Airlines Making A ‘Killing’ Off Of Fees
Travel Files. — By Mike on September 28, 2009Even though the number of people flying is down, the revenue of U.S. airlines is going up. During the first six months of 2009, the U.S. airlines have collected $3.8 billion (with a ‘B’) for fees and surcharges such as, pet carrying fees, cancellation fees, baggage check fees, etc. Checked baggage fees are doing especially well for the airlines. Revenue from baggage fees alone was $1.24 billion dollars. The supposed reason for the increase in fees, or addition of new fees, is to offset the current downturn in air travel since 9/11/01. I would not expect the fees to go away, even if air travel picks back up in the future. The airlines are making too much money off of these fees to quit charging them, even if business does pick up. But it seems to reason, that if ticket revenue increased, and the fees were meant to offset the previously low ticket revenue, the fees should drop off. Perhaps that is just too logical for the airlines to pick up on that.
- Source: www.usatoday.com
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3 Comments
Arg. How can airlines be losing so much money when they make so much money just on these fees?
I might account for a few million dollars of that $1.2 billion in revenue from checked bags. Crazy.
Is the number of people flying really down since 2001? That doesn’t sound right to me.