Airlines will make a record $118 billion in extra fees this year—their websites are designed to get you to pay::Airlines are piling on fees for checked bags, assigned seats, and other extras. Here’s how their websites pressure fliers into paying for them.
I was charged a fee for checking-in with the person at the counter, instead of checking-in using their website or app. It’s deliberately scummy
I had to fly allegiant the other day and was checking a bag so I figured I would just check in at the counter. When I get there they inform me that it would be $5 to check in and get a boarding pass at the counter so I stood there, at the counter, on my phone, fighting their shitty website that kept trying to trick me into spending more money, to check in online so that I could check my bag.
Allegiant, Spirit, and Frontier airlines in the USA all operate under the same business model of offering a VERY low priced ticket if you buy it under specific circumstances. If you deviate AT ALL from those very specific ways, you pay many fees for a level of service you would expect to come by default with the price of the base ticket. As long as you go in knowing this, you can get a really cheap ticket. If you’re willing to play the game its possible to fly very inexpensively.
If, when you fly, you like the basic amenities (such as a regular sized carry on and being able to pick your seat) then you’re better off flying a traditional air carrier.
I’ll be the first to say that the rules of the game are crazy. For a Frontier ticket I bought recently the price for a single checked bag when you buy your airfare is $40 each way. If you wait even 5 seconds after you buy your ticket to buy the checked bag as a separate transaction that same bag now costs you $50 each way. Also, a checked bag with most airlines is 50 lbs limit (22.6kg), but a Frontier checked bag is limited to only 40 lbs (18.1kg). Buckle up now, it gets worse. If your checked back is 41 lbs instead of the allowed 40 lbs, the extra fee for 41 lbs to 50 lbs weight is an extra $65. So your checked bag could cost you $104 for the leg of the flight its the 40 lbs weight limit.
“I’ll just skip a checked bag and use a carry on” you think. A carry on costs more than a checked bag! If you pay for your carry on while purchasing your ticket its $50, 5 seconds after you buy your airfare $75, if you wait until the day you fly an buy it at the check in counter $80, if you wait until the gate $99!
Other fun fees:
- ability to talk to a human on the phone instead of their chat/email support
- a printable boarding pass
- selecting a seat (of course), but …any seat you select costs you (so you don’t choose and let them put you in one for free, but they don’t make that obvious)
Ways to get non-obvious savings while within the rules:
- if you’re traveling with two people, use a larger duffel and put both passengers items in there. Now you’re just cut your checked bag costs in half!
- We all have clothing that is getting to the end of its life but we still wear for a bit longer before throwing it away. Save up those clothes. When you take a trip, pack mostly THOSE clothes, and after you wear them for the last time on the trip you don’t bring them home. You now have lots of free space/weight in your checked bag for the things you’re buying and bringing home from your trip saving you from having to buy more checked bags.
- buy your ticket AT THE COUNTER AT THE AIRPORT. You can save $18 to $25 per ticket each way. You can see how much you’d save when you look at the website for Frontier and see a “CIC charge”. You pay that booking online or through a phone call. You don’t pay that if you buy from the human standing at the counter at the airport. Its not quite a simple as it sounds because there isn’t always staff at the check in counter. However you can check the Departures board online, arrive 1 hour before a departing flight (when the staff is checking bags) and buy your ticket from them at that time.
In the screenshot above the price of this ticket from Chicago to Orlando drops from $77.96 for the non-stop round trip flights to $31.96! So you’d pay only $15.98 to fly one way from Chicago to Orlando! That’s likely going to be cheaper than a single meal you’ll have in Orlando.
In short. Keep it simple and buy as little as possible and its a cheap flight, just be ready to play the game or pay more than you planned with these discount carriers.
Yup, I saved over 3/4 by scoring a Spirit flight during the afternoon and evening yesterday instead of leaving at 9 pm and landing at midnight like all their other flights I just had a “personal item” and didn’t select a seat. They did get me with the “security pass” which they said would get you through security faster. I asked them when I got to security and they said “that’s only to get you from the podium (entry) to security”… Which I had just walked through in 30 seconds.
All the major airlines wanted like $350-450 for the same time and trip.
Well if everyone did that, they’d have to hire more personel to handle all these check-ins.
It’s a cost-saving measure that’s passed on to you.
It’s more the fact that it wasn’t an obvious fee. I can deal with checking-in with a phone, but it would’ve been nice if it had been more obvious that there was a fee if I didn’t. Live and learn
Maybe it’s because I’m just used to it, it’s pretty standard here in Europe with low-costs.
I prefer not talking to a person anyway though so works for me
They should hire a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube Man
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You can buy tickets at the ticket counter and they can’t charge all the convenience fees. We’ve gotten tickets for 50% of what they were listed for online. Just go when there isn’t a flight departing and have all your info ready to go. They will not be happy you are there.
What fees do you find waived and for what airline? I haven’t noticed TicketMaster-like convenience fees with the ones I fly
I’ve done it with frontier and spirit. I’m not sure what the specific fees are, but it’s saved me tons of money for the few years I’ve been doing it.
Spirit, avelo… But the fucking smiles are free
I got charged $25 per ticket to check-in at the counter when I lost my phone. If I had known ahead of time I’d have done something else but I didn’t have any spare time at that point.
This isnt checking in at the counter it’s purchasing the tickets at the counter.
I know it’s different. Just providing my experience of something that didn’t use to cost extra but now does.
Are they extra fees or just the price of the ticket? Southwest charges to board first. Is that a fee or just a better ticket?
It’s a fee, boarding first isn’t a privilege really, though I understand why it might feel that way to some
boarding first isn’t a privilege really
It is on southwest, since there’s no unassigned boarding. I’m a tall dude, and I always pay for early boarding so I can get myself an emergency row seat
Ah, I’ve never flown without an assigned seat. Can see it making sense in that case
A fee for a better ticket
Micro transactions extend beyond video games and airline companies are the biggest offenders. Flying in the US is a scam and a half. Want a seat? Pay. Want some water? Pay. Pretty soon, want oxygen? PAY!
Nah, the biggest scam is medicine. Need surgery? Pay. Want it done in an operating room? Pay. Want anesthesia? Pay.
I booked flights a few months ago and got so mad at all the upselling they tried to do and how little they gave for the base price. My wife had to talk me down from throwing my computer. I’m normally a calm person.
