With some airlines charging fees on top of their fees, what's next?

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http://ca.travel.yahoo.com/news/capress/090619/utravel/airline_fees_1

With some airlines charging fees on top of their fees, what's next?

CP - Fri Jun 19, 04:44 PM EDT

By Freed, The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS - As if charging US$15 to check a bag weren't enough, two airlines

are asking for $5 more beginning this summer if you pay at the check-in counter

- a fee on top of a fee.

Of course, you could always pay your baggage fee from home. The airlines call it

the " online discount. "

If airlines can get away with that, what's next? Rather than raise fares in the

middle of a recession, they're piling on fees to make money - fees for bags,

fees to get through the line faster, even fees for certain seats.

United Airlines alone expects to rake in more than $1 billion this year in fees

ranging from baggage to accelerated frequent-flyer awards. That's more than five

per cent of its revenue.

The most likely new fees are those that some other airline, somewhere, has

tried. Fees usually originate with one or two airlines, and competitors watch to

see whether passengers accept them or revolt. For instance:

US Airways and United are hitting passengers up for $5 to pay their baggage fees

at the airport instead of online. United implemented the fee June 10, while US

Airways will put it into effect July 9.

If you want to select an exit row seat on AirTran and enjoy the extra leg room,

expect to cough up $20.

Allegiant Air, a smaller national discount airline, charges a $13.50

" convenience fee " for online purchases, even though most other carriers

encourage purchases direct from their website.

Air Canada (TSX:AC.A) will start charging travellers a fee of $100 for domestic

return flights and $200 for an overseas trip to bring their cats or small dogs

on the plane with them.

European discounter air charges for something everyone has to do if they

want to fly: check in. It's 5 euros, or about $6.75, to check in online, double

for passengers who pay at the airport. air plans to eliminate airport

check-in desks.

Spanish airline Vueling charges a fee to pick a seat. Any seat at all. A " basic "

seat behind the wing runs 3 euros. For 30 euros, travellers can choose an aisle

or window seat and guarantee that the middle seat will remain empty.

" They need to chill out with those, " said a frustrated Jim Engineer, a public

relations executive waiting for a flight out of New York's LaGuardia. " Charging

for a glass of water and seats just translates into unhappy customers. "

As recently as last year, most flyers only came across a fee if they checked

three bags or sent a minor child across the country. Most people, most of the

time, travelled fee-free.

But that began to change last spring. Spiking jet fuel prices and passenger

resistance to higher fares started airlines looking around the cabin for things

they could charge extra for.

Passengers are finding it's a lot easier for the airlines to add the fees than

to take them away.

" They're going to keep nudging them up until they run into market resistance, "

said Ed Perkins, a contributing editor at the website Smarter Travel.

That's what happened at US Airways. It tried for seven months to charge for soda

and water, but gave up in March after no other airlines took up the idea. And

Delta scaled back a plan to charge $50 to check a second bag on all

international flights. Instead, the charge will apply only on flights to Europe.

United has been a leader in finding ways to charge passengers separately for

things. Some are for perks coach travellers used to get for free, like food.

Others are new services altogether, like United's door-to-door luggage service

via FedEx.

Airlines say fees are part of " a la carte " pricing that allows them to hold the

line on fares. Rather than charge higher fares to everyone, they say, passengers

can pick and choose the extras they want to pay for.

Ideas for fees don't come out of thin air. Last month in Miami most of the big

U.S. carriers and many overseas airlines attended a conference devoted to

a-la-carte pricing and fees.

Some fees stretch the imagination: The CEO of European discount carrier air

has floated the idea of charging for lavatory use and sick bags. But even he

hasn't gone ahead with what appears to have been a publicity-seeking gambit, and

no other carrier has suggested such a charge.

Still, there's no rule against such a fee in the U.S., according to the

Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and AirTran Holdings Inc. say they have no plans to tack a

fee on to carry-on bags, an idea that would almost certainly annoy passengers

just getting used to paying for checked baggage.

It would also put airline workers in the awkward position of deciding whether

that bag on your arm is a big purse, presumably free, or a lumpy suitcase.

Already, fees for checked bags have made finding space in the overhead bin

tougher.

And even if carry-on bags stay free, United is already offering a " Premier Line "

check-in for $25. It allows flyers to get through check-in and security faster

and board earlier.

That guarantees some of that precious overhead space - so in a way, it's like a

carry-on fee, said Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks Co., an airline

consultant who has written a guidebook for airlines seeking " ancillary revenue, "

the industry term for fees and extra services such as airline credit cards.

J. , CEO of FirstClassFlyer.com, said he thinks travellers in the

front of the plane will remain immune from the nickel-and-dime fees airlines aim

at coach passengers.

For those in coach, though, " What they are going to charge for in the future is

anything that's not bolted down. "

" They've already gotten sufficient revenue from them, " said. " All

they're saying to coach-class travellers is 'We really haven't gotten enough

from you. " '