But to the average traveler, this is the way they see it. I m not doing a disservice to anyone by fr

McAuley /Shutterstock It s been five short years since the airline industry, led by an ailing American Airlines, quietly stripped the ability to check your first bag at no extra cost from the price of an airline ticket — an act given the antiseptic budget rent a car of beverly hills name unbundling.
At about this time in 2008, passengers were beginning to adjust to a new reality, as other airlines budget rent a car of beverly hills eagerly joined in separating their luggage fees from base fares. Now, they ve finally accepted the fee revolution, according to most experts.
An airline ticket doesn t have to include a free bag or a meal, no more than a hotel room should come with the ability to use the hotel s exercise facilities, or your rental should cover the cost of a license plate. And that s the way it should be, they say.
But there s no convincing evidence that they lowered their prices when they unbundled, which is what should have happened. Instead, budget rent a car of beverly hills they just added new fees to their rates, undermining their argument that they were helping you. Helping themselves to more of your money is more like it.
The numbers are truly staggering: Airlines collected $27.1 billion in fees and other ancillary revenue last year, up nearly 20% from 2011. Other sectors of travel are doing their darnedest to emulate this so-called success.
Truth is, there s a growing sense that unbundling, at least the way the travel industry has done it, isn t right. Not only did the airlines implement these extras in a dishonest way and then resort to telling half-truths when explaining them to their customers, but they also often fail to adequately disclose unbundled fees before a purchase.
That s not how travel companies see it, and they ve done a masterful job convincing some customers that travelers want it this way. Toni Vitanza, a flight attendant for a major airline and a regular reader of this column, sums up the argument as a question: Why should I pay, built into my base fare, for your headphones, cocktail, meal or, for that matter, for your checked bag when I actually know how to pack a real carry-on that fits under the seat in front of me?
Of course, there are degrees of deception. Convincing travelers that their seat shouldn t include an unpalatable airline budget rent a car of beverly hills meal is fairly easy. A confirmed seat reservation? That s a little harder. Convincing them, when they check into a hotel, that they should pay a mandatory resort fee to use the pool or get free Wi-Fi? Good luck.
Resort fees are a major scourge, says Glenn Haussman, who works for a hotel industry trade publication. I hate them with a passion, and they will not take them off even if you never use the pool or gym, which I usually can t because I am attending a conference and working too hard.
When does unbundling go too far? When common sense tells you it s wrong, say travelers. It s like a restaurant charging you for the use of glasses, plates and the table, says Lillian budget rent a car of beverly hills Mizrahi, a talent consultant from Los Angeles. Where does it end?
The trouble actually lies with the consumer, he says. Everyone says they will pay more for better service. But this rarely occurs in actual budget rent a car of beverly hills practice. I d guess 75% of consumers today look for price first and last, 20% consider other product attributes and the final 5% always budget rent a car of beverly hills go with the best product regardless of price. If you are an airline, that s a challenge, and it explains why most simply go the route of price.
Sorensen is right. Actually, we d rather not pay anything for travel, which partially explains why it s so easy to be seduced by loyalty programs and the promise of a free ticket or hotel room. But that doesn t necessarily mean we expect budget rent a car of beverly hills an airline seat to come without the ability to carry a bag on board (sorry, Allegiant and Spirit) or that we have to pay an extra fee so our car rental company can dispose of its tires.
The unbundling games must end. Travel companies have to clearly disclose fees up front when they ve engaged in this creative and lucrative product-parsing exercise. In the end, it s probably up to the government to define what is — and isn t — included in an airline ticket, a hotel room and a rental car. Too bad it had to come to this.
From MIA I am boarding a charter flight to Cuba. That s the only reason, otherwise you are correct, FLL would work out just as well. (And not to worry, I m flying in to MIA the day before we leave so I won t risk missing the charter but on the way back I probably wouldn t want to mess with getting to another airport.)
I agree with both of you. Personally, I m of the opinion that unbundling is a good thing, even though many travelers may not realize it. It keeps fares lower, and allows passengers to cherry-pick budget rent a car of beverly hills the services that are necessary for them.
No, it s fair. In the minds of consumers, budget rent a car of beverly hills an unavoidable fee like a baggage fee or a seat reservation fee is mandatory, and no different budget rent a car of beverly hills from a resort fee. Similarly, the parsing of policy and rule is lost on the average passenger.
But to the average traveler, this is the way they see it. I m not doing a disservice to anyone by framing the issues like this, except perhaps to those who like a la carte pricing and want it to continue for all the wrong reasons.
Toni Vitanza comes across as the type of snide flight budget rent a car of beverly hills attendant who gives the field a bad name. It must be a terrible budget rent a car of beverly hills burden to be so perfect . . . not! Anyone in coach was already paying for headphones and cocktails (at least on domestic flights) long before this unbundling BS, so those points are nonstarters. At least with hotels, I can usually find a property that doesn t charge a resort fee, but your departure/destination point can severely limit your airline choices.
My tire dealer charges me a disposal fee when I purchase new tires because budget rent a car of beverly hills the state charges them. I don t have a problem with that; it s not a significant amount. But when you multiply that fee by the many, many people budget rent a car of beverly hills who rent a particular vehicle before it needs new tires, it s pure profit for the rental agency.
But, its NOT really mandatory going to a business meeting to Chicago for the day, I won t be checking baggage, so definitely NOT mandatory. I personally HATE the unbundling, but some of those things are really NOT mandatory.
Market share is the answer Spirit doesn t FLY everywhere Delta or United budget rent a car of beverly hills does, which means they don t get as many bookings. But 75% OVERALL is an accurate response from more than one source and it is SAD but I see clients who travel HORRIBLE flights to save a couple dollars. So no, service isn t what matters to most fliers. (sadly for the rest of us!)
I looked at just a few routes on a day I ll be travelling later this fall. I looked only a non-stop flights. DTW to LAS, a major Spirit route, Delta has five flights a day, Spirit has three. DTW to MCO, another Spirit specialty, Delta has 6 flights a day and Spirit as 2. Even though the Spirit flight may be cheaper than the Delta flights, Delta must be outselling Spirit ON THE SAME ROUTE! Is there a single route where Spirit has more flights than United or Delta? (Probably, but I don t know what it is).
Yes, there are people who will choose whatever airline to save a few dollars. But, I know of NOBODY who will fly Spirit unless it is a significant savings (at least $50 after all fees). Yes, the Spirit market share is less, but in markets where they have peer service, usually for less money, they are still flying fewer flights than the major airlines. There is a lot that goes into that. Name recognition, advertising, brand loyalty, loyalty programs, service quality, bad PR (especially Spirit), etc. all play a role.
This idea that 75% is due to price only is nonsense. Probably closer to 25%. I could not find research on airlines, but the insurance industry has studied this and found that only 30% of customers choose a product primarily based on price. The 75% number is true for some things such as household products, but the same survey will tell you that most consumers can t tell the difference between the brands anyway, so, while price wins, it does not really have much competition. I dare you to show a survey where the majority of consumers could not tell the difference between Delta and Spirit.
A few carriers now charge for carry-on bags. Even most business travelers on a same-day round trip to a meeting won t be able to fit everything they need for the day in a (maximum) 16 x14 x12 laptop bag. And of course, they have to be prepared for the possibility that they won t get back the same day, regardless of their same-day return ticket.
Why would a carrier advertise fares without a fee that will apply to 95+% of their passengers other than because it fools many of those customers into underestimating the real costs of the itinerary? If they merely want to incentivize passengers budget rent a car of beverly hills to travel ultra-light and pass along the savings they could advertise the bag-inclusive fare and offer those few passengers without any bags a discount or rebate.
You don t quite need to reverse engineer cost structures to demonstrate that current baggage fees (which don t vary by travel distance and which as Chris points out are usually higher for bag #2 and bag #3 than for bag #1) can t be designed to truly reflect the variable budget rent a car of beverly hills costs.
I too was initially seduced and mislead by the fact that checked baggage fees don t vary by distance. But on closer analysis I realized that I was simply wrong. The idea behind checked baggage fees is that it costs the airlines more than carryon bags. (baggage handlers, distribution system, etc.)The main distance dependent budget rent a car of beverly hills cost of transporting bags, whether checked or carry on, is fuel. However, whether a bag is checked or carried on, the fuel costs remains budget rent a car of beverly hills the same. As such, there is no justification for distance based pricing.
You do post a good point about the increasing charges for subsequent bags. Fortunately, any number of economic theories resolves this question. The law of increasing relative costs would appear to be the most appropriate one.
But the previous paragraphs all smoke and fury si