7 ms·
An Airline Fee That Exists for No Apparent Reason
- jiveturkey 8y agohttps://outline.com/dWqwhr https://outline.com/dWqwhr
- WalterGR 8y ago^ Blind link goes to a non-paywalled version of the article.
- missblit 8y agoIs it just me or does outline.com not work at all half the time in any browser besides Chrome because it checks for the nonstandard `window.chrome` property?
- tscs37 8y agoWorks in Firefox 60 for me.
- neonate 8y agoAlso http://archive.is/VXlgz http://archive.is/VXlgz
- deanCommie 8y agoAnother workaround. i have a bookmarklet that does this for my current tab: javascript:(function() {window.location='https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=' https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=' + window.location.toString() + '%3Faction%3Dclick&h=ATMNXkm4NSmFwOsi-Haa_NbgSEZnRVHr0vNHn0MvV2qg4opxZrHpocUPwdIbENnkrOQTGl2R2Plu0P0127qT_jjdApVkgJUiofc48hvHRlNKuw';})() Basically redirects through Facebook, and WSJ doesn't paywall you then.
- ernsheong 8y agohttps://app.pagedash.com/p/91ed545f-cf57-4bc7-b485-9428b11b9e98/MB0QH93RXhM6GnYzEQjY https://app.pagedash.com/p/91ed545f-cf57-4bc7-b485-9428b11b9...
- timcederman 8y agoI recently priced up tickets from San Franisco to Sydney, and it was more than double the cost of Sydney to San Francisco. In fact, I priced up dates that included my original itinerary, and it was cheaper to buy two tickets originating in Australia.
- thaumasiotes 8y agoAs far as I know, It's hard to arbitrage this because the 21st-century tightening of airline "security" means you'll be rejected from a later leg of your flight if you weren't on an earlier leg. Have you tried actually booking the two trips out of Australia and only taking the last half (Sf -> Sydney) of the first one?
- timcederman 8y agoIt's impossible to do, I was just making sure it wasn't a quirk for the dates I was looking at.
- wahern 8y agoIIRC airlines were already prohibiting that before 9/11. Security is just a convenient excuse. Similarly, once upon a time you could arrive at the airport 5 minutes before the flight, frantically check-in at the counter[1], and race to your gate while the check-in counter phoned the gate to ask them to hold the door (at the pilots discretion). That kind of stuff causes delays and the airlines were already putting policies in place to stop that before 9/11. If you arrive late today they'll simply tell you that you missed the 30 minute window imposed by the TSA to ensure proper inspection procedures, but in the absence of the TSA rules the same policy would almost certainly have existed anyhow. Market competition forced airlines to more efficiently manage gate resources, and random passengers boarding at the last minute can be extremely costly. [1] I forgot to add: check-in baggage might either be sent through the system (urgently) or you might check it in at the gate. These days I think you can still arrive inside the 30 minute window if you don't have any check-in baggage, but don't expect any courtesies.
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- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- imgabe 8y ago> And it doesn’t impact how many frequent-flier miles you collect for a flight on an airline that pays out miles by price instead of distance. Not true exactly, at least on American. I fly them almost exclusively and I just went to check this out. To move up to the next tier of status in their frequent flier program, you need to spend a certain amount of "Elite Qualifying Dollars" (or EQD) every year. The EQD are based only on the fare price, exclusive of taxes and fees. So, this would allow them to control how many people are moving up to the different status levels, by adjusting the fees vs. fares for each ticket.
- ubernostrum 8y agoWhether or not you've hit your EQD threshold affects whether you achieve a status level. It doesn't directly affect your mileage earning rate (your status level can affect that, but isn't relevant to what the article is stating). So the article is correct: these fees do not change the mileage you earn from buying the ticket and taking the flight.
- imgabe 8y agoRight, it doesn't change the mileage you receive, but you need both miles (or segments) and EQD to reach the next status level.
- ubernostrum 8y agoWhich doesn't contradict the article. Your comment is a non sequitur.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- monksy 8y agoHigher status has a multiplier on what you earn. https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/premier/bonuses.html https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/mileageplus/premier/bon...
- cpncrunch 8y agoIn Canada the airlines have to advertise total price. They can show a breakdown of taxes and fees, but the main advertised price must be the total price the customer pays.
- advisedwang 8y agoAs the article states, the issues isn't that customers don't see the fares when searching for prices, but that loyalty programs and some corporate discounts exclude fees. So this practice gouges them.
- nradov 8y agoCorporate travel managers aren't naive about this stuff. They know what they're getting when they negotiate a discount for employee travel.
- josephh 8y agoAnd that's no different in Canada. I remember having to pay over $800 in surcharge and fees for redeeming a round trip flight via Aeroplan
- GalacticDomin8r 8y agoA good policy probably, but getting "a breakdown of taxes and fees" is easy in US as well. That is assuming you accept the definition of a breakdown as: Fees: X Taxes: Y And that's it. So it doesn't seem that policy would help much regarding the point of this article.
- coldcode 8y agoWhen I worked for a travel company I saw a lot of fares that had lots of taxes and fees on them. Some flights brought fewer dollars to the airline than everyone else. You pay for both airports, the cities/states/provinces/countries they are in and places you go thru airspace to and anyone else who can put in a claim. The most I ever saw was around 12 on a single segment. The final cost of an airline ticket supports a village.
- jlarocco 8y agoBut that's how everything works. When I buy a gallon of milk at the grocery store, the store gets a cut, the delivery truck driver gets a cut, the gas station he uses gets a tiny cut, the farmer gets a cut, the bottler gets some, etc. Despite all that, the price I see is a single number. The weird thing with airline tickets is that the airlines break the price out into two pieces and call one the fare and the other a processing fee, as if that distinction makes any difference to anybody but them.
- dboreham 8y agoIt isn't just airlines. Other industries have discovered this dark pattern (presumably there is a class in "Dr Evil MBA" where they teach it). E.g look at your phone bill.
- jwilliams 8y agoThe surcharges often are used against miles-based travel. You book the ticket one miles, but still get hit by various taxes and surcharges. Often it's a large chunk of the total fare. Qantas has a "fuel surcharge" for a long period during high oil prices. This surcharge was literally to bill you for a base cost of their service. Arguably pure marketing.
- yitchelle 8y agoHave Qantas removed the "surcharge" yet? I remember hearing about it in the late 80s, and continue to hear about it through the 90s.
- lathiat 8y agoStill high taxes for Qantas rewards redemptions. Majorly so.
- ggm 8y agoI wrote to the ACCC about it. I asked what figure per mile flown and per gallon price at hedge was used to calculate the fee. If the fee did not reflect actual mileage flown or exposed cost, I argued it was misleading to call it a fuel surcharge and thus an illegal impost to get round pricing limits. No reply, but a barrackroom lawyer rarely deserves one.
- the_watcher 8y ago> Those carriers give out miles based on total fare. Sort of. They give out miles based on this, but often not the miles needed to accrue status (which often makes mileage accrual substantially more lucrative, as well unlocking free/reduced upgrade access). On United, for example, you accrue MileagePlus miles based on total price paid, but accrue "Premier Qualifying Miles" and "Premier Qualifying Dollars" based on the "fare", which is always far lower.
- dannyw 8y agoNo, PQD includes carrier surcharges. Here’s United: > You earn PQD for the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges on eligible flights. Same for American, and probably other carriers too.
- jpatokal 8y agoIn "turnabout is fair play", there's a neat technique called "fuel dumping" that makes use of this by finding fares that, for various complicated reasons, don't have the surcharges added, occasionally allowing crazy cheap flights. It's quite complicated though and (surprise!) airlines hate it. https://www.secretflying.com/posts/fuel-dumping-basics/ https://www.secretflying.com/posts/fuel-dumping-basics/
- craftyguy 8y agoNot really secret if it has a public website that is shared publicly.
- jpatokal 8y agoThe technique is public, but actually finding dumpable fares is left as an exercise to the reader.
- adrianmonk 8y agoPerhaps it's "secret" in the sense of tricks known to any expert in a subject. Much like the secret to more-easily peeled hard-boiled eggs is to put the eggs in cold water before you boil it. Or like baking soda is the secret to shrimp with a firm texture.
- Angostura 8y agoI would like to subscribe to your newsletter. These are both new to me.
- dewey 8y agoI always thought the secret is to put them in cold water after you boiled them? That’s how I’ve been doing it since forever and it works well.
- yial 8y agoYou’re still probably doing at least a /soft/ “cold start” taking them right out of the fridge before boiling. I steam my eggs. Fridge to over steaming water for 20 ish minutes. Then into ice water. Peels great.
- wyattpeak 8y agoUnusually for WSJ, I find the title of the article fairly misleading. It seems to imply that there is an extra charge being levied, whereas it's actually talking about a complicated price structure designed to disadvantage frequent fliers and corporate customers. Still shady, but not obviously implied by the title.
- listenallyall 8y agoWhile we're at it, might as well complain about hotel "resort fees," which I feel are far more predatory since they are NOT included in the reservation rate you pay online, and are often difficult to find prior to showing up at the hotel. Plus they usually cover things that used to be no-brainers like use of the fitness center and daily newspaper. I'm surprised the online reservation sites and the host cities haven't fought back against this practice. Booking a $75 room with a $30 resort fee robs the booking site of nearly a third of its commission, and the city of the same proportion of the hotel taxes. (the sales tax charged on the resort fee is not the same as the hotel occupancy taxes charged on the room rate.)
- mercyandgrace 8y agoI was at a bar on the Las Vegas strip not too long ago, and even they had some form of 'resort fee/tax'. I was really taken aback. I'm not sure the legal ramifications but I should have refused to pay.
- russtypinn 8y agoWas a band playing? That might have been the live entertainment tax. As a Vegas resident I thank you for helping to pave my roads. /s https://tax.nv.gov/FAQs/Live_Entertainment_Tax___FAQ%E2%80%99s/ https://tax.nv.gov/FAQs/Live_Entertainment_Tax___FAQ%E2%80%9...
- listenallyall 8y agoDecent roads, horrible schools: https://www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2018/01/17/nevadas-education-system-again-ranks-worst-nation/1037619001/ https://www.rgj.com/story/news/education/2018/01/17/nevadas-...
- cbluth 8y agoHave you been through Vegas recently? Even the roads are horrible, but I thought it was just because of the weather.
- so33 8y agoSlightly off-topic: My "favorite" fee I've encountered is Spirit Airlines' "Unintended Consequences Fee": https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/01/travel/spirit-fee/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/01/travel/spirit-fee/index.html
- aidenn0 8y agoI seem to recall that when the government repealed some telecom tax, Verizon added a surcharge of an equal amount, and pocketed more money without changing the total bill for anyone.
- chrisbennet 8y agoI have a fantasy of getting one of these companies as a client and padding my bill using fees like theirs: “federally mandated taxes” (my income taxes), “infrastructure fee” (my computer etc), “e&o insurance” (my errors and omissions insurance), “PP charge” (pure profit fee), etc.