Cruises used to be billed as “all-inclusive” experiences. But as I report in my latest National Geographic Traveler column, some cruise lines seem enamored of the airline industry’s rich profits, derived almost exclusively from fees. This weekend’s question is simple: Should they go “a-la-carte” with their fares? (By “a-la-carte” I mean unbundling the cruise fare, [...]
FEE
When Teri Salmons clicked on the MGM Grand’s website to reserve a room recently, she found an “unbelievable” new fee.
Should Congress limit the taxes a city or municipality can impose on a rental car?
Of all the preposterous fees to cross my desk, I think this one deserves an award.
When I wrote about “fees on top of fees” yesterday, several readers accused me of exaggerating. But Sergei Shevchuk wasn’t one of them. He’s been trying to recover an undisclosed reticketing fee of $25 he had to pay Continental Airlines for several months.
When something goes wrong on a trip, you don’t always get the compensation you deserve — you get what you negotiate. Alright, maybe that’s not an original line, but it is an appropriate way to introduce Barbara Leon’s case.
Oh, how creative! Here’s a surcharge I’ve never come across — a $10 “transaction fee” for a car booked through Thrifty’s website in San Francisco.
Codesharing, or allowing multiple airlines to sell tickets on the same flight as if it were their own, can lead to a lot of confusion. And it’s more than just a matter of, “What flight am I on?”
When a Hampton Inn hotel charges Alia Naffouj twice for the same room, there are two surprise overdraft fees on Naffouj’s credit card. Hampton is dragging its feet on a refund. Is there anything Naffouj can do to get the money back?
Southwest Airlines likes to think of itself a no-fee zone in the skies, with its promises of bags flying free. But it has at least one absurd surcharge of its own, according to Julian Vasquez Heilig.
Best Western charges Barbara Prestridge’s brother a $250 cleaning fee after he and his family visit her to attend her wedding. The reason? Someone allegedly smoked in his room. There’s just one problem: neither her brother, nor any member of his family, smokes. Can they ever get a refund?
I don’t think of this as a “good news” kind of blog. There are countless corporate sites that specialize in slick posts stripped of meaning, and this isn’t one of them. But sometimes, travel companies really do right by their customers, and when that happens, they deserve recognition.
The airline industry is profitable again, thanks in no small part to the billions of dollars in fees it collects from passengers every year. And it’s not just reservation change fees ($2.3 billion), checked baggage ($2.7 billion) and “miscellaneous” fees (almost $3 billion) that air travelers shelled out in 2009; now carriers are getting even more creative with their charges, imposing them for everything from redeeming frequent flier miles to carrying a bag on the plane.
And now, a follow-up to yesterday’s post about reservation change fees. Passengers are upset about these surcharges, which often reduce the value of their ticket credit to just a few dollars. Airline apologists call the fees a “proven revenue model” that will continue for as long as people fly.
It’s not your imagination: Fixing your airline ticket is more expensive these days. A lot more expensive.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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