Allegiant Air has announced they are looking into the possibility of charging passengers a carry-on baggage fee. As reported by AviationWeek, Allegiant Air President Andrew Levy stated the carry-on baggage fees are “intriguing,” during a  presentation at the Low-Cost Airlines World Americas conference on May 3rd.

Currently, Spirit [...]]]>

Allegiant Air MD-83 (N865GA) at LAX

Allegiant Air has announced they are looking into the possibility of charging passengers a carry-on baggage fee. As reported by AviationWeek, Allegiant Air President Andrew Levy stated the carry-on baggage fees are “intriguing,” during a  presentation at the Low-Cost Airlines World Americas conference on May 3rd.

Currently, Spirit Airlines is the only US-based airline that charges for carry-on bags. They too are an ultra low cost carrier and first received a lot of flack when they announced the new fees. However, it doesn’t seem to bother travelers enough, since the airline has continued to make additional profit on the fees. For the first quarter of 2011, Spirit doubled their bag fee revenue compared to first quarter 2010 and average non-ticket revenue per passenger increased by 37.9%.

Remember, weight costs money. The more an airplane and its contents weighs, the more fuel (and money) it takes to fly. It might anger most people thinking about paying another fee, but why should someone with no luggage pay for someone with luggage? More importantly, why would airlines turn down this revenue maker? Charging for carry-ons doesn’t cause health concerns or kill anyone, so why do passengers keep acting like it is the end of the world to charge for carry-ons?

When asked what Allegiant’s future plans are for charging a carry-on bag fee, Jordan McGee Director of Allegian Corporate Communications explained, “It’s really too premature to provide any further info on potential charges for carry-ons.” However, she confirmed that Allegiant is, “considering it.”

For me, this is not a huge surprise and I have been waiting for Allegiant to announce such a fee. Allegiant’s model of providing cheap prices, with fees for everything beyond getting you from point A to B seems to welcome a new fee like this. You better believe other airlines are watching how Spirit and Allegiant are doing with carry-on fees and it might not just be ultra low cost carriers having them in the too near distant future.

Image: Brandon Farris

Dan Webb on his blog, Things in the Sky, wrote up a story about Allegiant looking to possibly offer a new type of fare that changes with the cost of fuel.

In a filing to the Department [...]]]>

Model of an Allegiant Boeing 757 located behind Allegiant CEO's cubicle at their headquarters in Las Vegas.

Dan Webb on his blog, Things in the Sky, wrote up a story about Allegiant looking to possibly offer a new type of fare that changes with the cost of fuel.

In a filing to the Department of Transportation, Allegiant wants to have the option of offering a fare that could fluctuate based on the price of oil. This would mean you could buy a ticket for uber cheap now and then possibly have to pay more later if the price of oil goes up. This fare option would be in addition to their regular fares.

Is this crazy? Maybe, but again maybe not. Determining the price of fuel is a huge part of running an airline. Passengers will purchase tickets months in advance (especially leisure fliers, that Allegiant caters to) and there is no telling what the price of fuel will be when the flight actually happens. If airlines charge too little for tickets, they could end up losing money for that flight.

This new fare options, allows passengers to gamble on their airfare, which makes sense for the Las Vegas based airline. The big problem is, are most passengers savvy enough to understand the fuel-fare? And who would regulate that Allegiant would be raising fares properly based on fuel costs?

This could be taking the ala cart airline fees to the next level. Brett Snyder via BNET recently took a look how the traditional low cost carriers are growing and becoming more traditional. This leaves room for airlines like Allegiant to come up with creative ideas on how to add additional fees and revenue. People complained loudly when Spirit announced carry-on fees, but their low fares and fees have been very successful for them. Passengers seem to complain, but when faced with the option, they love the low fares and fees.

Even when I flew Allegiant, I got a bit overwhelmed by all the fees, but I flew for much cheaper than on any other airline — by quite a bit. Could fuel price-sharing be the future of ultra low cost carriers? Who knows, but Allegiant wants to be prepared if it is.

To see quotes from Allegiant and Southwest Airlines on this issue, check out my story on AOL Travel News.

It has been quite some time since I last talked about one of my favorite airlines: Ryanair. Last time I pointed out how Ryanair was actually talking about becoming a more mature airline. Their CEO, Michael O’Leary was  touting what they can offer passengers versus being the lowest cost airline [...]]]>

Ryanair Boeing 737-800 (EI-DHK)

It has been quite some time since I last talked about one of my favorite airlines: Ryanair. Last time I pointed out how Ryanair was actually talking about becoming a more mature airline. Their CEO, Michael O’Leary was  touting what they can offer passengers versus being the lowest cost airline possible. Although they aren’t getting attention over a crazy new fee idea, they are in some hot water for an old fee.

If you think the fees of airlines in the United States are crazy, you might be a little shocked to see how Ryanair does business. Having to pay $45 for a checked in bag on Spirit Airlines? Ha… That is amateur night. The fee in question is the ability to print your boarding pass at the airport. If you do not manage to print it at home, you are looking at a €40 (about $54.00) fee.

Do not get me wrong, that is a lot of money for a very simple process, but it is a part of the process — this is how Ryanair works. You get super dirt cheap tickets and then fees for pretty much everything else outside of moving your bottom from one part of the world to another. This is their business model and it is very successful for them. The more people check in at home, the less kiosks and employees they need at the airport, reducing costs and reducing ticket fares. Although fees can be annoying, Ryanair is quite clear of their policies and they pass down the savings to the customers. If you do not like the policies of the airline, don’t fly the airline.

Anyhow, a Spanish judge has now ruled that this fee is “unfair.” This all started with a passenger named Dan Miro,  took a Ryanair flight back in May 2009. He missed the part where he should print his boarding pass at home and was quite upset when he found out how much he had to pay at the airport. It just so happened that Miro is a Spanish lawyer and instead of taking the blame for not realizing his mistake, he decided to take Ryanair to court.

Ryanair argued they are a low cost carrier and do things differently than other airlines. However, the judge wouldn’t hear it and decided that the airline is responsible for printing boarding passes, since that is the way it works. Ryanair sees the boarding pass just like an ID. You need an ID to fly and if you forget it at home, you just don’t get to fly. Instead of leaving a passenger high and dry if they forget their boarding pass, the airline will allow passengers to print it out at the airport… for a fee. Although a very different procedure from most airlines, this really isn’t all that crazy. An airline is not allowed to try to do things differently without fear of being taken to court?

Ryanair states that if they have to stop charging a fee for printing boarding passes, they might just not offer to print them at the airport at all. How lame would that be? I might start sounding like a broken record here, but if you do not like the fees of one airline, do not fly it. Use your cash to give your vote. So many people talk about hating fees, yet they they see that super low price, they cannot help themselves. Always reminds me of the quote, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

What are your thoughts? Is this a fee that has come too far? Do you think a US carrier might try this fee someday? Should US carriers be sued for the fees they already have?

Source: Irish Times via Air Observer Image: wico

Airlines have to start getting pretty creative to come up with new fees to help increase their revenue. Even though I get frustrated to have to pay the fees myself, I at least understand why I am [...]]]>

An American Airlines Boeing 757 and Airbus A300 line up for take off at Miami International Airport

Airlines have to start getting pretty creative to come up with new fees to help increase their revenue. Even though I get frustrated to have to pay the fees myself, I at least understand why I am paying them. American has started charging a new fee and I am not sure if it is worth it.

Depending on the length of the flight, you can now pay anywhere from $19 to $39 to sit in the first few rows in economy and be one of the first ones to board. There is no question being one of the first to board to make sure you have room for your carry-ons and it is nice to get off the plane instead of waiting in the back for everyone else to. However, I am not sure if the added cost is worth it.

United has something similar called EconomyPlus, but at least when you pay more for those seats, you also get additional legroom.  With United, you can purchase the seats at the time of booking, but with American’s Express Seats, they can only be purchased from a kiosk starting 24hrs before a flight to 50 minutes before take off.

Virasb Vahidi, Chief Commercial Officer for American Airlines states, “Express Seats highlights American’s focus on offering customers what they value most.” I am not sure if passengers really value paying more to sit in the front the most. However, I haven’t done the research and spoke with a lot of American passengers about it, which I assume American has and they got positive feedback. The nice thing for American is there is no need to change the layouts of their aircraft to make this work, which means it will be cheap to test and cheap to pull the plug if it doesn’t work out.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), US airlines made $7.8 billion in fees in 2009. This is a 42% increase over 2008. BTS says in a release “the airlines collected $2.7 billion in baggage fees, $2.4 billion from reservation change fees, and $2.7 [...]]]>

Surprisingly Southwest Airlines made bank off fees in 2009

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), US airlines made $7.8 billion in fees in 2009. This is a 42% increase over 2008. BTS says in a release “the airlines collected $2.7 billion in baggage fees, $2.4 billion from reservation change fees, and $2.7 billion from other ancillary fees, such as pet transportation fees and frequent flyer award program mileage sales.”

Delta brought in the most money with $1.65 billion in fees and surprisingly Southwest was fourth. Southwest might not charge for bags, but they do charge for other services like pets, unaccompanied minors and an early check-in option. Even before Spirit Airlines started charging for carry-ons, 21% of their total operating revenue came from fees — the highest of any other airline.

$7.8 billion is a lot of money. Passengers keep complaining about fees, but it is obvious that they keep paying them. I am not going to be surprised if more creative fees start showing up in the next few years.

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Airline fees are not very unique anymore. It takes a bit more than a fee change or new fee to motivate me enough to write a blog on it  (like charging for carry-ons). Why does Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air get a blog [...]]]>

Photo taken when I put Alaska's guarantee to the test!

Airline fees are not very unique anymore. It takes a bit more than a fee change or new fee to motivate me enough to write a blog on it  (like charging for carry-ons). Why does Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air get a blog on fees?

Not because they are raising some fees (1st checked bag from $15 to $20) or that they are lowering others (2nd checked back from $25 to $20, 3rd from $50 to $20), but because they are making their from plane-to-you bag guarantee even better.

Previously if you checked a bag with Alaska or Horizon, they guaranteed your bag would reach the baggage carousel 25 minutes or less from the time your airplane made it to the jetway. Now that they are raising the prices for some passengers, they are improving the guarantee to only 20 minutes.

If your bag doesn’t make it in 20minutes, you can either get $20 off your next flight or 2000 miles (I vote take the miles). A while back I put their guarantee to the test on a flight from Seattle to Phoenix and my bag made it in just over 15 minutes.

Yea, fees are annoying, but they aren’t going away. At least one airline gives you something extra with your baggage fees!

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When I first heard this story I thought, “oh yes, I get to award another ‘Crazier Than Ryanair‘ medal.” However as I learned more about Spirit Airline’s new carry-on fees, I wonder if it is really all that crazy?

If you have missed it, Spirit Airlines [...]]]>

Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 with unique Blue/White livery

When I first heard this story I thought, “oh yes, I get to award another ‘Crazier Than Ryanair‘ medal.” However as I learned more about Spirit Airline’s new carry-on fees, I wonder if it is really all that crazy?

If you have missed it, Spirit Airlines is looking to charge passengers for carry-ons. There has been a lot of coverage of this, but here are the facts of the new carry-on fees:

* They start August 1st, 2010
* Spirit will be the first airline to charge for carry-on bags
* Your one personal item can go under your seat and is free
* It will cost $45 at the airport, $30 online and $20 for club members to have a carry-on in the overhead bin

Is this THAT crazy? Maybe not. If you have flown in the last few years you might have noticed how HUGE passenger’s carry-on bags have become. Three bags and one bin is totally full. It becomes a rush to the airplane to make sure you get space in the overhead bin. These fees would limit the number of people having a carry-on and would probably guarantee space for everyone who wants it.

Weight costs money. Airlines have been looking at ways to offer a basic ticket which will get your body from one destination to another and anything else going with you will cost money. It was only a matter of time before an airline [Ryanair anyone] would try something like this.

People will still pay. Passengers complain about new fees, but when it comes down to it, the fees make airlines a lot of money. Passengers might say they will never pay the carry-on fee, but when they are confronted with Spirit Airlines possibly having the cheapest fares, they don’t think twice. If passengers weren’t willing to pay these fees, airlines wouldn’t have them.

Yesterday Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood voiced his opposition to Spirit’s new fees. “I think it’s a bit outrageous that an airline is going to charge someone to carry on a bag and put it in the overhead. And I’ve told our people to try and figure out a way to mitigate that. I think it’s ridiculous.” FlyersRights.org also voiced their opinion that the government should step in and stop the madness of the airlines.

I am sorry, but this just angers me. The airlines were rightfully deregulated in the United States long ago and run via the free market. If passengers really don’t want to pay the fees, they won’t and Spirit will lose money and change their policies back. Airlines just don’t make up rules and policies in a vacuum that aren’t influenced by customer demand.

Yes, if the fees were not clear and were hidden, I could see the government stepping into make sure an airline was not deceiving passengers, but if you look at Spirit’s website (or been watching the news over the last few days),  it is quite obvious what the fees are for.

Personally do I want to pay these fees? Heck no! But if I am flying somewhere and Spirit has the cheapest (even with paying the fees) will I care what my money is paying for? Probably not. It will be very interesting to see how this all works out.

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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 [...]]]>

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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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 [...]]]>

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.

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 [...]]]>

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.

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 [...]]]>

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.

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 [...]]]>

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!

It has been about a year since all these wonderous bag fees have started. Southwest (which I have called the “new frills airline” a few times already) has resisted any of these fees and keep all their prices pretty straight forward. Now they are saying they feel they have earned more [...]]]>

Southwest Boeing 737

It has been about a year since all these wonderous bag fees have started. Southwest (which I have called the “new frills airline” a few times already) has resisted any of these fees and keep all their prices pretty straight forward. Now they are saying they feel they have earned more money with having no fees, since customers are choosing Southwest over airlines that do charge fees.

However, other airlines are sticking to their fees with bringing millions more in in revenue. In fact more airlines are increasing and adding new fees.

Alaksa Airlines just announced they will start charging fees and US Airways will charge $5 extra if a passenger doesn’t pre-pay for baggage fees.

Personally, I understand the fees. I mean the airlines are hurting and people are willing to pay for them. However, it has become nearly impossible to do a true cost comparison for tickets, not knowing what your final price will be.

If you read the main headlines of most new sources it seems the world might end soon with the Swine Flu outbreak. Although not as bad as the media hypes it, some are still concerned about travel. Because of this some airlines are waiving change fees for flights [...]]]>

Mexicana Airbus A320 in Las Vegas

If you read the main headlines of most new sources it seems the world might end soon with the Swine Flu outbreak. Although not as bad as the media hypes it, some are still concerned about travel. Because of this some airlines are waiving change fees for flights through Mexico.

It is estimated that about 1,600 have been infected and about 149 deaths in Mexico, and airlines don’t want to put people out for wanting to cancel or change their flights. The airlines that are offerring no change fees (with some restrictions of course):

- United Airlines
- American Airlines
- Mexicana Airlines
- Continental Airlines
- US Airways
- Air Canada

Hopefully this will all be over soon!

For those that have trouble fitting into a standard passenger seat, they will have to prepare to pay double on United Airlines.  They have pretty black and white criteria for those to meet this requirement:

- Unable to fit into a single seat [...]]]>

A Bunch of United Boeing 777 Tails at London Heathrow Airport.

For those that have trouble fitting into a standard passenger seat, they will have to prepare to pay double on United Airlines.  They have pretty black and white criteria for those to meet this requirement:

- Unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin

- Unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender

- Unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated

A passenger falling under any of these criteria will be relocated or be forced to upgrade to first class or be booted to the next flight.

Of course this is humiliating to those who are in this bracket and no one of course wants that, but it seems to be the only fair solution instead of having to be a full paying passenger and only having half a seat due to someone who is a bit larger next to you.

Ryanair is a little less Politically Correct about the matter and about 1/3 of 100,000 people that voted on their website for “cost-reduction ideas” wanted to impose a “fat tax” for those who can’t fit into a seat.