Air travel is full of surprises, some good, many not.
Steven Allen says he got a bad one recently when he called to change a United Airlines ticket from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. To move his return date from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27, the airline wanted him to pay another $300, nearly half the $686 airfare.
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Today is Mad as Hell About Hidden Fees Day. Full disclosure: I co-founded one of the organizations that created this event, so I have a horse in this race.
I’m also something of a contrarian. And one thing I’ve noticed is that, apart from a few soundbites, the airline position on fees hasn’t been fully articulated.
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When should an airline or travel agent show the “all-in” price, particularly when it comes to fees that used to be part of the ticket?
(Update: This survey is closed. Here are the results.)
As you know a debate is going on in Washington between the airline industry and a group of consumer advocates, travel agents and corporate interests. One side is trying to make the booking process as opaque and confusing as possible. The other is demanding transparency.
Congress will have to decide who is right. In the meantime, you can weigh in on this issue.
Please send me your thoughts or post them in the comments. I’ll have the results early next week.
If this isn’t a bait-and-switch, I don’t know what is. Jonathan Yarmis thought he was getting a $375 a night room rate at the Hotel Bauer in Venice, marked down from $537.
But the Web site offering the deal, Cheapostay.com, wasn’t telling the whole story. It waited until the end — the final booking screen — to reveal the true price.
Yarmis isn’t happy.
Talk about hidden fees! The fees are more than the cost of the room.
I thought I’d call Cheapo just to see what’s going on. After over 45 minutes on hold, they dropped the call.
Shouldn’t this kind of pricing be illegal?
