Should An Infant With No Seat Have To Pay A $320 Fuel Surcharge?
Here's an interesting situation. When babies fly domestically, they fly for free -- but international flights require a ticket and, apparently, a huge fuel surcharge.
From Elliott.org:
The agent asked for our ticket for our son. I will not go into all of the details, but an hour later (and 35 minutes to flight departure), we were forced to pay 332 euros ($423.10) to get my son a ticket so he could return back to the states.
Words cannot describe my outrage at the time, especially the justification of the fees ($320 fuel surcharge - $160 each way??!!). How can they legally charge that much when our ten pound infant does not even have a seat?
Delta responded to this complaint with a form letter explaining that kids need a ticket -- which is 10% of the regular fare. The only problem? He'd already paid that fee when he booked the tickets. The $320 was explained to him as a fuel surcharge.
Should passengers who don't even get a seat and weigh 10 lbs be charged this fee? Seems a little silly doesn't it?
Waaaa! Baby gets socked with surprise $320 fuel surcharge on Delta flight [Elliott] (Thanks, Shaula!)
(Photo: So Cal Metro )
Post a comment
Comments:
yes, i love how there are still fuel surcharges now that oil has nearly in half, and how they didn't need them when oil was at this price before.
btw, I paid $30 for 1 checked bag, round trip, on united in the last two weeks, so yes, I'm cracky :)
This is the same thing that pisses me off when I need to fly somewhere and take my dog. For instance United now charges $150 each way (this is to bring my dog on the plane and squish him under the seat in front of me) I can see paying a fee if I had him in cargo, but now I'm giving up my 1 carry on and leg room and still paying extra. On a side note its cheaper for me to buy an extra seat rather then pay the pet fee now.
@raleel: Some airlines are dropping the fuel surcharge now. The ones that still have them are unfortunately mostly big international airlines.
@Howie411: Can you buy an extra seat and not pay for the dog?
What would the agent have done if they would've just handed her the kid and went on their way?
If the fee wasn't disclosed in advance, than I cannot see how it could be justified...
these parents clearly haven't learned the lesson of how valuable it is to purchase a full seat for an infant child so you don't have to have the kid on your lap for 8 straight hours. Buying a row of seats and leaving the middle one free gives you soooooo much more breathing room on a crowded plane. In this case, it probably would have been cheaper, too.
As a nanny I would argue that the infant should have a seat and be in a car seat for the majority of the flight. I have traveled with infants and held them in my lap, it is really not fun and to be honest not safe. But I do think that an infant's ticket should be at a reduced price because they are not benefiting from other parts of the flight (in flight entertainment, food/drink).
They should have just stuck the baby in her handbag. Delta would have been none the wiser.
(Totally joking, please nobody take me seriously.)
Tankueray - That is hysterical!! Yeah, what would the airline reps do then??!!!!
Anything to keep children off planes.
They should charge a child surcharge where for every time your child screams, cries, hits my seat, runs around, backtalks, looks funny, smells, shits itself... The surcharge is you have to buy everybody else on the plane a little mini vodka and coke so they can pass out and not have to listen to your little devil.
@Fujikopez: How much does a extra bag cost on Delta? $50? $100? That seems fair for a 10 pound infant.
Sticky prices, ladies and gentlemen. Write your Congresspeople and DEMAND that we never bailout the airlines again. If they're going to bend parents over a barrel like this, let the big companies fail.
That kid should have had a ticket all along. Preferably on a specially labeled "kid friendly" flight. Flying across the Atlantic in coach is a big enough horror, who in their right mind would add to that horror by holding a child in their lap the whole way? Madness. Buy the extra seat and some benadryl.
They are angry that a small little baby is forced to pay a surcharge? Should they start charging surcharge based on weight? Would the parent be less outraged? I hope they aren't obese.
They should waive the fee, change it to a deposit. Parents of Goofus lose it, while parents of Gallant get it back, plus a pair of Golden Child of the Airways lapel pin.
(For the record: the fuel fee is absurd)
@altryan:
Agreed. You shouldn't be allowed to take a baby on a flight without paying for a seat. It would hopefully discourage them from ruining other people's flights and why do I need a seat belt and the baby doesn't? What type of superhuman powers do these parents possess where they are as strong as the seat belt?
Delta's web site for people traveling with children:
Has this to say about international ticketing for children in one's lap:
"International Taxes & Fees-For infants under the age of two and held in the adult's lap, the cost is usually about 10% of the adult fare plus any international taxes and surcharges, which can be significant."
So it seems as though they ARE warning you that the international taxes and surcharges, quote, "can be significant".
Sounds like someone didn't find out how significant before they got on the departing plane.
@altryan: I recently flew from California to Virginia..and a baby screamed and cried the entire flight! It was horrible..
Same thing happened on my flight to vegas last week - a children about 4 years old shrieking..and there was also no room on the flight since 1/2 of the flight was a college football time...
@altryan: I wish I could take the moral high ground and argue with you, but I have to relent and agree. I had a kid next to me on a flight who repeatedly threw a metal toy car at me which his mother insisted on having me move so she could get it back. Some kids are bastards and I don't like the idea of being in a metal tube at 35,000 feet with them or their studid parents for that matter.
Why should the child fly for free anyway? Regardless of whether they have a seat or not, they are being transported from point A to point B by the airline. Isn't the airline entitled to payment for providing the service? Granted, if they don't use a seat it shouldn't be full price, but I don't think it's outrageous to have to pay taxes and fees. On a more morbid note, if the child flies for free, and there is an accident, the insurance company doesn't get to not pay for the child's medical expenses or pay for their death just because they flew free.
"...The agent asked for our ticket for our son. I will not go into all of the details, but an hour later (and 35 minutes to flight departure), we were forced to pay 332 euros ($423.10) to get my son a ticket so he could return back to the states..."
"I will not go into details"? Umm. That's where the story is, and we need to know the details if we are to be convinced to take your side.
It sounds as if you're saying the kid didn't have a ticket at all. Did your infant not have a ticket to begin with? If not, and you went to the airport thinking the kid could travel without a ticket, what defense do you have? You were "forced" to buy a ticket, because all persons on an airplane have to have tickets, regardless of age.
Tickets have surcharges, and you're upset that because of your lack of planning, you suddenly had to pay for a ticket that had a high surcharge. What right do you have to be angry? How did your child get to Europe without a return ticket?
If on the other hand, the infant had a ticket, you need to explain why the airline was collecting the surcharge on the return journey, and why it wasn't collected when the trip began. How did that happen?
This story has lots of holes, and it's wrong to jump to criticize the airline with so many unanswered questions.
The question is not, "Should An Infant With No Seat Have To Pay A $320 Fuel Surcharge?" The question is, Consumerist, why don't you find out more about the story first? With only these thin details presented, this is a shoddy story.
Ahh, how did I know this was going to be about Delta as soon as I read the headline (and this was before I registered the picture of a Delta plane)?
Delta utterly suck. I am SO delighted I live in a city with an airport that is, basically, Delta's bitch. You want to fly somewhere? You're flying Delta. And you're going to pay through the nose for it.
Ugh.
Folks - anyone who thinks that "lap flying" their child is safe - you must know that if the plane hits unexpected turbulence, you will be unable to keep ahold of your child, and it will be injured or killed.
Read any story about sudden aircraft turbulence, and inevitably the injuries and deaths were people who were not seat belted in to their seat...
[www.cnn.com]
[cbs4denver.com]
[www.denverpost.com]
Those injuries and deaths will be your child if you lap-fly them. Don't be cheap with your child's safety - buy them a seat!
@altryan: Why stop with babies. They should charge a surcharge for every man who plans to hit on a fellow passenger, or women who wear too much perfume or the person who talks loudly on their cellphone. We could come up with a list of ALL the things that might bother another passenger.
On topic, I think the child should have had a seat. But that phony fuel charge is lame.
@humphrmi: Same with cars - you see people in quite expensive cars who just can't part with that extra bit for a car seat. Junior's allowed to wander around on the parcel shelf.
@Pylon83: The child doesn't fly for free. The child flies for 10% of the price of an adult ticket, plus "international taxes and fees".
@saintpetepaul: Unless your child has the opposite of benadryl, some kids do. They go into overdrive taking that.
Anyone reading this, if you're going to TRY benadryl on a flight, please, for the love of GOD, try it at home BEFORE the flight. Anyone who's ever seen a kid go off the handle on benadryl knows what the hell i'm talking about.
It's horrific.
@CreoleSugar: oooh, yeah, got stuck next to someone with perfume i was allergic to once. the flight was only a couple of hours but i sneezed the whole way and my eyes were burning. honestly, i can tune out a crying child after a while [3 years of working in a toy store and you can too!] but the perfume .... i think pervasive is the best word. heck, I'D pay extra to not have to sit next to someone with too much perfume.
@raleel: Actually, you should be grateful that the airlines are still in business and willing to ship us whiny passengers around. Most airlines are not getting rid of the surcharges because they are still trying to make up for the HUGE amount of money they lost this past year. The surcharges didn't even come close to off-setting the high fuel costs.
@humphrmi: Totally agree with you on that. It drives me crazy every time I see an infant or toddler (FAA states the limit is 2 years old) not occupying their own seat. Its just not safe and the poor kid would probably be more comfortable in a car seat anyway. And PLEASE give them a bottle or pacifier during takeoff and landing. Like when chewing gum, the motion of the jaw naturally stretches the membranes in the ear and helps with the pressure change.
@raleel: I remember listening to the Alan Handelman show when he started onto how the fuel surcharges are total BS and just sitting in the car after I parked and nodding in agreement...
Those above who say the child should be in his own seat, buckled into a car seat, are absolutely right. No child should die, and horribly, because they were born to parents who think saving a buck comes before child safety.
Furthermore, if your child is one of those who will spend the flight yowling, please stay home until this changes.
And things cost what they cost. My Yorkshire terrier weighs just under three pounds and it costs me $150 each way to France with her under my seat in a tiny case, plus shots, vet certification, and USDA paperwork. Complaining about it won't make it cheaper. Leaving my dog home with the neighbors will. I bring her when I go over for a month, and leave her with the neighbors when I'm there for a week.
P.S. Because I travel, I got a breed of dog that has hair and not fur (so as not to provoke people's allergies). She is trained to be perfectly silent and lie down -- for hours -- when I tell her to. She also goes in a litterbox. I bring a little Tupperware thing filled with litter for her on the plane, but a United pilot of a Paris flight once found her very cute and walked her on the tarmac in San Francisco.
@sleze69: When it's a *fuel* surcharge and the price of *fuel* has halved, yes, I would be angry too.
@misokitty: I would argue that they actually cost airlines more than regular passengers if they are in a seat. They make more of a mess and the food/drink offset would amount to approximately $1
Ok, this isn't true (at least in my case). My wife and I have flown 4 times on 3 different airlines in SE Asia (China Airlines, Cathay, and Tiger Air) and have never been charged extra. And this includes a flight with an infant (with four diaper changes in a room the size of a phone booth) from Narita (Tokyo) to LA (fifteen and a half hours). On each of these three airlines we were not only not charged extra, we were asked at check-in if we wanted a bassinet for our son. Our five year-old however, was charged, but only 2/3 price for his seat at the most expensive (China Airlines).
@CreoleSugar: You should design and sell a t-shirt. ''If you talk on the cellphone, let your child run around, or wear too much perfume, you authorize me to slap you''.
@unpolloloco: In what way are you 100% sure that an infant makes "more of a mess"? I've been around adults who act like untrained pigs on airlines, and I've not left a single thing behind for the flight crew to clean up after my daughter either time I've flown with her.
I really hope you were kidding, and not just making the gross generalization that "kids are messy". Adults are far more experienced and tend to care a lot less about the wreckage they leave behind, in my experience.
@altryan:
So what you're saying is children don't deserve to go places on planes? That doesn't seem fair. Just because you don't know how to deal with children (or their parents if need be) doesn't mean that they don't deserve to fly. As someone else stated, their are far worse things then children on flights.
Dear lord YES! As has been pointed out, airline is paying to transport a person and their luggage. If they're an infant, they're still being transported, and they probably have luggage, even if their parents are handling it.
That, and babies are bloody annoying on flights when they get going. They're even more trouble than a regular (quiet) person.
Look at it this way; they're already getting a super steep discount on the price!
@SMSDHubbard: Yes, I work for the airline industry (but not for Delta). And to be honest, I don't like the surcharges either because I believe its a deceptive practice, but it appears one of the reasons behind it is that the companies were afraid raise their "published fares" too much.
@lincolnparadox: YES! Let the old ones die; I'm amazed there were people who actually wanted that bailout. While we're at it, get some foreign airlines flying in the US- then we'll have some real competition.
And the TSA too- get rid of them.
@Howie411: The fee still covers insurance and the added preparation needed for an animal to be in the cabin. I've flown with my cats before, and there are restrictions on how many pets are allowed per flight. Animals being in the cabin can be a pain for the staff as well, depending on who's nearby. A passenger threw a fit once and demanded to be moved to the opposite end of the plane because they were in the same row as my cat. (I had offered to move right off the bat, they didn't like cats and made a scene, etc etc.) I wouldn't expect any airline to deal with those possible inconveniences for free.
Flying is bad enough -- the smells, the air quality, the earaches (which babies can't control) -- but not even having a seat? I know sitting with Mom is generally a good time for a baby, but probably not when she's wedged in a tiny seat and stressing out over the flight. Get that baby a car seat and let him have a chance at a nap.
I noted that the post indicated "return to the US." It sounds like what happened to my family several years ago. The travel agent we booked with apparently didn't charge us for our baby when we bought our tickets, so at the airport, we paid for her "free ticket" (which by then was a lot more expensive). But the airline ticket counter person just put the baby on as an "e-ticket" rather than a paper ticket. Fast forward two weeks later in France returning home, the airline we were returning on wouldn't allow our baby to be an "e-ticket" we had to have a paper ticket for her. So we had to pay again. It took quite some time and hassle to get reimbursed from the first airline.
So yeah, moral of the story, just buy the extra seat.
@CreoleSugar:
Absolutely! I don't understand why babies get a bad rap when grown adults are much worse and harder to tune out. I once sat next to a man who had an OCD thing going on with his hands and his mouth. He kept knocking on the window, making odd signs with his hands, whistling and talking non stop to me and to no one in particular. He kept saying how he had lost his reading glasses right before the flight so I gave him mine in hopes that he would read and be quiet, which he finally did. I would much rather have had a baby next to me.
For that price they ought to at least give him a seat. And a free dinner. And a new TV.