Here’s a decision most of us will have to make the next time we fly: Should we splurge for a “premium” seat in economy class — an aisle or a window seat — or leave it to chance, and possibly end up in a middle seat?
FEES
And now, a few words about car rental pricing and fees.
Check this out: The latest luggage fee numbers, as reported by the federal government, show that the major airlines are collecting less for our checked suitcases. They haven’t returned to the early 2007 levels, which were still pretty reasonable, but well off the highs reached in the second and third quarter of 2010.
When it comes to airline fees, you’ve probably stopped asking yourself, “What’s will they think of next?”
Like many travelers, Hal Frost is accustomed to being hit with fees everywhere he goes, from the airport check-in counter to the hotel front desk. But long-term parking used to always be pretty straightforward: the rate he was quoted was the rate he paid.
We got yet another painful reminder of how fee-crazy the airline industry has become when this video clip went viral yesterday. As if we needed one.
Just how hidden are the travel industry’s so-called hidden fees?
Will the industry with the worst fees please stand up and take a bow?
Cruise lines are charting a course similar to airlines, which charge a low base fare and then add optional extras to the price of the ticket, routinely doubling the cost of transportation.
Maybe you heard about the students who “rioted” on a recent Ryanair flight because of the airline’s confiscatory luggage fees. And maybe you heard the emphatic declarations from the blogosphere that this was the final straw, that enough was enough, and that airlines had finally gone too far with fees.
Don’t look now, but the airline industry is getting rich off fees. Very rich.
It’s been more than two years since most major airlines “unbundled” their fares and began charging passengers for the first checked bag. And although air travelers are now paying more for their luggage than ever — $2.7 billion last year, compared with just $1.1 billion in 2008 — they are deeply unhappy about it, according to a new poll.
Dotti Cahill thought she had a $150 ticket credit on Delta Air Lines. She thought wrong.
Yes, but hardly.
Free drinks. Room upgrades. Better restaurants. That’s what the travel industry thinks you want from your next travel experience.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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