New Crop of Car Rental Fees

Q. I made a reservation with Alamo in January of 2008 for a car rental in December of 2008. I received an email confirmation of the rental, which I kept. Now, when I bring up my confirmation on their website, it has an additional charge of $4.50 per day, total of $31.50 for the week. This was not on my original confirmation, and I faxed them my original as proof of THEIR confirmation to me on the price. Alamo says that it is a "Customer Facility Charge" that the airport is charging them and they must charge me. I protested, but to no avail. Any suggestions to my rights in this issue?

A. These fees are charged by the local or state government for airport maintenance and can be considered an additional "tax" that is passed onto the consumer.  It's pretty difficult to fight city-hall literally on this issue... if you rent off-site (away from the airport) it is very likely that the charge would be less or even eliminated in some cases.  Here is an MSN Money article that discusses these particular kind of fees.