Airlines collect $3.5B in bag fees

Airlines are making
bags of money off us.

Just came across a new report from  Standard & Poor's showing once again how airlines are running off with bags of our money.

According to a Standard & Poor's study released this week, U.S. airlines collected $3.5 billion in extra bag fees from consumers last year - a 24 per cent increase over 2009! Most U.S. airlines charge a $50 fee per bag now.

Add that to the "fuel surcharges and air taxes" airlines are allowed to pass along to passengers without ever having to justify the amounts - in many cases, air taxes and fuel surcharge, which amounted to over $21 billion in total last year, account for more than the ticket - and you can see why airlines are doing very well these days despite their claims to the contrary.

"If it weren't for the fees, the airlines would most likely be losing money," rationalized Jim Corridore, airline analyst with Standard & Poor's.

According to the Standard & Poor's survey, Delta generated the most revenue from bag fees — $952 million — followed by the combined United and Continental at nearly $655 million. American collected $580 million and US Airways $513 million.

To be fair to the airlines, though, I should point out that the cost of jet fuel rose 37 per cent over the same period last year.

And, according one airline analyst, passengers have no one to blame but themselves for all this
"Unfortunately, for the airlines when they try to roll $50 into the ticket prices, people stop buying tickets," said Rick Seaney CEO of FareCompare.com.

As an airline passenger, these extra fees make me so sick I just want to grab a barf bag!

United left red-faced over 9/11 flights

Oops!

Our friends at United Airlines were left red-faced yesterday when they inadvertently reinstated the flight numbers - 93 and 175 - of planes that perished during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

United officials have spent the last 24 hours in full damage control over the embarrassing mixup and have issued an apology on Facebook. The airline now says it will permanently retire the numbers.

Duh! That should have been done on 9/12!

The ill-fated 9/11 Flight 175 originated in Boston bound for Los Angeles but was hijacked and flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. Flight 93 took off from Newark, N.J., and crashed in a Pennsylvania field after at attempt by passengers to wrest control of the plane from terrorists.

United representatives told Reuters news agency the change was the result of oversight that came up as United works to align its operations with merger partner Continental Airlines. Apparently, Continental uses the flight numbers, which came up in an automated system and the carriers failed to notice it until it was brought to their attention.

Out of respect for all those who perished in the 9/11 crashes, may I suggest all airlines retire the flight numbers of the planes lost that day.