Finding a competitively priced airline ticket is tricky enough without each airline having its own myriad of fees and individual policies. Fortunately, the Airfarewatchdog blog lists most of the fees for the major airlines in one place. Combine it with their checked bag fee chart, and now you know all the fees. This makes meaningful comparison much easier. Otherwise, you might have to go through the entire ticket purchase process before you could figure out your total including fees. They are also “the only site that lists low airfares on all airlines, including Southwest. And [they] include special fares that you can only buy on the airline’s own sites.”
airlines
By 6.2.08
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The paper airline ticket has officially died. [USAToday]
Airlines Revive Hated Minimum Stay Fares
By 6.2.08
Thanks to airlines bringing back a much-maligned ticket tariff, the minimum stay, business travelers can find that if you return on a Saturday, your ticket could be as much as three times as much as if you returned on Sunday. For instance, “A woman has a morning meeting in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday. On Continental, the round-trip fare from Newark is about $875. But if she stays through Saturday night, the fare is about $250,” NYT reports. Their excuse? Soaring oil prices. Luckily, there is a way around it: buy two back-to-back roundtrip tickets, one going to your destination on your preferred departure date, one coming back on your preferred return date. Toss two legs of the trip and it can end up being cheaper than the one original ticket.
Next On The Airline Chopping Block: Lavatory Sinks?
By 6.1.08
Disturbing news from Horizon Air: rising costs have apparently forced the airline to replace lavatory sinks with a “lone bottle of hand sanitizer glued to the counter.”
POLL: Are You Fed Up With Flying?
By 5.30.08
The Austin Business Journal says that a new survey shows Americans are fed up with flying and have been avoiding it — and hotels and restaurants are suffering.
Broken Scales Help Airlines Profit On Fraudulent Baggage Weight Fees
By 5.30.08
Before leaving home, Shawn’s bags weighed 44 pounds. At Chicago, the airport scale said they weighed 44 pounds. When lifting off from Phoenix, the airport’s scales said the bag weighed 52 lbs, incurring at $50 fee. When he landed in Chicago, he weighed the bags again at the check-in counter. 47.5 pounds. “Her bag had lost 4.5 pounds on a 3 1/2 hour flight,” Shawn told Elliot.org. After writing a complaint letter, Shawn received a $50 voucher from American Airlines who defended their fraudulent scale by saying they were in “full compliance with the policies for scale calibrations.” So apparently the policy allows for defrauding passengers. The voucher is nice, but I would want my actual money back. And what of all the other travelers who didn’t pay attention or didn’t complain? Pure profit.
The 10 Most Annoying Airline Fees
By 5.29.08
Forbes Traveler has put together a list of the top 10 most annoying airline fees, and it’s a good one — or is it a bad one? Airlines are feeling the effect of skyrocking oil prices and they’re trying their best to pass the costs along to you, their customers, without driving down demand. The result? These delightful fees. Gotcha!
By 5.29.08
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Frontier Airlines has increased the fee for transporting antlers, yes, antlers, from $75 to $100. [Frontier via Rick Seaney]
Lawsuits: Man Takes Delta To Court For $1 Million After The Airline Ruined His Mother's 80th Birthday
By 5.28.08
Manhattan lawyer Richard Roth says he tried not to sue Delta Airlines after the airline’s “absolute incompetence” caused he and his family to rack up $21,000 in rental cars, clothes, hotels and airline tickets trying to get to Argentina for his mother’s 80th birthday party, but the airline wouldn’t answer his requests for reimbursement.
US Airways Officially Ends Snacks
By 5.28.08
US Airways has decided that the $.03 per package that they were spending on your snack is just too much money! They’re officially discontinuing free snacks for coach passengers as of June 1st.
Will June 29th Be A Big Cluster#@$! For Airlines?
By 5.22.08
Matt writes in to warn us all not to fly on June 29th and 30th if we can help it, because the 29th is when flight plans for all domestic flights have to switch over to the international standard. Matt adds that it’s just his personal opinion, so we’re not sure how worried we should really be (remember the fake-out of the Y2K bug?). But then again, we’re talking about airlines, so at the very least you should pack some extra energy bars if you’re traveling on the day of the switchover.
Department Of Transportation Says Airlines Can't Charge Extra Baggage Fees After Ticket Purchase
By 5.22.08
What To Expect From Airlines Now That Oil Is $130 A Barrel
By 5.21.08
Scott McCartney, who writes the Wall Street Journal’s “Middle Seat” column, has some thoughts about what consumers can expect from airlines, now that oil has hit $130 a barrel. He says that “he change in oil prices from a year ago to today translates into $24.6 billion in added fuel costs for passengers and cargo airlines on an annualized basis,” which is more than the airline industry has ever earned– its best year saw $5.3 billion in earnings.
American Airlines Now Charges $15 For The First Checked Bag
By 5.21.08
American Airlines has just announced that it will begin charging a $15 fee for the first checked bag starting June 15. The airline also said that it would raise fees for things like “reservation help” and “oversized bags.”
Fuel Prices Force Southern Skyways To Abandon Flights
By 5.20.08
Brian writes in to let us know that Southern Skyways has fallen partially victim to soaring fuel costs:
5 Common Airline Ticket Errors And How To Avoid Them
By 5.20.08
Despite security headaches and rising fuel costs, air travel is still a popular way to get to your destination. But because of heightened security, a simple error on your ticket can result in extra fees or even leave you grounded. To help you avoid some common ticket-buying pitfalls, CNN Travel has complied 5 common ticketing errors and how tells us how to avoid them. Check them out, inside…
Dealing With Frontier's Bankruptcy
By 5.20.08
Now that the airline with the fuzzy animals on their planes has also declared bankruptcy, you might be in the same position as reader Scott. Scott had Frontier cancel his flight and send him an email with a link to get a refund. While it’s nice that Frontier made the refund option easy, a refund doesn’t get Scott any closer to his destination, and a second ticket would cost Scott a bit more than he initially paid. Thanks to a little bit of research and 35 minutes on the phone, Scott was able to get Frontier to rebook him on a different airline. Find out how, inside.
