Slashdot Mirror
Airlines Get Billions From Unbundled Services
Hugh Pickens writes "In hearings before Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that airlines reported revenue of $7.9 billion from baggage fees and reservation change and cancellation fees in calendar years 2008 and 2009 — fees on unbundled services that once were considered part of the ticket price. 'We believe that the proliferation of these fees and the manner in which they are presented to the traveling public can be confusing and in some cases misleading,' says Robert Rivkin, the Department of Transportation's general counsel. Published fares used by consumers to choose flights don't 'clearly represent the cost of travel when these services are added.' However, Spirit Airlines President and CEO Ben Baldanza defended the practice of unbundling, saying it allows his airline to charge lower fares (PDF) and allows the customers the choice to purchase the services or not."
This is what really pisses me off; people take this attitude that, hey..I don't have extra bags, I don't want the food, so I am flying cheaper! Well guess what stupid, you're not flying cheaper.
I travel very often so I have a fair idea of how the traveling costs trend and what I notice is that I get fucked harder and harder by the airlines, but since there is price fixing, there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Don't get me wrong, if the tickets WERE actually cheaper by not including the bags, than I would be fine with that. BUT, they are not cheaper. If anything, they are more expensive AND you pay your extra 100 bucks for bags. WTF?
You want to go by weight? I weight 160lbs and my wife is 105lbs. Why should she pay the same like me? Why can't she have an extra bag?
Why can that fat as fuck American sitting next to me get the same price?
They should chance the whole thing to per lbs, yourself and bags included. That is whats fair.
Why does the government care? They now get a lower tax revenue! Before, if your ticket cost $500, they got whatever percent (let's say 10), so $50. Now if they strip down the ticket so that it's only $400, plus $100 in other fees, the government is losing $10 they would've previously received. Food, baggage, seat placement, etc, all get taxed at a lower (or non-existent) rate when they're sold separately.
SouthWest
Their ticket price may be a few bucks more but..
They don't nickle and dime me.
They don't charge to check your bag.
They don't charge for the crappy airline food.
They don't have assigned seating
They are easy to deal with.
And they seem to adapt to the times.
You check your self in online the night before. The people who check in 1st get a lower boarding group.You print your boarding pass at home.
When you get to the airport you hand the well staffed baggage desk your bags and check your self in on the touch screen where you have the option of reprinting your boarding pass if you lost it.
When i get to my airport I look over at the other airlines and see 2 people trying to deal with lines a mile long. Southwest has 4 or 5 people working the check in and hardly any line.
Southwest changes with the times and makes a profit. They seem to understand that if you make your customers happy they will keep coming back.
Everyone else is operating the same old inefficient way..pissing people off.. and loosing money.
I have to return some videotapes...
Solution, start weighing every passenger and charge them by weight. Or, everybody pays the same up to 175 lbs and then there's a $20 surcharge for every ten pounds over that.
US carriers would clean up.
You are welcome on my lawn.