Few things are more upsetting than carefully planning anaffordable trip after reviewing available cheap traveloptions, including cheapairplane tickets, cheapdeals, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, onlyto be surprised by additional airline fees at the airport.
Before purchasing your next airline ticket, you need tofind out what the airline you are considering charges to carry-on a bag, haveyour choice of seat, a pillow, and other former freebies.
U.S. fliers paid $7.1 billion in fees just to check bagsand make flight changes in 2017, up from $6.3 billion in 2010. Unfortunately, hidden fees charges forservices that were traditionally free in the past are climbing steeply. The reality is that many of these fees arenon-negotiable. Airline fees are here tostay and make the airlines billions of dollars in profit yearly.
Knowing what these fees are can help you understand thetrue costs of future flights and make better informed travel decisions. The following are hidden airline fees thattravelers should watch out for, according to Daniel Bortz:
Althoughmost airlines still let their passengers bring on one carry-on bag for free,some do not. Often whether you have topay extra for a carry-on bag depends on what type of ticket was purchased andthe size of the bag. American Airlinesand United recently rolled out basic economy tickets that charge fliers anextra $25 per full sized carry-on bag, or any bag that requires overhead binspace.
Mostairlines charges customers a fee to cancel or change a reservation. This fee varies significantly betweendifferent carriers. American Airlinesimposes a $200 change fee on domestic flights and up to $750 on internationalflights. Delta Air Lines charges a $200fee for domestic flights and up to $500 on international flights. Low cost domestic operator Allegiant onlycharges a change fee of up to $75 per person.
Overthe phone and in person ticket purchases at the airport usually result in feesvs. online bookings which are typically free. Phone bookings fees range up to $25 and in person booking fees up to$35.
Mostairlines charge passengers who want to access Wi-Fi while in the air, withJetBlue being a noticeable exception. Select airlines charge a flat fee for an entire flight, while otherscharge an hourly rate. Prices also tendto vary depending on whether it is a domestic or international flight.
Frequent fliers are often able to reducetheir cost for in flight Wi-Fi by signing up for a monthly subscription planoffered by select airlines. For example,American Airlines offers a $50 monthly Internet plan for domestic flights viaGogo. The same service is also used byAlaska Airline, Delta, and Virgin America.
Selectinga seat in advance of a flights departure used to be a free perk. Today many airlines charge for thisprivilege. For example, seat assignmentsstart at $5 on Spirit, who charges an additional premium for window and aisleseats, or seats with additional legroom. Select airlines, such as Lufthansa lets its passengers choose seats forfree starting 24 hours prior to departure.
Selectairlines now charge for non-alcoholic beverages. Discount airlines including Frontier andSpirit charge for these beverages as well as for snacks.
Airlineprovided pillows and blankets come with a fee these days on severalairlines. JetBlue charges $5 to $6 for apillion and blanket, whereas American Airline charges $8.
Todayeven redeeming frequent flyer points results in a charge from someairlines. This type of fee generallydepends on how and when you book. Oftenyou have to pay a premium if you book a free ticket with the help of anagent. Select airlines also charge extrafor close-in bookings, or reservations that are made within a set number ofdays prior to a flight. American andUnited charge $75 if you reserve a free seat less than 21 days out. Spirt charges a $15 fee for tickets purchasedusing miles more than 180 prior to departure.
www.cheapfares.com