The airline still offers business/first class fares as well as more expensive, fully refundable opti

(CNN) American Airlines announced a new fare structure Wednesday, essentially bundling up many of the services and perks that airlines have been busy unbundling into separate line-item fees for several years.
The new system will give passengers the option to stick with the lowest rental car sales fare available, called Choice, and pay a la carte for checked bags, preferred seating and other services and perks. For an additional $68 round-trip, a new Choice Essential option includes one checked bag, no change fees and priority boarding.
rental car sales With our renewed customer focus, we ve designed these choices around what our customers tell us will make their travel most enjoyable more flexibility and benefits that give them the most ease and convenience, said Rob Friedman, American s vice president of marketing, in a statement.
The airline still offers business/first class fares as well as more expensive, fully refundable options in all fare categories. rental car sales Frequent fliers will continue to receive their usual benefits, with enhancements to the new fare categories, such as a third checked bag for elite customers.
It does remove anxiety rental car sales the passenger knows exactly what to expect when booking, but the new structure may end up costing some passengers more for the same services, he said. He called American s new program more straitjacketed than Frontier Airlines system.
rental car sales George Hobica, president of Airfarewatchdog.com, sees the $68 fare add-on as a possible savings for passengers who are planning to check a bag anyway. A la carte, the checked bag would cost fliers $50 round-trip. For $18 you get the safety rental car sales net of being able to avoid that $150 change fee on a nonrefundable domestic fare, he said.
I think it s potentially rental car sales a win, win, win, he said, because the government can tax the higher fares (where ancillary fees are not taxable), consumers will be able to change their plans more affordably and the airline will draw more consumers to its website because the new structure isn t currently available via third-party sites like Kayak.