Airlines add fees, and some fees on top of fees
 

JOSHUA FREED | June 19, 2009 02:52 PM EST |
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MINNEAPOLIS — As if charging $15 to check a bag weren't enough, two airlines are asking for $5 more beginning this summer if you pay at the check-in counter _ a fee on top of a fee. Of course, you could always pay your baggage fee from home. The airlines call it the "online discount."

If airlines can get away with that, what's next? Rather than raise fares in the middle of a recession, they're piling on fees to make money _ fees for bags, fees to get through the line faster, even fees for certain seats. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...-airline-fees/

Since my favorite airline, Southwest, still doesn't charge bag fees for the first two bags (or change fees, or fees for snacks, or fees to reserve special seats, etc.), I'm not really all that worried about this. Let Northwest/Delta charge whatever they want for bags.

The story is actually about United and USAirways, not Delta/Northwest.

Ah - I saw "Minneapolis" as the origin for the story and assumed Northwest...

My favorite new fee mentioned in the article is the one that Ryanair is charging:

"European discounter Ryanair charges for something everyone has to do if they want to fly: check in. It's 5 euros, or about $6.75, to check in online, double for passengers who pay at the airport. Ryanair plans to eliminate airport check-in desks."

How does one fly without checking in? :)

Yeah, but can you really really blame them? It's so clever of them....
"Plus, it’s a genius move. By charging a fee to pay a fee, airlines can increase the amount we owe them by a whopping 75%"
http://cli.gs/BaggageFees