According to the Wall Street Journal Middle Seat blog, American Airlines has decided to match the bag fees recently implemented by Delta and Continental.  You can read more HERE.

 

So, at present, Delta (including Northwest), American Airlines, Continental, United and US Airways are now all charging $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second bag with some of the airlines offering “discounts” if you perform your “bag fee purchase” online.   That would imply that they each see this price for checked bags being a bit more elastic than one would have thought.    Or, at the least, they see it as elastic as long as they all go for the same increases much as the case is with air fare increases. 

 

So far, no low cost carrier has adopted this pricing model or even raised their checked bag fees.  I suspect they won’t either as it gives them an opportunity to show themselves as the good guy while gaining some incremental revenue. 

 

If this rise in fees sticks for the next 1 or 2 quarters, I do think it will put tremendous pressure on Southwest Airlines to institute their own version of bag fees, at least by institutional investors and analysts.  So far, Southwest and its CEO Gary Kelly have resisted these calls to add checked bag fees and, so far, they believe it is resulting in incremental revenue from passengers switching to Southwest to avoid fees.  Since CEO Kelly (and Southwest as a whole) is not one to shade the truth, I’ll continue to believe these claims. 

 

However, with other LCC carriers such as Airtran and Virgin America and even jetBlue (on the 2nd bag) have added fees and do report significantly improved revenues from that, I would imagine that the call for Southwest to add these fees will be defeaning particularly when Southwest could implement a jetBlue or Airtran style program and see improvements to their quarterly results which haven’t been too impressive in the last year. 

 

It is sad but I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of these increases.  I do think that some airline will probe the upper limits of these fees just a bit more yet.  I do think that Southwest will resist the call to add these fees for at least another 6 months but if there hasn’t been some kind of collapse in the price of these fees by then, I would not be surprised to learn that Southwest has begun to make changes to their infrastucture to implement them.   I think the first sign will be the withdrawal of their “no fees for checked bags” advertising.

Filed under: Airline Fees, Airline News by ajax
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What’s in a name?  It turns out quite a bit.

 

In light of the latest travel “scares” over the past 3 weeks, it seemed like a good time to talk about looking after yourself when making a reservation.   Before anything else, please remember that to an airline, the most ideal situation is one where you pay money and don’t actually fly.  What I really mean is that airlines are not your friend.  They are not particularly accomodating and they are focused on extracting as much money from you as possible. 

 

When you are flying, names are important.  The security we have in place today is largely predicated on matching an ID with a name to your ticket.  Airlines have discovered that if you have the wrong name on the ticket, it’s a revenue opportunity as opposed to a honest mistake to be fixed.   With the recent travel worries, names are being scrutinized even closer than they have been in some time.  What you don’t want is to have a ticket that has a name that does not match your ID. 

 

First, make your reservations and ticket purchases with patience and care.  If you are booking not only for yourself, take the time to find out exactly how someone’s name reads on the ID they plan to use.  Get their birthdates right too.  Before you “confirm” the reservation and make that purchase, confirm each person’s information including their name. 

 

In my family, it is tricky business.  My wife uses her middle name as the name she goes by.  My daughter (step-daughter), has a different last name from both mine and my wife’s.   Now, you would expect family to get this stuff right but they have a mother/grandmother who has incorrectly booked tickets with the wrong name for them more than once.   Their brother/uncle has done the same thing at least once.   What’s worse (and I don’t know how you plan to ensure avoiding this), they’ve done it after I ensured that my wife reminded them of her full name as shown on her driver’s license.    Since my daughter is now 14 years old, she’s now going through security on her own when traveling to see her family.  It’s become doubly important to ensure her name is correct because she uses her passport as her ID.

 

What can happen?  A lot.  Remember that the ticket you buy determines your “class” with the airline.  If you’ve bought a non-refundanble, no changes ticket, most often the airline will require you to pay fees to change the ticket or even cancel it.  Those fees can add up to hundreds of dollars too. 

 

You have to get the name right and you must triple check the information you’ve giving the airline (or travel website or travel agency) matches your ID.   If you do make a mistake, you are now at the mercy of the airline.

 

If you do make a mistake, go to work instantly on trying to get it resolved.  If you purchased through an online or traditional travel agency, work through them.  If you bought it directly from the airline, start calling them.  The quicker you try to fix it, the more likely they are to treat it as an honest mistake.   Calling the night before your trip just gives them leverage.

 

If you do run into trouble with an airline when speaking to them by phone, consider another strategy.  Go to the airport and speak to an agent directly.  Yeah, it’s gonna cost you a trip to the airport but that probably is going to cost a lot less than the potential fees you’ll be charged.  By going to the airport, you’re placing a human being located here in the United States in direct face to face contact with you and that’s a more difficult position for that person than phone or email contact.  Second, you can ask to speak to a manager.  But be smart.  Don’t go at the busiest time of the day.  You want to find an agent who is slow or completely unbusy.  Take your ID with you as well as a printed copy of your purchase (you did remember to print out your transaction, right?)

 

If this is for someone else, that person needs to be with you or they’re the one who needs to go.  Preferably, you want to have whoever bought the ticket and whoever is traveling on the ticket at the same place at the same time.  Granted, that’s not always possible. 

 

Don’t assume that just because “family” is making your reservation, they’re paying attention.  Be pro-active and write down the exact spelling of your name and your birthdate for them. 

 

Don’t assume that the airline will just change it at the airport the day you’re leaving.  If you’ve waited that long, you’ve given them all the power.  Take action as soon as you realize your mistake.

 

Do review the reservation and purchase one more time after you’ve made the transaction.

 

Do make sure your ID is current and, if possible, carry back up with you.

 

Don’t check in online until you’re certain that your name is correct.  Once you do, the ball game is over.

Filed under: Travel Hints by ajax
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