Major Airlines Re-think Surcharges for Fuel and Checked Luggage
In the last couple of months, United lead the other major airlines in the imposing of new fees that include surcharges for checked luggage and fuel. After successfully imposing such fees, the Chicago-based airline next thought of charging passengers an added $50 for the second checked luggage. Fortunately, they decided not to after finding out that the other major airlines have no plans of following their lead.
Instead, passengers of United, who booked and paid for the first checked luggage online, will be enjoying a 20 percent discount.
On the other hand, Delta Airlines is also set to drop its fuel surcharges amounting to anywhere between $25 and $100 from their frequent-flier passengers by December 5. In addition, the airline also plans on dropping its $3 charge on checked luggage via skycaps.
Unfortunately, Delta is now imposing a $15 surcharge for passengers who availed of discounted tickets for their domestic travels. The passengers are also asked to pay an additional fee, between $5 and $25, for choosing aisle and window seats.
Major airlines have been imposing these surcharges and additional fees in order to combat the price transparency which the online booking provides to travelers who prefer flying on discounted airfare.
Now, passengers can no longer budget their travel expenses based on ticket prices alone since they will have to find out if the airline is charging them added fees for certain services or amenities.
Most of the passengers who are tired of the surprise surcharges have been choosing to book Southwest flights. Among the major airlines, Southwest is the only one which has yet to ask their passengers to pay for services and amenities that were previously offered for free.
Last October, Texas-based Southwest airline noticed a considerable increase in passenger traffic and has boosted its capacity by about 3 percent in order to accommodate such volume.
