Oh, baby! Your domestic flights are free as long as you sit on a parent’s lap. But travel internationally, and Daddy must pay. Factor in the recent fuel surcharges, and taking junior on vacation can be prohibitively expensive.
And now that oil prices have fallen off a cliff? Flying families are still getting socked with ridiculous fuel surcharges. Yes, even now.
(This chart pretty much says it all. Any travel company with a fuel surcharge is engaging in illegal profiteering.)
Here’s what happened to Brian Burns when he flew to Athens with his family on Delta Air Lines recently. The outbound flight was uneventful. But on the return …
The agent asked for our ticket for our son. I will not go into all of the details, but an hour later (and 35 minutes to flight departure), we were forced to pay 332 euros ($423.10) to get my son a ticket so he could return back to the states.
Words cannot describe my outrage at the time, especially the justification of the fees ($320 fuel surcharge – $160 each way??!!). How can they legally charge that much when our ten pound infant does not even have a seat?
Here’s how Delta responded.
Dear Mr. Burns,
Thank you for your e-mail describing your recent experience with Delta. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your taking the time to share the details.
We realize you expect to receive accurate information when you call us. Our Reservations Sales representatives are carefully trained in all our procedures, including providing a positive experience for our valued customers. Sometimes mistakes or misunderstandings occur, and we’re sorry there was a problem.
All passengers must be ticketed on transoceanic flights, including infants without a seat. Infants not occupying a seat on international flights are required to be ticketed at 10% of the applicable base adult fare (plus taxes and surcharges). The total fare collected is based on a combination of the applicable infant and applicable in-seat fare along with applicable taxes and surcharges. This policy is used throughout the airline industry and we regret any misunderstanding.
…
We value the relationship you have with Delta Air Lines and would be delighted to have another chance to restore your trust and confidence in our service.
Ah, don’t you just love those form letters? This one didn’t even address his question about fuel surcharges. Burns wasn’t charged an infant fare by the Delta agent; he says the extra fee was described to him as a fuel surcharge, not an infant fare. In fact, he had notified the airline of his infant and paid the required fare before leaving for Athens.
Think Burns will give Delta a chance to restore his trust? You don’t need me to answer.
Here’s the real issue: With fuel prices down, Delta shouldn’t be forcing infants to pay a $320 fuel surcharge. In fact, it shouldn’t be charging an infant 10 percent of any fare. If lap children fly free in the United States, they should fly free internationally.
This incident raises the question of how much fuel a 10-pound infant accounts for on a flight. If you said $320, you must work for the Air Transport Association.
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It’s astonishing, really. In an era where transparency is king, I can’t fathom how certain industries/companies can get away with being so cowardly.
Forget calling it a fuel ’surcharge,’ call a spade a spade.
I had this same thing happen when I flew to Peru on American. This was last December and I even emailed Chris about the fuel surcharge I was charged for my son to fly in my lap. This is absolutely ridiculous.
I can’t remember the exact amount of extra fuel to carry an extra kg, but one number that comes to mind is 50kg fuel for an extra 100kg on a transatlantic flight. Lets say the extra weight is 25kg (there’s probably a lot more luggage carried too, which is about 12.5kg fuel that must be loaded onboard. Lets put that cost at $15 each way. Not even close to $320. (These numbers are certainly not exact but it gives an idea of the magnitude).
Secondly, although the ticket was given at 10% of the fare, plus taxes, I thought that fuel surcharges should count as part of the fare. I recall that there is a regulation in the United States that fuel surcharges or whatever other fees airlines choose to add as part of the base fare must be included in the price when quoted to passengers. Doesn’t appear right to me.
Yes, they should have been told about this ahead of time — but honestly, I don’t think I’d want to take a lap baby on an international flight — I’d rather have a seat for him/her.
I’m glad you posted this. My wife and I are planning a trip to the Caymans next May and our son will be 10 Months old then. I’m guessing that he will be all of 25lbs then and we weren’t planning on getting him a seat. Between my wife and I we figured our laps would suffice.
Given the above article, we are going to have to pay really close attention to the price when we fly because if I have to dough out that much just for “Fuel”, I might as well buy him a seat to sit in too. That way when I let him go “running and screaming up and down the aisles”, I can then at least say he’s a paying customer…Stupid Airlines.
For those of you who couldn’t tell, that was a joke because I’m sure he won’t be running around by then and we’re better parents then to let our son be that bad…
So now ‘base fair’ includes all the fees and surcharges that they added (unbundled) before, arguing that those ’services’ (fuel, luggage transportation) were not part of the base fair.
These guys keep redefining language.
I was surprised too when I booked my flight with Cathay for Hong Kong. My cousin who works for Cathay informed me about the price differences between seat for child vs. lap. For a child ticket, it was close to 60% of an adult ticket. Unfortunately we decided to cancel our trip for a number of reasons and will wait until next year.
Chris, while I don’t disagree with the basic thrust of your article, I think you are going a little far to call it “illegal profiteering.” While charging a hefty fuel surcharge with today’s oil prices may be unethical, immoral, and a poor business practice, I am pretty sure it violates no laws.
Except for monopolies and cost-plus contracts, there are no legal caps on profit levels.
SirWired
I have paid the “lap baby fee” many times on international flights, I don’t mind doing it, it is very small (10% of the adult fare). What is aggravating in this “fuel surcharge” situation is that the airline knew well in advance about the infant and they just sprung this “new information” on the poor tired parents at a stressful last possible moment!
Those jerks!
I have had bad experiences with Delta in the past 3 years (including confiscating my water, and I was pregnant at the time). i remember enjoying flying with them in the 80’s but apparently you just can’t find good help anymore :).
I think my entire feeling on this can be summed up in 3 letters…
W…T…F
::grumblemuttergrumble::
We were once quoted an lap infant fare of over $1000 for a flight from Seattle to Paris (this was well before the days of fuel surcharges) I ended up buying an extra seat for my child … it actually worked out cheaper!
I’ve flown internationally many times with both of my children when they were under two and always paid at least a 10% fare (with a variety of airlines). I’m truly surprised that Delta allowed that child on the outbound flight without a ticket. Isn’t “All ticketed passengers” a security restriction ? The ticket for a lap baby is usually stamped or otherwise marked to indicate that the child does not have a seat.
The check-in agent in Athens correctly asked for a ticket for the child, but (imho) stupidly described the ticket as a fuel surcharge.
Yes, there is an argument which could be made that if a lap child is free on a domestic flight, they shouldn’t have to pay for an international flight, but honestly, I think that’s splitting hairs. Rather, all parents SHOULD get a seat for the child – whether it’s required or not. It’s safer for everyone.
Charging the fee on the RETURN portion of a round-trip ticket which was accepted without incident on the outbound would be interesting to see how a judge would see it in Small Claims Court. We all know that Richard (He’s No McGyver) Anderson and his coterie of buffoons will be no-shows, as who will they send, the local Station Manager, so the case will be won by default.
Offer to put the baby in your checked luggage and see what happens!
@ SirWired: While it is true that any company may charge you whatever they want, for a product they sell you, there are a few caveats.
1) You can not sell a product that does not exist. Fuel prices are back down, so there is no basis for the fuel surcharge anymore. So charging one is fraud, as there is not extra high fuel price that needs to be covered anymore. Airlines could have prevented this debate if they had simply increased their tickets prices blaming the miserable economy in general and fuel as part of that.
2) Price gauging is forbidden.
3) Last, there is is fact that a sale is a contract between a company and a customer. Engaging in a contract means there is a band of trust. Companies are breaking that band by charging randomly.
Obviously, I am not a lawyer. But there is a lot wrong here.
There’s no need to put the baby in checked luggage. They fit quite nicely in the overhead bins. It’s amazing how many you can cram in there if you push.
I’m going to have to agree with SirWired on this one actually. I mean, can it be called “profiteering” if they aren’t making a profit?
I seem to recall that the airlines said they [i]implented[/i] these fees because of the high fuel prices. I always read that as it’s their excuse for starting the fees, and the existence of the fees has never actually been tied to the cost of fuel. Did any of us actually expect the airlines to rescind the fees when fuel prices went down?
The one other thing to remember about the fuel prices being down. Because of the success of Southwest’s fuel hedges, a lot of airlines tried to buy into fuel hedging. Now that the price of fuel has gone down for everyone, those airlines that locked in to fuel hedging are still paying higher fuel prices; even Southwest is now struggling with some of their hedging.
Having said all that, I know it sounds like I’m defending the fuel surcharges. The truth is I think that all these extra fees are a really bad thing for the travel industry as a whole. It’s deceptive, and it takes advantage of travelers who don’t know what to watch out for. In any other industry it would be called a “bait and switch” scheme, but in the travel industry it’s accepted as “changing the business model.” Just like Chris has said in the past, I think airlines would be better off changing their business model to simple, transparent fares that are high enough to cover the airlines cost of doing business.
Nate
There is a fallacy in the argument that fuel prices are dropping so fuel surcharges are dropping. Yes, fuel prices are dropping on the open market BUT that does not necessarily mean that the price the airlines are currently paying is dropping. Most of the airlines rely on fuel hedging . So that means they are paying whatever the price was when they bought that hedge (see why Southwest posted their first loss in 17 years). Now, if they bought their hedges when the price was low, then yes those fuel surcharges need to go, but I know that at least a few of the airlines weren’t that lucky and actually bought their hedge contracts when the price was high. So while the fuel surcharges suck royally, they would still have an adequate basis to justify them.
only slightly off topic:
Would you carry your baby on your lap in your car? Do people not realize that their kids should be in their own seat, strapped in? If a plane comes to a sudden stop, hits a big air pocket or, God forbid, worse, an infant is a projectile waiting to fly through the cabin.
Yes, I realize it’s expensive, but you should always get a seat for your infant, and strap him in an FAA approved child seat.