The Consumer Travel Alliance is in the midst of conducting a survey about hidden airline fees. As part of the study, we need stories about the effect on travelers of these hidden airline fees. Please add them to our comments.
Here’s my story:
This spring, I was standing in line to check in for a flight from Boston. In front of me was a mother with her three children, somewhere between the ages of 4 and 8, ready to go to Disneyworld in Orlando. They were all dressed up and each had colorful mini-rollaboards that they were dragging behind them. She had her family under control and everyone was happy.
The mother began her check-in process and then everything came to a halt. The mother learned that she had to pay to check bags. She protested, “I took this trip with the kids last year and there weren’t any fees!”
The airline agent said that the rules had changed. The agent’s solution was to consolidate one of the three checked bags and throw away the unused bag. Unfortunately, the bags for the vacation were too big to carry on. The agent said that would be the most economical solution and that the mother could repack her bags on the side of the check-in counter and squeeze more clothes into the kids’ rollaboards.
When the mother learned that the checked-bag fee would be $25 apiece, or $100 roundtrip to carry the two bags she would need after abandoning the “extra” bag, she began to cry. She said she wasn’t sure she had enough to do that and continue with the vacation.
The agent was apologetic and informed her that not paying would be even worse. She explained that her non-refundable tickets for the family were already purchased and if she decided not to go, she would lose the tickets if she didn’t get on the flight. The airline agent then told the mother that the change fee would be $150 per ticket — more than her original cost for the tickets.
In the end, the mother tearfully paid for the two bags, abandoned the third bag and marched off to the joys of going through TSA security. All smiles and a good beginning to a family vacation was destroyed.
Have you ever been surprised by a hidden airline fee?
It doesn’t have to be dramatic like this one. It might be something as simple as trying to make a seat reservation and learning that there would be an extra fee for that. A friend of mine, after hearing that there was a seat reservation fee on AirTran recently, stopped the reservation and switched to JetBlue. She had that option. Some passengers don’t.
I imagine hidden airline fees are even more disastrous for travelers who discover the new fees after they have purchased non-refundable airline tickets.
I look forward to hearing your personal experiences.
The Consumer Travel Alliance knows that eliminating fees probably won’t happen, but passengers should have all these fees clearly explained and presented at the beginning of the ticket purchase process so that consumers can compare the total cost of travel.
Again, if you haven’t taken out hidden airline fee survey, please click here to add your voice.
(Phot: Cheapoair.com)
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
