz with a feline and end up sneezing my head off. As far as I know, however, humans aren't allergic to other humans (on the whole).
THAT all being said, I completely sympathize with your thoughts that pets should be charged at a variable rate instead of a flat fee -- that makes sense to me.
I was just saying that 10% seems a bit excessive, where 2 to 5% would seem to be more applicable for a child.
Earlier this year, I volunteered to give up my seat on an American Airlines flight in exchange for a $250 travel voucher.
Yesterday, I tried to redeem the certificate online toward the purchase of a new ticket. When the system wouldn't accept my voucher, I called AA.
"I'm sorrry," said the representative, "but you have to use these at least 12 days before departure so that you have time to mail the certificate and we have time to receive it, because it's just like cash."
When I protested the 12 day advance is not written ANYWHERE on the voucher, the rep said my only option was to drive to the airport to purchase my ticket, using the voucher.
Today, I drove 55 miles one way to the nearest airport to purchase my ticket using the $250 travel voucher. For all my trouble and inconvenience, they charged me a $15 AIRPORT SERVICE FEE!
Aaaarrrrgggghh!
I have a 10-year-old, quiet Chihuahua who is like my child, never barks, is well-behaved and gets very scared when left for boarding. If I even take her on a simple two-hour flight, it costs $185 plus a vet visit to get a special certificate, bringing the cost to well over $200, in many cases more than my ticket. She would stay in her case for the entire flight and would be sleeping, certainly not crying or otherwise disruptive as your infant would be. Yet, to take her on a simple two-hour flight, I would have to pay more than you probably would to take your sobbing infant all the way to Australia!
There's no logic in that; I can understand fees, but they should be based on distance, size of dog, and that sort of thing, not just simply cost $200 every time out.
10% of the ticket would be a much fairer fee for dogs as well as infants-- and it would be more on longer flights and less for shorter ones, as it should be.
CJ Quick, Temperance MI
CJ Quick, Temperance MI
Now, if the parents are not doing their best to try to calm the child, then I think you may have a valid complaint. But I think most parents DO try their best (They're having a worse time than you, by the way). Babies cry, that's part of what they do. But they and their parents have a right to visit their families across the country or meet business travel obligations. Forbidding air travel for babies and their parents seems to be the implicit proposal behind the vehement complaints. This is as tantrum-like as the babies' behavior they are complaining about. This is not Communist Russia. We all have a right to move freely about the country. Yet some don't think about the freedom of babies and their parents to travel.
The comments above seem to be in favor of fees for lap children as a FINE, not as payment for airline services rendered. If those fees went to nearby inconvenienced passengers, it might make some sense (although I still might not agree with it), but the idea that these fees should go to the airlines does not make sense. What are we paying the airlines for? Very obese people are sometimes made to buy a second seat. But in that case, the situation is made better for other passengers because no one is squeezed by someone who can't fit in their own seat. But charging for lap children helps no passengers because the baby's crying is unchanged by the fees and, make no mistake, they will still fly when the fees are assessed. Air travel with an infant is almost never optional to any great degree.
They may not be the best behaved, but they do the best they can. When I need to walk my 22 month old up and down the aisle it is because she can't bear to be restrained in her car seat for another hour. It would be nice if passengers didn't try to trip us and if the flight attendants didn't chase us out of the back galley. My toddler fiddling with the locks on the carts (while I am holding her) isn't going to cause the plane to crash - but it might entertain her for a few minutes and keep her from screaming in your ear.
I pay full fares for the two older children and depending on the airline 1/2 or 3/4 (or full fare) fare for the baby. A little courtesy and common sense would be nice from the airlines. My kids don't kick the seats and don't throw their food, don't expect them to sit 5 rows away from me - and don't make a big deal about getting us 4 seats together.
1. A lot of the fees I see noted here are charged simply to keep customers from doing things that disrupt business too often. It's similar to us charging support minutes for each phone call they give us. If we don't charge them anything, they call all the time -- if they know they're being timed, they make it short and to the point. It helps keep everyone honest. THAT being said, there's a difference between a fee to discourage and a fee to rob, and clearly some are over the top.
2. I'm very happy there's a fee to bring an animal on board. I don't need Fifi running amok and causing havoc or Oscar's fur flying through the air and causing a billion people to burst into allergic reactions. Sounds like a bad idea to let this happen a lot.
3. I'm rather fond of the idea of getting a refund for not checking luggage. When I purchase a ticket, I assume that includes standard luggage checking fees. I'm VERY annoyed when I have to pay for luggage past that. But, if I choose to NOT check luggage that day, I think I *should* receive a refund equivalent to what I didn't cost the plane in fuel, because I already paid for it.
4. Paying for children -- I don't mind paying something for my kid, because he/she's probably eating up a bit of fuel, but 10% sounds very excessive. On our flights from LAX->SYD, that's going to cost us a lot of money to cart a baby around. Ugh.
I booked a trip on Allegiant for Christmas. For a round trip flight, they charged $6 for a person checking one bag and $16 for checking 2 bags. There is also an almost unavoidable $8.50 fee per person to book over the internet! This fee is $5 higher over the phone. The only way to avoid the fee is to go to the airport office in person. And they are not open for regular business hours. The one in Fort Wayne is open 3 times a week for only 2 hours a day. The base fare was only $89 each way
We also booked travel on AA from SLC to Rome recently, and are bringing along our infant. I am flying the whole thing on a Frequent Flier ticket for $165 in taxes and fees. We saved money by breaking my wife and infant's trip (on the exact same itinerary) into 2 segments. Our infant flies free on the domestic portion. So our infant is only paying for the trip Chicago to Europe and back. She is paying 10% of my wife's full fare in the international segment ($850), plus all taxes and fees, AND AN $85 FUEL SURCHARGE EACH WAY!!! I don't even pay this fuel surcharge on my frequent flier ticket. My infant's total is over $275! That's almost 30% of full fare!
I would certainly add Fuel Surcharges to the list of maddening charges on the above list. The idea that they are somehow seperate from the airline's base fare is ridiculous and disingenuous. Any portion of the fare that goes to the airline is the base fare, whetherits going to the airline's profits or the various aspects of its overhead. Only that portion going directly to outside taxes and outside airport fees (and not to the airlines at all) should ethically be separated in the pricing of tickets.
The blankets thing is clever: at altitude, it not an excess of A/C, but a lack of active heat. They win both ways...saving money by not heating the plane and then selling blankets. :-)
We pay to check our luggage..if it doesn't arrive when we do they need to pay us for the inconvience.
I think it is only fair that any fee they charge the passangers must be compensated if they fail to deliver.
I bet all those annoying fee would be gone in a matter of days.
Please don't paint all children with the same brush. Many parents work very, very hard to control our kids and keep them happy on a plane. Either that, or tell Grandma tough luck. We'll be seeing you when the tyke is 13.
If anyone has any suggestions as to how to get them to stop sucking us dry for every last cent, be my guest!
And then the charge to book a free ticket within 6 days of the flight---come on! If you have that many unsold seats, you should be glad I'm using up my miles to take the extra inventory off your hands.
I seldom fly standby, and have never been charged a fee for the few times I did. I was shocked last month when US Airways wanted $25 to let me standby for an earlier flight, as I didn't realize anyone charged for it.
This has to be one of the most stupid fees ever. Letting passengers fly earlier when there are seats available benefits everyone. By flying earlier, missed connections and other problems are less likely and it frees up a seat on the later flight that could be sold to someone else.