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Lifestyle & Travel

Increasing Number Of Airlines Increasing Traveler Fees

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

Nowadays, increasing numbers of people are ditching their country’s own borders and are heading overseas for their vacations. This isn’t all too surprising. Seeing as the majority of us now have free access to the internet, we are becoming more familiar with different countries and cities around the world, as well as a wide variety of appealing tourist destinations.

We browse other people’s travel bucket lists and recommended spots for a getaway, and we see our friends posting beautiful pictures from their own trips on social media. We’re bound to be hit by a sense of wanderlust at some point or another! The good news that comes hand in hand with this is that many of us have been able to follow our dreams and explore the wider world thanks to lower costs entailed with traveling.

Airlines have made themselves a whole lot more accessible to the public on a budget and there are also a wide variety of different cheap accommodation options being offered across the globe – from low cost hostels to renting a room in someone else’s property through Airbnb. However, you may have noticed that the cost of your flights are gradually going up. There’s a reason for this. Read on to find out what it is!

Increased Fees

Running an airline isn’t cheap. Individuals running these huge companies have massive investments to make, from forking out for planes in the first place to maintaining them with high quality Aircraft parts, hiring competent pilots, assistant pilots, and staff, and implementing entertainment for guests on board. On top of this, most are battling increased fuel costs. It’s not all too surprising that they will attempt to claw back some of their costs from customers’ pockets at some point or another.

Lately, many airlines have attempted to do this by implementing extra charges to their customers in what was attempted to be a relatively discreet manner. However, consumers have cottoned on and many are beginning to complain about the fairness of “discreet” and unexpected extra charges added to their bill at the final stages of booking their flights.

Flight Baggage Fees

A recently implemented fee that seems to griping customers the most is baggage fees. Many individuals get to the final stages of booking their flight, only to find that it is going to cost them and extra $30 each way to take any luggage with them. Major airlines that have added this fee to their services include:

  • Delta
  • United Continental Holdings Inc
  • JetBlue Airways Corp

This has all resulted in calls from consumers for the Transportation Department to investigate and assess whether this extra costs are fair to buyers.

Hopefully, these extra charges won’t affect whether you are able to head away overseas or not. But they are something to bear in mind the next time you book a flight!