You're charging me for WHAT?!?!??!

[Bert64]

I took a Spirit flight and was also surprised to learn upon check-in that it would be $20 for my bag.:eek: I then get on the flight and THEY CHARGE FOR ANY DRINK!!! Now, I'm used to not getting anything to eat, but when they said beverages were available FOR A CHARGE, that one caught me off guard. And I'm not talking Beer/Wine/Liqour...this was Juice and Soda. So, if you have a flight longer than an hour or two, remember you will get NOTHING from them without paying for it.

 

I booked a JetBlue flight last night, and I think it's 7 rows of seats (5 towards the front of the plane and 2 exit rows) where it says next to it that it has 38" of legroom, as opposed to the standard 33" I think. If you try and choose that seat, a little box pops up asking you if you'd like to pay the $15 for the seat. We're flying from Dulles to Fort Lauderdale. I think I can make do with the standard inch allotage for a couple hours and my boyfriend will just have to tough it out.:D I usually find that their Directv to watch all the way down there is more than enough to distract him.

[birdylady]

US Airways: ..... will charge between $5 and $30 each way for aisle and window seats starting May 7, matching other carriers.

 

So now if you travel with anyone else you have to sit in the center seats one in front of the other. How nice for familys to start/end their vacation. And what happens if they 'rearrange' you once on board. Wow if the flight isn't full (not gonna happen anymore). 'Sorry Ma'am, you can't move to that empty window seat without paying for it'.

 

 

Hey, Michele, I'm going to be in SC May 15-17!

 

Where in SC?

 

Erika

[twoputt.plusone]

I can't help but comment on Air Canada being first on the list. This is an airline heavily subsidized by the federal government and is in continual need of a bail out. :rolleyes: We, the taxpayers paid for all the bail outs and now they've got the nerve to charge extra for a second checked bag??? How many times do we have to pay? Give me a break! :mad:

 

Why don't they just raise their rates and be done with it? :confused:

 

2P.P1

[AnotherCruisingKid]

JetBlue? $10 for "extra legroom"...what do they do, come and move the seat in front of you...lol :confused:

 

I dont know a thing about Jet Blue but assume this is like Economy Plus on United. Which they also charge for if you do not have any status with them.

 

But that's the kicker of this. Almost all of these fees do not apply to those that have even minimal status with the airlines. So they are pushing brand loyalty as well as adding revenue. Can't fault them for that.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

I purchased tickets on Monday for our upcoming trip to Fort Lauderdale. I had a choice between Northwest and Spirit, and figured that I would go with Spirit since the flight times were slightly better. Price was nearly identical. After paying for the trip and reviewing my reservation I happen to notice "a deal" on prepaying for checked baggage. The deal was $20 for payment in advance per bag, or $30 per bag at the time of check in, space provided. "This certainly is not for your first checked bag," I thought to myself. I was certain that Spirit was skimmping and reducing the number of free checked items to one. Just to be certain, I decided to call Spirit and confirm my assumption. NOPE! As stated by the OP, Spirit is charging for all checked bags. I don't necessarily care about the $20 per bag (although the ticket agent said the special was actually $10 per bag), but rather the deceptive, penny pinching way that Spirit went about getting extra money from passengers. Spirit,you must be kidding me! I never thought I would feel bad about not flying Northwest.

 

The american traveling public is to blame for this. They buy strictly on the lowest fare. So they have taken to adding fees to raise the prices instead of just raising the prices because no one stands for that.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

....

 

 

We're at their mercy and they know it. They can do anything they want.....it will come to blows sooner or later and then maybe some regulation will come back into play! Since the deregulation way back when......we have been paying for it since! :eek:

.....

 

***

 

You've got to be kidding me. Prices since deregulation are MUCH lower. You may think you're paying more because we've got 15 different fees but back then i could NOT fly from NY to Dublin for only 271 dollars inclusive of all taxes or Sydney for $700.74 all in. Both of which I did in 2004.

 

Want a more up to date example? Try flying to Budapest for under $500 back during regulation or to the west coast from ny for under $300. All of which are done this year.

 

I dont personally like a lot of the things the governments we had who deregulated this have done. But to say we're paying more now is just flat out wrong and false.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

Is Air Canada the only one that has been restricting how much carryon (and weight) anyone can bring onboard for some time now?

.... .

 

Lufthansa has been doing this for at least the past 8 years. Although like every other "regulation" it is not always enforced. Their limit was/is 14kg.

[chrisbd1]

Which airline was this? Isn't Southwest starting this fee for choosing your seat?

 

 

No. If you fly Business Select, you board first but you pay more. Your ticket are fully refundable, though.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

Airlines and Cruise Companies are not the same. One is a vacation provider (that happens to move), one is a mode of transportation.

 

I wouldnt really mind paying extra for better seats, that kind of makes sense. But paying of luggage is really poor. I mean people fly so they can get around, you need bags to come with you. It is even poorer considering all this used to be free.

.....

It was never free. It was included in the price.

 

The public wont stand for even a penny increase in price and we ALL know that costs of operations have gone up. We are even paying fuel surcharges on our cruises now.

So to go with keeping the same price in a market for years on end they are charging those who make it more expensive to operate the aircraft. those that put weight on it in the form of checked bags.

 

But dont get me wrong. Those flights will go out fully loaded, check bags or not. Because they're selling the extra weight on most flights with premium freight.

 

I wasnt around back then, but this sounds an awful lot like the '50s and the railroads.

[WhiteSoxFan]

The american traveling public is to blame for this. They buy strictly on the lowest fare. So they have taken to adding fees to raise the prices instead of just raising the prices because no one stands for that.

 

Exactly the point I was going to make. You used to get hot meals, 70lb first bag 50lb second bag all included (not free). Then the low cost carriers offered less for less and the public went crazy for it. It becomes a sprial to the bottom.

 

When I was 10 we flew to Disneyworld and I remember the airfare was $200pp. That was 35 years ago, I just booked a R/T from MCO-ORD for $229! Airfare is much cheaper now than it was in the regulatory days even with the extras (if you adjust for inflation). We've become spoiled by the low cost of flying (myself included).

[Globaliser]

Exactly the point I was going to make. You used to get hot meals, 70lb first bag 50lb second bag all included (not free). Then the low cost carriers offered less for less and the public went crazy for it. It becomes a sprial to the bottom.

People do forget just how cheap it is to fly nowadays. I looked at some old tickets a couple of months back: London-Hong Kong return, in the mid-1970s. They cost about £500-600 then. In mid-1970s money.

 

Today, I can get a ticket for exactly the same amount of money. In 2008 money, that is.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

You've got to be kidding me. Prices since deregulation are MUCH lower. You may think you're paying more because we've got 15 different fees but back then i could NOT fly from NY to Dublin for only 271 dollars inclusive of all taxes or Sydney for $700.74 all in. Both of which I did in 2004.

 

Want a more up to date example? Try flying to Budapest for under $500 back during regulation or to the west coast from ny for under $300. All of which are done this year.

 

I dont personally like a lot of the things the governments we had who deregulated this have done. But to say we're paying more now is just flat out wrong and false.

 

 

My post didn't mention anything about fares, just refering to the extras we are now paying for. Air fares is a whole other ballgame! :eek:

 

***

[AnotherCruisingKid]

My post didn't mention anything about fares, just refering to the extras we are now paying for. Air fares is a whole other ballgame! :eek:

 

***

 

Understood. Just saying we were always paying for them.

[broberts]

I can't help but comment on Air Canada being first on the list. This is an airline heavily subsidized by the federal government and is in continual need of a bail out. :rolleyes: We, the taxpayers paid for all the bail outs and now they've got the nerve to charge extra for a second checked bag??? How many times do we have to pay? Give me a break! :mad:

 

Why don't they just raise their rates and be done with it? :confused:

 

2P.P1

 

I don't believe that the federal government has paid any direct subsidy to AC in many, many years.

 

I agree with you about just raising the rates. But as others have pointed out it really is the consumer that is driving this trend. As long as we continue to buy the lowest fare, regardless of add-ons, airlines will continue their practice of quoting low fares then nickel & diming us.

 

Even before the extra bag charge I found it annoying that taxes & fees add at least a third more to the initially quoted price.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

...

Even before the extra bag charge I found it annoying that taxes & fees add at least a third more to the initially quoted price.

 

My Budapest trip this year the air fare was $198 with nearly $300 in fees and taxes added. Still not a bad deal for $490+ but funny they listed the airfare at under $200.

[broberts]

My Budapest trip this year the air fare was $198 with nearly $300 in fees and taxes added. Still not a bad deal for $490+ but funny they listed the airfare at under $200.

 

Wow! What a let down, thinking you had a great deal until you got to the pricing summary screen. As you say, $490 is still a bargain. Why didn't the airline just quote that price?

[twoputt.plusone]

I don't believe that the federal government has paid any direct subsidy to AC in many, many years.

 

Even before the extra bag charge I found it annoying that taxes & fees add at least a third more to the initially quoted price.

 

Ahh there's that direct thing again and we all know what that means. :p

 

I'm lucky that I live within a short drive to the US border and can book my flights out of an American airport. Depending on how many are travelling, the cost difference can be thousands of dollars, as I discovered last summer. But that is not the topic for this discussion is it? :)

 

2P.P1

[WhiteSoxFan]

My post didn't mention anything about fares, just refering to the extras we are now paying for. Air fares is a whole other ballgame! :eek:

 

***

 

It's all the same though isn't it? The fares used to include all the "extras" that we now pay for. This keeps the fares lower. All the airlines have done is say that they are willing to charge less for the guy who wants to take one carry -on and doesn't eat vs the guy that wants to check two bags and eat a meal.

[broberts]

It's all the same though isn't it? The fares used to include all the "extras" that we now pay for. This keeps the fares lower. All the airlines have done is say that they are willing to charge less for the guy who wants to take one carry -on and doesn't eat vs the guy that wants to check two bags and eat a meal.

 

It is and it isn't. Used to be one could get a reasonably good hot meal with china and proper silverware. I even recall the day, long, long ago, when one could get a decent steak done the way you wanted. (Of course fares were significantly higher.) What the airlines sell these days goes from deadly (AA - heart attack in a box) through to simply disgusting. I wouldn't mind paying for a half decent hot meal - have done it on the train - but I haven't found an airline that offers this.

 

As to the luggage issue, the real problem with the policy is that it just means more people carry-on more things. This adds extra on & off load time which, it seems to me, probably cost the airline far more than they collect is checked baggage fees. And, since the stuff is carried on, no additional fuel saving.

[jlswisc]

It was never free. It was included in the price.

 

The public wont stand for even a penny increase in price and we ALL know that costs of operations have gone up. We are even paying fuel surcharges on our cruises now.

So to go with keeping the same price in a market for years on end they are charging those who make it more expensive to operate the aircraft. those that put weight on it in the form of checked bags.

 

But dont get me wrong. Those flights will go out fully loaded, check bags or not. Because they're selling the extra weight on most flights with premium freight.

 

I wasnt around back then, but this sounds an awful lot like the '50s and the railroads.

 

It was included in the price? Ok well then it should still be included in the price. Since I have been a traveler, prices of the actual ticket have gone up, not down...

 

When i first went to college i could fly with 2 packed bags (under 50 pounds each) for under 300 easily. Now i am lucky to get a flight under 450 dollars. A flight to Europe ran me over 1000 dollars, though i loved Lufthansa airlines, so i wont complain.

 

Now I am going to have to deal with the high prices and pay extra to take my things with me. Yes I say extra, because before i was getting a lower price and was getting more!

 

Again though, if the airlines would hold up their end of the bargain: Be on time, dont wait for gates, leave on time, ect, i wouldnt even be too upset. I would even make them a deal, I pay for my luggage but i get a discount for every minute we wait, not including anything for safety issues. But waiting in the gate for 30 minutes for a "special passanger" or waiting for a gate instead of letting us deplane, come on.

 

Not to mention the fact that the majority of the planes in the USA are 50 years old and falling apart. If a flight cost more in 1970, that is fine to me, because the plane was much newer. Can you imagine going to a rental car place and getting a 1970 datson? haha.

 

Anyway the point is simple: Our airlines are horrible, they fly old planes, are never on time, charge more for the ticket, give you less, now charge for more things.

 

I will give them credit for being safe though.

[AnotherCruisingKid]

I really can't believe how much of this reply is just wrong. We do not agree with the state of things.

 

I agree price for your same stuff is going up. But the fare I can use is not.

 

And the one point everyone here is ignoring is that if you hold status with these airlines almost all of these fees do NOT apply to you. So stick you one airline or alliance and do what you have to. If you dont fly enough to have the status, you're complaining about too little of a total amount of money.

 

All US airlines fly 50 year old planes huh? :confused:

 

There are probably other factors determining your price you see. The particular market has less competition. There are no other choices of travel mode. Something else that allows a near or total monopoly.

 

Why not write you representatives and tell them you want public transport instead of new highways and airport bailouts.

[rigldbrg]

spirit has some really really really bad reviews out there - one of the reasons I didn't even check them when looking for flights.

 

As the saying goes, "fool me once................"

Spirit will not get the opportunity to fool me again.

[jlswisc]

I really can't believe how much of this reply is just wrong. We do not agree with the state of things.

 

I agree price for your same stuff is going up. But the fare I can use is not.

 

And the one point everyone here is ignoring is that if you hold status with these airlines almost all of these fees do NOT apply to you. So stick you one airline or alliance and do what you have to. If you dont fly enough to have the status, you're complaining about too little of a total amount of money.

 

All US airlines fly 50 year old planes huh? :confused:

 

There are probably other factors determining your price you see. The particular market has less competition. There are no other choices of travel mode. Something else that allows a near or total monopoly.

 

Why not write you representatives and tell them you want public transport instead of new highways and airport bailouts.

 

Yes i tend to fly only 1 set of airlines and yes I do hold status and others in the family have the highest status possible for said airline.

 

It doesnt matter if the "fare you can use" is the same, to the majority of the public it is not. Again i stress that in the last 4 years my flights have increased a fair amount in price, which is fine, but the quality has dropped, which is not ok. The majority of the public will be paying new fees for luggage or "leg room".

 

Yes the market does have less competition and that is one of the problems. I have called for international airlines to enter to the US market in a previous post, but we wont see that happen and we wont see our government really help out the airlines in a positive way (do such poor companies really deserve help?) But even with less competition our airlines still fail.

 

But yes i was exaggerating with the 50+ years. Most airlines average fleet age is 13-20 years. What else would you say was just wrong.....

 

I guess we will have to disagree though because if you see the status of the airlines as okay or good, we will not be in agreement, but then again even the airlines themselves dont think they are in good shape.:)

[gargoyle999]

Do the airport scales get certified somehow? Seems like a lot of people will be pushing the bag as close as possible to the weight limit to avoid extra bag fees. If the airport scale is off a couple pounds that would be a problem.

 

I wonder if the same dept that makes sure you get a gallon of gas at the pump and puts those stickers on them checks airport scales too? Or do we just need to "trust" the airline to be honest? HA.....

[brucory]

just for something different , over here virgin have cheaper flights if you only have carry on (weight limit though). I am not sure if they do that in amercia

 

Does Virginblue do that? I heard about jetstar (eg. jetstar light fares), but never knew virgin was doing it too. :confused: