Deal-hunting used to be relatively simple. You’d fire up your computer, hit a few aggregators and online travel agencies, maybe a few airline sites. Then, you’d pick your ticket and pull the trigger. The lowest number wins, right?
Wrong … at least according to Congess.
Down in Washington, the folks who’d rather not be distracted by continued high unemployment or wars in two countries dispatched investigators to dig into the wave of new fees introduced over the past few years make it hard to figure out where the best deal is. Your cheap ride seems great, of course, until you want to grab a pillow and check a bag … or not check a bag, depending on the airline.
According to USA Today:
Since 2007, many airlines have been charging for services that were traditionally included in the price of a ticket. That’s improved airline bottom lines in a tough economy but raised the ire of travelers who find themselves nickeled and dimed to substantially higher costs.
The mathematical gymnastics involved – e.g., adding a bag-checking fee to the ticket price – are more common in Europe, where easyJet and Ryanair have forced passengers to do addition for years.
While Congressional investigators don’t think passengers can do the math for themselves, it’s clear that the airlines have figured it out: 10 U.S. airlines raked in $7.8 billion in ancillary fees last year. Delta led the pack with $1.6 billion.