Fee crazy?
15/10/10 22:47
Are those airline fees driving you crazy? Most airlines charge you for the first and second bag. Jet Blue gives you your first bag free, but charges you for the second. Southwest doesn’t charge you for any. If you’re a premium loyalty member for a carrier, you should be able to check your bags free. Ditto if you’re an active member of the military.
But the rest of us have to pay, and unless you travel a lot, it gets pretty confusing. You can’t see those extra fees for bags, premium seating, Wi Fi, etc., on Travelocity or any third-party website. And even if you’re booking on an airline website, it can be tough to find them.
So, first of all, here’s an easy guide to all those airline fees. It’s ExploreFlightFees.com and it lists them all for you in an easy chart to read. And another of my favorite websites, www.FareCompare.com, also displays these fees.
ExploreFlightFees.com comes to you courtesy of Sabre, a global distribution system (GDS) that is one of four big travel technology companies that have built their fortunes over the past half century storing, marketing and processing the billions of airfares that we shop for, purchase and fly.
The airlines have to pay Sabre and all the other GDSs every time we look up a fare--be it through an online travel agency like Travelocity or Expedia, or a traditional agent--and buy that ticket. Information is power and the airlines don’t want to cede any more information than they have to to the GDSs, so they are not putting these new fees in the GDSs. The first carrier to do that would be at a huge disadvantage in the aggressively competitive airline marketplace, because every other carrier flying that same route would look cheaper.
But Sabre pulled a fast one of the airlines--it has scoured airline websites and pulled their ancillary fees off of the airline sites and imported them into the Sabre system. So, even though the airlines aren’t feeding Sabre that information, Sabre’s got it. Now, it’s not perfect and there are some gaps, Sabre concedes.
If you’re a business traveler and your corporation has negotiated rates with that airline, those fares aren’t in there. If you’re a frequent flyer, it might be able to see your preferred status and waive your baggage fee if you qualify, but because airlines vary in the way they supply that information on their websites, Sabre’s current system might miss that. And it can’t get all the seat selection fees because some of them vary according to market or route.
But it does mean that any Sabre-connected agency--either online or offline--will have access to a lot of those fees. In the meantime, at least the bathrooms are still free.
And, click here to see what the suggestions that the American Society of Nude Recreation has to make about how to avoid these fees.
But the rest of us have to pay, and unless you travel a lot, it gets pretty confusing. You can’t see those extra fees for bags, premium seating, Wi Fi, etc., on Travelocity or any third-party website. And even if you’re booking on an airline website, it can be tough to find them.
So, first of all, here’s an easy guide to all those airline fees. It’s ExploreFlightFees.com and it lists them all for you in an easy chart to read. And another of my favorite websites, www.FareCompare.com, also displays these fees.
ExploreFlightFees.com comes to you courtesy of Sabre, a global distribution system (GDS) that is one of four big travel technology companies that have built their fortunes over the past half century storing, marketing and processing the billions of airfares that we shop for, purchase and fly.
The airlines have to pay Sabre and all the other GDSs every time we look up a fare--be it through an online travel agency like Travelocity or Expedia, or a traditional agent--and buy that ticket. Information is power and the airlines don’t want to cede any more information than they have to to the GDSs, so they are not putting these new fees in the GDSs. The first carrier to do that would be at a huge disadvantage in the aggressively competitive airline marketplace, because every other carrier flying that same route would look cheaper.
But Sabre pulled a fast one of the airlines--it has scoured airline websites and pulled their ancillary fees off of the airline sites and imported them into the Sabre system. So, even though the airlines aren’t feeding Sabre that information, Sabre’s got it. Now, it’s not perfect and there are some gaps, Sabre concedes.
If you’re a business traveler and your corporation has negotiated rates with that airline, those fares aren’t in there. If you’re a frequent flyer, it might be able to see your preferred status and waive your baggage fee if you qualify, but because airlines vary in the way they supply that information on their websites, Sabre’s current system might miss that. And it can’t get all the seat selection fees because some of them vary according to market or route.
But it does mean that any Sabre-connected agency--either online or offline--will have access to a lot of those fees. In the meantime, at least the bathrooms are still free.
And, click here to see what the suggestions that the American Society of Nude Recreation has to make about how to avoid these fees.