Passengers most annoying airline fees
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

The various fees that airlines now add on to the price of a flight ticket has been widely documented. The days of paying for a flight and it including a meal and drink, free in-flight entertainment, free window seat or a seat with more leg room on request are long gone.

Passengers most annoying airline fees

We have entered into an era where if an airline can think of something to charge you for, they will, but it amazes me that these airlines do not realise that consumers would be less annoyed, if they just increased the price of the flight because of the increase in oil prices.

That’s why they have added on these extra fee’s, right?

Out of all of the fee’s that airlines inflict on passengers, what do you hate having to pay for the most.


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9 responses to “Passengers most annoying airline fees”

BW | 8 July, 2008 at 9:00 pm

Over here, they have just started charging for hold luggage, but only if you travel economy class. $15 for first suitcase, $25 for second. This is if you are travelling with the US. So that is one that is not nice.

on a side note: I was checking airline prices the other day and I could fly to San Francisco for $400 which is 3627miles for less than Jamaica at $550 and only 702 miles from Puerto Rico. go figure that one out…

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Rohan | 8 July, 2008 at 10:04 pm

BW that has happened in Europe for years.

Not that I am justifying what the airlines have done but if they charge we think twice about packing the rubbish many of us do when going on holiday. More baggage, equals more fuel, equals more carbon emissions.

I hate the fact that we have to pay for food and drink.

What are we actually paying for now with all of these extras.

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Darren Cronian | 8 July, 2008 at 10:22 pm

@ BW

That’s crazy difference in price for the miles difference. I suspect its to do with demand, and there will be more demand for the SF flight than to Jamaica. As for the baggage fee’s that has hit US travellers hard.

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Nick | 9 July, 2008 at 9:58 am

Darren

One that bugs me most is paying to check in. You pay for your bags and then they charge you to check them in.

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Darren Cronian | 11 July, 2008 at 8:09 am

@ Nick

Charging you to check-in? I haven’t heard that before. Is this an incentive to use the check-in booths or online check in services? Who did you fly with that charged you?

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Barbara DesChamps | 12 July, 2008 at 1:26 am

Rohan is correct and the writing is on the wall. Ryanair and others have been unbundling charges for years. Airlines want to keep the basic ticket prices low so they are competitive in the searches. There is also something to be said for charging passengers only for services actually used. You don’t want to pay for the other guy’s Scotch if you are only drinking tea. Those of us who travel lightly don’t want to pay for the guy taking 50 pounds.

Don’t despair. You can “lighten up” in ways that give you benefits instead of fits. Lightweight travel is safer and easier than carrying a heavy load of things you don’t need.
In four decades of advising people what to pack, the common thread is that they aren’t sure what to take, so they take too much. My husband and I have been traveling overseas on long trips since 1971. We take only carry-on bags that each weigh 7 to 8 kilos full (about 15 to 17 pounds) and we dress well. People kept asking how we did it so I published two books (see my dot com) that show how to do it easily and cheaply. May all your trips be light and fantastic!

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Nick | 12 July, 2008 at 10:19 am

Darren

It was ryanair, pay for check-in or buy luggage and you have to check-in so they hit you twice. Yes idea is online check-in, but if your taking a bag, you have to check in.

Here it is from Ryanairs site
Any passenger who arrives at the airport with cabin baggage that exceeds the maximum weight and/or dimensions will be required to check-in again at the airport and will be charged an Airport Check-In fee per person plus the standard checked baggage fee per item.

You can of course pay both fee’s in advance. (£8 for 1bag and £4 to check-in per flight)

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Darren Cronian | 12 July, 2008 at 1:47 pm

@ Nick

I never noticed that before, yes, that is incredibly annoying. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

@ Barbara

I think the fee’s that annoy people are particularly paying for food and drink, but more having to pay for luggage, window seats and other extra charges that have always been built into the price of a flight ticket.

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Dee | 4 August, 2008 at 11:50 pm

My most annoying extra charge is ‘taxes’ not being included in quoted prices but these ‘taxes’ include fuel surcharges so vary from airline to airline. Admittedly, this is mainly because I normally see fares aimed at trade so you’re expected to spend the time working them out, but I also do see consumer fares shown like this sometimes which I didn’t think was legal (OFT or ASA took Ryan Air to court on this) in either small circulation newspapers/magazines or on google ads.

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