$100 to prepay $25 baggage fee
 

American Airlines charges $100 to prepay fees. TV3 in phoenix reported on a man who was going to be charged this fee when he tried to prepay his mother's $25 baggage fee so she wouldn't be bothered about it when she checked in!

http://www.azfamily.com/news/consume...118060129.html

Wow, this is an opportunity, first time maybe, to say something good about united dot com. There, you can prepay the baggage fee during online check-in. Might even be a discount.

Paying the baggage fee separately from either the ticket purchase or the check-in is probably outside the airline's routine, but $100 -- wow. They ought to be able to handle it for a lot less, even if it requires extra agent time to figure out a way to get the info into the system.

The son could wait and do on-line check in for his mother 24 hours before the flight, even if he is in a different city, and fax or email her the documents she'll need at the airport; or she can go to the airport without the boarding pass and have a new one printed there -- it happens all the time. But I'd understand her hesitation with that plan if she is an infrequent and/or nervous flyer.

I looked at aa.com to see if the bag fee can be prepaid. I don't see it. They have good FAQs and if they offered pre-paid bag fees online then I think I would have seen it.

This may be AA's new "concierge" type service. I just got an email offering personal service, escort thru security, baggage, etc. The fee was $125. Maybe this is what the man was referring to.

I laughed when I read this email. Like I'd really pay them to "help" me. Jeez.