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The Top Ten Annoying Airline Charges
Jonathan Ages
Coffee, tea? Exorbitant fee?
By now, you've heard that American Airlines is charging many of its passengers an additional $15 fee for their first checked bag. Though customers and consumer groups alike are protesting the charge, few have noted that it's just the latest of many add-ons tacked onto the price of some tickets. Bringing golf clubs on your trip to Florida? $25 each way on some airlines. Want to redeem reward miles? $25 handling fee, maybe even a $100 penalty. Need to change your itinerary? That may cost you up to $250.
| # | Name | Cost | |
| 1. | Checked Baggage | $10-$100 | The nation's largest carrier, American Airlines, made headlines when it announced that discount ticketed passengers would be charged $15 for checked baggage starting June 15. Consumer rights advocates are in an uproar, but American won't actually be the first U.S.-based airline with a checked-baggage fee. Effective June 10, Spirit passengers will shell out $5 to $10 each way for the first two bags and a whopping $100 for each item thereafter. The other majors haven't announced their plans for future baggage fees but Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways all charge $25 to check a second bag. |
| 2. | Real People | $10-$25 | Talk isn't cheap at fee-hiking airlines these days and booking over the phone or at a booth will tack roughly $15 onto your ticket's total. Delta has the most gall, having increased the charge from $20 to $25 in April. It costs $20 to book through a representative at American Airlines, and US Airways charges $15—the same as discount airlines JetBlue and Southwest. And don't expect to skip the live-agent fee at major airfare web sites. Travelocity, for example, charges $25 for over-the-phone transactions; booking your flight online costs $5 to $15. To avoid the fee, book on the specific airline's web site. |
| 3. | Seat Preference | $10-$20 | Legroom and a view now cost more on some airlines: Several American carriers now charge for seat preference within the coach section. JetBlue charges $10 to $20 for popular seats, while Northwest passengers pay $5 to $35 for a seat with more legroom on domestic flights. United Airlines' Economy Plus plan is unique: For a $349 annual fee, one member and his or her companion are seated at the front of economy section whenever possible. Most elite airline members can select seats without the additional fee, but coach travelers should arrive early and ask at the gate for a free seat reservation. |
| 4. | Rewards Redemption | $75-$100 | Frequent-flyer tickets are far from free. Legacy airline travelers must shell out $75 if miles are redeemed without "sufficient notice"—considered three days on Continental and 21 days on Delta; American charges $100 if miles are redeemed for a flight sooner than six days away. And since coupons cannot be redeemed on many airline web sites, the traveler must pay for the convenience of booking through a ticket agent. Reward program fees are difficult to avoid, but booking months in advance can limit the exorbitant add-ons—particularly on high-demand vacation routes like Hawaii. |
| 5. | Curbside Check-In | $2-$3+ | Most airlines, including the nation's largest, American Airlines, charge $2 (plus tip) to check your luggage at the curb. Delta stands out, though, having recently raised its charge for this service to $3 (gratuity not included). Even some skycaps are upset about the fee hikes, since the charges have cut into some of the tips travelers leave for the workers. In fact, a federal jury in April ordered American Airlines to pay more than $325,000 for damages incurred since the fee began in 2005 to nine skycaps at Boston's Logan International Airport. |
| 6. | Traveling with a Child or a Pet | $10-$100 and up | Toddlers don't take up a seat or add significant weight to the plane, so domestic flights with a lap-riding child is free on airlines such as US Airways and American. But most airlines charge international travelers 10 percent of the published adult fare for a child seated on your lap. Unaccompanied minors have become more expensive, too: Delta recently doubled its rate to $100 and Continental upped its charge to $75 on direct flights and $100 on trips with connections. Even pets have become more costly to travel with: United's carry-on fee for small pets jumped $15, to $100, now matching the rates charged by other legacy airlines, Delta and US Airways. American and Northwest charge $20 less. |
| 7. | Changing a Reservation | $30-$200 | For years there has been a charge for changing a reservation, but itinerary modifications have skyrocketed in this era of service fees. United Airlines has hiked its ticket-changing charge from $100 to $150. And though Delta's charge starts at a humble $30, that's only for changes made to reservations made through Delta.com; altering an international itinerary could add $200 to your budget. Keep an eye on the fine print: Discounted tickets tend to have higher change penalties than elite-class tickets. (For that matter, many of these fees don't apply to elite-class tickets.) United's new rate is surprisingly egalitarian, however—it applies to all traveler classes. |
| 8. | Paper Ticket | $50-$70 | E-mail has pretty much killed the paper ticket, but airline fees helped ensure its demise. Delta charges $50 to customers who still want a physical copy of their ticket. American Airlines charges the same for U.S. travel arrangements and roughly $70 for some international travelers. Fortunately, this is one fee that's easy to avoid—who needs a paper ticket anyway? |
| 9. | Airport improvement | $4.50-$20+ | It has a number of names—facility upgrade fee, airport tax, embarkation fee—but the airport-improvement fee has one short-term impact: It makes your ticket more expensive. The U.S. Federal Passenger Facility Charge is closely monitored by the Federal Aviation Authority, so it tops out at $4.50 and is usually included in the ticket price. International travelers can get stuck with much bigger, and more random, charges. Most Canadian airports add between $15 and $20 to tickets, and the UK recently doubled its air-passenger duty. |
| 10. | Fuel Surcharge | $30-$300 | According to the International Air Transport Association, jet fuel prices nearly doubled between May 2007 and May 2008. Fuel now accounts for 40 percent of a ticket's price, and surcharges are regularly $65 each way on most major carriers. Expect them to climb even higher. United Airlines raised its fuel surcharge twice in April. International trips to the UK have the biggest additional fee: Round-trip business-class passengers can be hit with $300-plus surcharges. |
[source: http://www.forbestraveler.com/jets-planes/annoying-airlines-fees-story.html ]
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