Airline fee orgy has nothing to do with fuel prices
Bob Crandall is right. The latest airline crisis, which has unleashed an avalanche of new fees and surcharges on passengers, has nothing to do with high fuel prices. It’s about bad management.
But we don’t need American Airlines’ former chief executive to tell us that. We just need to wait a while.
When fuel prices come back down — as they are almost certain to — just pay close attention to all the new extras that have sprung up in the last few months.
The $15 fee for the first checked bag. The $2 per soft drink charge. The surcharges for redeeming our “free” award tickets.
Does anyone think airlines will back off when times are better?
Of course not. Airlines have been waiting for an excuse to charge us for anything that isn’t bolted down on the plane. They’ve been looking at Ryanair for years, envious of its ability to charge passengers for everything.
No, none of these fees are going to go away.
So are the airlines lying to us? Yes and no.
Sure, fuel costs more. No doubt, it’s far more difficult to make a buck in the airline business than it was just six months ago because of sky-high oil prices. But that’s not the whole story.
Airlines have always wanted to add these fees, and in that sense, the higher fuel costs are nothing more than a smokescreen. They are not giving us what we want, as United Airlines disingenuously claimed when it announced its new surcharges yesterday.
They are giving us what they want.
Bob Crandall is right. The latest airline crisis, which has unleashed an avalanche of new fees and surcharges on passengers, has nothing to do with high fuel prices. It’s about bad management.
But we don’t need American Airlines’ former chief executive to tell us that. We just need to wait a while.
When fuel prices come back down — as they are almost certain to — just pay close attention to all the new extras that have sprung up in the last few months.
The $15 fee for the first checked bag. The $2 per soft drink charge. The surcharges for redeeming our “free” award tickets.
Does anyone think airlines will back off when times are better?
Of course not. Airlines have been waiting for an excuse to charge us for anything that isn’t bolted down on the plane. They’ve been looking at Ryanair for years, envious of its ability to charge passengers for everything.
No, none of these fees are going to go away.
So are the airlines lying to us? Yes and no.
Sure, fuel costs more. No doubt, it’s far more difficult to make a buck in the airline business than it was just six months ago because of sky-high oil prices. But that’s not the whole story.
Airlines have always wanted to add these fees, and in that sense, the higher fuel costs are nothing more than a smokescreen. They are not giving us what we want, as United Airlines disingenuously claimed when it announced its new surcharges yesterday.
They are giving us what they want.
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