A disturbing new poll says 51 percent of air travelers say they’d rather fly while infected with the flu than pay a $150 airline change fee.
The survey, conducted by TripAdvisor.com, asked travelers if they would fly while they’re sick in order to avoid paying a booking change fee. A total of 2,327 users responded.
Airlines have resisted calls to loosen their highly profitable change-fee requirements in the face of the H1N1 epidemic. They apparently prefer a Band-Aid solution to the problem.
Change fees are a critical part of the airline industry’s ancillary revenue picture. But it’s not the only part. Remember, airlines also charge a fare differential when a ticket is changed, which can bring in even more revenue.
TripAdvisor’s general manager of new initiatives at TripAdvisor, Bryan Saltzburg, seemed genuinely horrified by the poll results.
While the thought of paying a $50 to $150 ticket change fee may cause heartburn for many travelers, we strongly recommend against flying while you’re sick with the flu, both as a courtesy to yourself and your fellow travelers. If you’re worried about getting sick this season, you may want to take a look at trip insurance for flights being booked during peak flu months. Be sure to read the fine print in the policy to make sure it covers the flu, though, as some only offer reimbursements for major illnesses.
That’s good advice, to a point. I don’t know a lot of people who take out trip insurance on a roundtrip flight to visit Grandma for Thanksgiving. Plus, insurance on airline tickets tends to be ridiculously overpriced and virtually impossible to make a successful claim on.
There’s only one fix to this: Airlines must drop their onerous change fee requirements during flu season. Or we will all suffer the consequences.
(Photo: kitty meets goat/Flickr Creative Commons)
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Chris (Elliott),
I’m not surprised at the poll results. Rather than having airlines “drop their onerous change fee requirements during flu season” how about airlines drop their so called yield management practices?
As per my previous comment, the issue of communicable diseases is NOT limited to flu. What about the next “SARS” outbreak? or the issue of TB (ie Andrew Speaker), or the next emerging disease. Just because its flu season and H1N1 is the hot topic in the news, does not mean this issue should go away just because H1N1 is no longer a threat.
For me, the issue also isn’t the $50 or $150 change fee. Its the $50-150 PLUS the fare difference (which can be absurd to ridiculous), except on Southwest. Fortunately, I don’t do much flying anymore, but there is a reason why I avoid pre-paid car rentals and non-refundable hotel rates. The savings of $10-20 isn’t worth the risk of anything going wrong. I’m pretty sure most travellers would easily pay more $$$ for a flexible change ticket if the price difference wasn’t absurd. Lets see, $258 base fare for non-refundable, and $950 for flexible/changable. In my opinion, that is the core of the problem.
On the other hand, I also think most of the general public has forgotten what NON-REFUNDABLE, NON-CHANGEABLE means. If an airline chooses to waive the fees, then its their prerogative and should be thought of an exception to the policy not the other way around.
One other thing.. I don’t think this is limited to airline travel. At my wife’s place of employment, there is a similar contradictory policy. Staff are told to stay home if they are sick, but employees who stay home are sometimes “penalized” in performance reviews. A catch-22 for sure!
Chris
I’m surprised only 50% would fly sick to avoid a change fee. Hell, I’d fly sick just to avoid having some Indian call center rep named “George” screw up my reservation.
On an unrelated note: how come every male Indian call center rep is named “George”?
The trip insurance, in this case, is actually a decent option. Many fully loaded travel insurance plans can get expensive, but there are also more “stripped down” plans that could help in this case. Travel Insured International, for example, offers an Airline Ticket Protector plan that would work well for this situation. I just ran a sample quote, and a traveler could protect a $300 airline ticket for $24 in premium. This company also provides coverage for H1N1 related cancellations, pending a note from a doctor. Other companies offer good plans as well, many of which include H1N1 coverage. Consider buying a plan, but always read the “small print”.
Damian
This weblog is being featured on Five Star Friday – http://www.fivestarfriday.com/2009/10/five-star-fridays-edition-76.html
51 percent said they would fly. Hah, I would bet more like 80 percent. And most of the rest would be on business so the company would pay their change fee…
@ Roberto
my mom works for a call centre here in BC. She says that the call centre that she deals with most is in india and they’re polocy is when speaking to us westerners, men are named Frederick and women are named Tonya. It could be possible that that airline has a similar polocy
you chose to buy a non-refundable fare. Yep – NON-REFUNDABLE.
YOU are sick – not the airline. The service is available – you are not physically able to fly comfortably. You are a viral factory infecting others with your illness.
You are an insensitive, inconsiderate lout. You have no right to be out in public with real human beings. How would YOU like it if I decided to infect all of your children with my illness days before their school vacation so you can be forced to abandon your plans because it is more convenient for me to fly while sick.
People – yes the airlines need to be more understanding illness when addressing flu and similar illnesses as part of the decision making process for waiving their fees. But thats not the case. Is it.
Or, you can buy a non-refundable ticket.
In 2007 I was on a Continental RJ EWR-MCI, last flight out that evening. An elderly husband and wife Chinese couple were on the flight and did not speak any English. The husband was ill and threw up after the plane started to taxi. Some jerk seated behind me threw a fit to the flight attendant about communicable disease and the FA contacted the pilot (who was all of 24 years old) and we returned to the gate. Security was called, the Chinese couple was thrown off the plane and we were over an hour late thanks to some hypochondriac jerkoff. I felt so bad for the elderly Chinese couple, stuck in Newark NJ, late at night and no way to communicate with anyone. I really hope they were taken care of appropriately by Continental. I didn’t dare voice my concerns for fear of being thrown off myself. So much for the land of the free and home of the brave.
Uh, guys? It’s the flu. No deadlier than any normal seasonal flu, and the only reason it’s even making news is because there’s no vaccine this year. Those who have reason to be concerned have been advised to avoid crowded public places (such as airplanes) where the virus can easily spread.
A completely asymptomatic passenger could still infect others, and anyone with half a brain knows full well that flying commercially this flu season is taking a chance of being exposed. If the risk isn’t worth it to you, then perhaps you shouldn’t fly. You could always buy a refundable ticket yourself, then simply change it if your seatmate appears ill.
@Joe: The easiest way to make sure your kids aren’t infected by a sick passenger is to not bring them on the plane in the first place. The other passengers would probably appreciate it. Why would your kids be on a plane a few days BEFORE their vacation, anyway?
Maybe the Dept.of Health should mandate that when a person flies sick, the plane should be taken out of service and dis-infected from wing-tip to wheel-well. I bet the airlines would change their tune pretty quick.
Note that I think the airlines should require some sort of form from a physician before they waive a change fee. I think people would lie to avoid the change fee and the airlines shouldn’t have to take the hit for that. So if I’m sick enough not to fly, I call the airline, cancel the flight, then go to my doctor, he examines me and gives me the form saying I can’t fly. I fax this to the airline and they reverse the change fee.
@Joe
As an attorney you kmow the law abhors a forfeiture. Yet airlines get away with the craziest stuff.
IMHO airline pricing policy is highway robbery.
I think all tickets should be changeable.
Change fees should be in line with costs
Tickets should be changeable on the internet at a nominal cost at best
I don’t mind paying the fare difference though. I think that’s fair for the same class.
However, I think that yield management is a very good thing. I’m writing this from Los Angeles. My flight was originally $140 one way. I guess not enough people bought tickets and it fell to $40 one way. The return was $95. It too fell to $39.00
I’ve been there. I came down with an contagious upper respiratory illness while on a business trip. My choice once the business part of the trip was over was to spend 3-4 days in a strange city, in a hotel room at my own expense (over $200/night), or get on an airplane for one hour, tough it out, and try to avoid infecting fellow passengers, and get home to my own bed. I ended up getting on the plane, making my ears hurt for days, and probably giving my illness to someone else. I still don’t know what the better decision was.
Of course people fly sick. Airlines punish you for changing your flight when you’re ill.
I say this as one who leans libertarian: This is an area where the government could reasonably step in and create some regulations requiring reasonable cost changes for people who are truly sick. Would it cost the airlines some money? Yes. Does it cost restaurants some money to maintain sanitary conditions so people are not made sick? Also yes. Does anyone question the necessity of health regulations at restaurants? They are both reasonable costs to bear to minimize the spread of disease.
Fly Southwest! They are the only ones who get it!
Imagine if I was sick with H1N1 (not that I have it right now) and my boss told me that I could be terminated from my job if I didn’t come to work; despite my sickness. It would be interesting if passengers start filing a lawsuit against the airlines for taking advantage of a passenger’s sickness in the name of profit. I would probably would do the same (whether I win or lose) since it could get the attention of the media.
I`m being forced to fly with Singapore Airlines next week despite having a lung infection and a medical letter to say I shouldn`t fly. There were no seats available for a month in economy and to upgrade will cost $187, plus $100 change of booking fee, plus a further $187 if there is no availability in the next class. Which wasn`t possible to advise. In my own case, it is not infectious, but despite breathing difficulties I must endure the 22 hour flight Sydney- London.
I didn’t get to vote in the poll, but I will FWS if I can manage it. I also suspect I’ve caught an illness or two from a plane (or a super market or the bus, etc.) Unless we live in a bubble, we will be exposed and perhaps most (not all) immune systems are the stronger for it.
@Joe, usually I like your posts and think you are pretty even handed, but I think you are dead wrong here. (Gallows humor there.) If one buys a non-refundable ticket when one is not sick and then one becomes sick (as opposed to buying a ticket for dates when one knows one will be sick–which would be rather rude and discourteous), you could equally say that is the luck of the draw and everyone’s–the airlines’ and other passengers’ and the sick person who is flying–misfortune. After all, the person didn’t know he or she was going to be sick.
However, the airlines knowingly sell tickets at price points they decide upon with ever increasing fees attached to them. If airlines really cared about their employees, they would encourage passengers to reschedule their flights when they are sick by WAIVING the change fees. Alternatively, airlines could also implement sustainable business plans and profitable or break-even pricing structures, but they choose not to do so and complain that they lose money. Obviously, the airlines really don’t care about employees or passengers, although they claim they do care. Actions speak louder than words, and the airlines have shown by their actions that all they care about are profits.
Did they say ‘fly or lose your money’, or did they say ‘we’ll reschedule, but there are no seats available for the next month’? Those are two entirely different things. Should they bump someone else to make room for you? $287 is about 10% of the normal cost of an upgrade on a long-haul flight – it sounds to me like they’re trying to work with you, but if they’re completely sold out, there’s not a lot they can do.
Aren’t they, albeit it’s just getting harder to do so nowadays?
I had a moron behind me on an AA (full) flight last week that was obviously sick – coughing, sneezing, temperature (his wife sitting next to him would ask what his temp was – heard him say 101.8), everything. Actually sneezed on me at one point when he stood up to go to the restroom. A few days later I come down with symptoms and then swine flu – thanks. Thank goodness my elderly mother (who was sitting next to me) is fine.
Yeah, there are going to be people who say “you can’t pinpoint that it came from him”…. Well, I take great care of myself and stay away from those who appear to be sick and I was stuck in a tube with this guy for over 4 hours, inhaling his germs from less that 3 feet away. Seems pretty obvious to me.
I find it hard to believe that AA staff didn’t see this passenger was sick and forbid him to get on the plane. He was sweating, he was pale, he was SICK. Guess AA just cares about the money. I try and fly them as little as possible, and this was the icing on the cake.
$150.00 is a completely inaccurate. The rules say that it is $150.00 plus any difference in the cost of the new flight. Very rarley do I see just $150.00 and yes I would deffinitely fly ill, rather than pay the airlines 1 red cent.