@ Carver – “Much ado about nothing. Tickets have been sold like this since Wilbur and Orville. I guess in the interim 100 years we’ve all turned stupid.”
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I agree what Chris wrote at the National Geographic Traveler: “the Internet may be the biggest culprit of them all; it mostly replaced the ranks of travel agents and turned every travel experience except the super-luxurious into a commodity.” These individuals do not want to use a traditional brick & mortar agent. These individuals do not want to stop watching reality tv shows to do some research on the Internet in order to learn. However, these individuals wants the govt to do it for them.

@ Crissy – “There are a lot of people who don’t travel much and may not be aware of all of the fees, who is charging them and if they are truly optional.”
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That is why they need to use a brick & mortar travel agent instead of doing it themselves. Your friend could have pay $ 20 or $ 25 to use a brick & mortar travel agent and probably save a bunch of money.

I knew up front about the fee, and planned accordingly, but only because I investigated it with my carrier before I left. I only fly once every couple of years, and the rules change between trips, often drastically. The last flight I took prior to that trip was with Independence Air (no longer in business) and there were no luggage fees on that flight. Infrequent fliers often don’t realize how much has changed between trips. Yes, they should probably ask, but at the same time, a flyer buying a ticket from a site like Travelocity shouldn’t have to go to another website to find out what all the fees are before purchasing. They could lose a good price by the time they’ve finished their research.

I think you made the opposite point. I went to Costco and bought a big screen tv. The price include a tv and those things necessary for a tv to work. It did not include delivery, extra cables, extended warranty, nor were those prices listed with the tv as they are all OPTIONAL.

And no, when you go into an appliance store you don’t necessarily know how much delivery is upfront. Some stores charge the same for all items, others stores have different prices based on the size. But you have the good sense to ask because everyone knows that delivery is usually an extra charge.

If I walk into a fast food restaraunt I know from signage how much it costs for an extra bbq sauce or to super size something. If I go to an electronics or appliance store I know or see how much it costs for delivery up front. Could you imagine if you took your mower in for repair and they told you it would cost x amount and then when you went to get your mower they told you there was a tool surcharge, a grass cleaning surcharge, and a lubricant surcharge on top of your quoted price?

Air Fare: $109
Taxes: $155
TSA Segment fee: $10
Baggage Fees – 1st and 2nd bag $25 each – up to 20 kilos
Global Warming Carbon Offset fee: $57 – for the gullible among you
Heathrow Surcharge: $22
Heathrow Terminal Fee Surcharge: $16
Fuel Surcharge: $112.56
Cabin Attendant Strike insurance: $5
ATC pension surcharge: $10
Onboard Seat Belt fee: $6
flight profit guarantee – variable from $0 to $75 – collected at gate
etc etc etc

Correction: American baggage fees are in flux right now now because they are undergoing a rate increase.

I can only speak for American Airline. Luggage fees only vary by type of ticket and status of purchaser, not time of purchase. But in reality infequent fliers should assume that they will pay luggage fees.

What are people proposing, anyway? That the airfare search results return the fare with an arbitrary fee included that may or may not reflect what I intend to bring with me (say, have all the results show the cost of 1 or 2 checked bags per person)? That’s not really useful. Or are they proposing that when you search for an airfare, you should be able to input what you intend to bring with you and then the results will include what you’ll pay given that? If it’s the latter, I can already hear the complaints from people who will do their search based on one bag then decide to bring two, or who bring overweight/oversized luggage as they’ll scream “deception” when they’re charged a different price than they saw in the search results (even though it was their own mistake).

For the vast majority of people, I would argue that if you can’t or don’t want to do your own research on what you can expect to pay in baggage fees, you’re probably going to miss even more important information (like connecting times) if you try to book your flight online, and you should probably just hand everything over to a travel agent.