By
David Parker Brown, on February 16th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Tail of an American Airlines Boeing 777
With so many fees coming from airlines, it is difficult for one to catch my eye anymore. I have come acustomed to them and realize they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Now, American Airlines will start charging passengers to fly stand-by. Previously if a passenger got to the airport early and there was another flight leaving, they could catch the earlier flight for no additional charge.
That model makes sense. You already paid to fly on the exact route, there is an empty seat on the flight before yours, why shouldn’t you be able to cut down on your travel time a little bit?
Any ticket bought after February 21st, passengers will have to pay an additional $50 to fly stand-by. However, American Airlines states this is more than just making some extra money.
“You get one of those Friday afternoon scenarios when you have more than 100 people standing by for a flight out of a business market.It really does become chaotic getting everyone processed. You have to process each and every one of these people individually. Those who don’t make it, then you have to roll them over onto the next flight and start it all over again,” Tim Smith, American Spokesperson said.
Smith states that getting a lot of people on an earlier flight, can delay flights. He stated that “Premium” (Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold members of the AAdvantage frequent-flier program and passengers flying business or first class) passengers and their guests won’t have to pay anything additional. He also admits this is not just to cut down on rare stand-by related delays, but to make additional revenue for the airlines.
The additional $50 ticket-change charge has been around American since 2005 and flying stand-by has always sort of circumvented the fee. Are passengers going to pay this new fee? If history shows us anything, yes they will. Will it be worth $50 to get home a few hours earlier? Probably depends on the situation and if the airport has a good bar.
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Source: The Gazette Image: little j photography
By
David Parker Brown, on June 4th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Ryanair Boeing 737-800 in March 2005 showing off the airline's first winglets
Normally one has to take whatever Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary says with a grain of salt. He says a lot of crazy things, most likely to get a few news stories written about him. When he first started talking about charging passengers to use the bathroom, I thought it was another crazy publicity stunt, but…
Ryanair plans to add credit card readers to the bathrooms in their Boeing 737-800 jets and even remove two of the three bathrooms to provide more seats. O’Leary is quoted as saying, “We are flying aircraft on an average flight time of one hour around Europe.” Is it crazy for this to start making a little sense to me now? I mean, some people ride buses and trains without bathrooms for longer than an hour on a daily basis.
The airline plans to charge about $1.50 for each bathroom usage and no word on emergency situations for people without credit cards. They plan to have the new system in place within 2 years.
Source: NYT Image: jordi757
By
David Parker Brown, on May 30th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Winglet to winglet on Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines will now charge $25 for an unaccompanied minor and $25 for overweight or a third piece of luggage. They will also allow pets to fly and will charge a “pet fare” of $75. Up until last fall Southwest did not post a loss in 17 years, but it has had to post losses for the past three quarters, mostly due to their locked in fuel prices.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated, “We truly believe in setting the right customer expectation and not charging for those amenities that a customer would ‘expect’ to get for free.” He also points out that all other major airlines in the US already charge these fees.
Although it might be disappointing that Southwest is adding some minor fees, I think it can be understandable in the given airline industry climate.
Source: Baltimore Sun Image: Rob Speed
By
David Parker Brown, on May 19th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Great shot of Ryanair Boeing 737 on its way to Germany.
Ryanair is probably he best known airline for having crazy ideas for making money. From odd advertisements from talks of charging customer to use the lavatories. This new idea is crazy, since Ryanair use to advertise you could avoid the $15 “check in at the counter” fee by checking in (and printing your boarding pass) online at home. Of course if you decide to go the cheaper route and print your boardingpass at home — don’t lose it. That will be a $60 charge.
A lot of people will always ask “how the heck does Ryanair have such cheap prices?” Well I think it is quite obvious how their fares can stay so low. The European Union has been “working with” Ryanair to make sure they have more truthful advertising and more transparent with their fees.
Even though we might complain about baggage fees going up a few bucks, at least us in the US don’t have to deal with these silly and confusing fees.
Source: Wired Image: Andreasmarx
By
David Parker Brown, on May 18th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Delta carryon only check in counters at MSP
The US Department of transportation is reporting that airlines raked in more than $1billion in just baggage fees last year. And why not, people don’t seem to be too angry or upset about this. However, two airlines are looking to up the fees even higher.
United Airlines and US Airways will $5 more for checking a bag (a total of $20 for the first bag and $30 for the second). But you can knock off $5 per bag if you check them in online.
It is great that airlines are making more money, but these fees make it more and more difficult to find a few space to place baggage in an overhead-bin due to so many people carrying more on. And for $50 to check two bags one-way…on some flights it might be cheaper just to buy a second seat for your bags!
Source: ABC Image: MSPdude
