Enough Already!

August 5, 2008 | Uncategorized

There was a bit of news out of Washington over the weekend which clearly shows that Congress does not understand the airline industry.

Last Friday, before a voice vote was taken in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to ban the use of cell phones on planes, one lawmaker helped drum support for the bill by announcing his wife had sat next to a woman on a plane who loudly discussed her sex life on the phone prior to take off. This was all duly reported by the Associated Press.

Well come on, Congress — don’t you see what is happening here? Obviously the airlines are seeing how upset people have become about all the extra fees they have tagged onto tickets, and they’re now trying to demonstrate the extra value they provide by making flying educational and entertaining, (I have, in fact, heard from several highly placed sources that most people on that flight requested the pilot to delay take off so they could hear the remainder of her call.)

That vote by the House committee pertains only to use of cell phone use on domestic flights of course. On the other hand, the European Union is still moving closer to allowing use of cell phones on European flights. This is the reason why some in Congress are concerned that U.S. carriers, which are currently experimenting with in-flight Internet access, may attempt to get the ban lifted so they can charge passengers extra to sit in no-phone sections.

On the surface that may sound ludicrous but it’s not. Airlines today are trying everything and anything possible to wring another dollar out of the public. Delta has just doubled its fee for checking a second bag to (hold your breath)…$50. That makes the $15 per first bag fee imposed by American, United Northwest and Hawaiian Air seem puny.

And if you haven’t heard the latest news from US Airways, you better sit down. US Airways will now charge you $2 for a bottle of water. Yes, water, as in W-A-T-E-R.

Obviously the charge can’t be to offset any additional fuel used because of the weight in carrying the water, or they could just and hand out free bottles before boarding, like JetBlue does with its headphones. Oops….I forgot, JetBlue now charges for those as well.

And speaking of JetBlue, you’re not going to believe this latest absurdity,  just announced a few hours ago. The carrier will now charge $7 for a pillow and blanket on flights of two hours or more, rationalizing its idiotocracy by saying that the combo comes with a $5 certificate for Bed, Bath & Beyond. Could anyone make this stuff up?

Yes, “à la carte” pricing has now left the restaurant and is found on runway 42. Luggage to check? “There’s a charge for that, Sir.” Seat by the window? “They’ll be an added charge for that Miss.” Bottle of water? “Gimme two bucks, kid.” How about you us a break?

It is getting totally out of hand, and if you’re a frequent flier or a member of just about any frequent flier program, it’s getting worse very quickly. Today try to cash in miles for a free ticket and you’re likely to find that that free ticket promised to you years ago is no longer free.

Northwest Airlines Inc. now charges $25 for ordering a domestic ticket and $100 if you want to wing off to Asia. Delta charges the same for domestic tickets and $50 for international trips. US Airways is ditto for domestic and, what now seems like a bargain rate, $35 for international. It was probably able to keep its cost lower by charging for water.

Now, on top of all those added fees, some carriers are also revamping their frequent-flyer programs by charging you more miles for a free ticket. Delta, for example, recently became the first major carrier — and you get bet others will follow — to require as many as 60,000 miles for a domestic coach ticket if purchased at the last moment. It has also transformed its SkyMiles program into a three-tier system that is more costly to customers. And even if you’re not Jewish you’ll love this bit of chutzpah — Delta is also going to charge you an additional $50 fuel surcharge for using that “free” ticket.

The carriers are now milking their frequent flier programs for everything they’re worth — literally. Both Continental and United, for example, have cut deals with their banks which will provide them with $235 Million and $600 million, respectively, for miles that can be issue to their affinity card holders (the bank is JPMorgan Chase which issues the cards of both carriers).

But this is just the tip of the propeller, so to speak. Keep in mind that while awarded miles in a program may increase, the number of seats don’t, establishing greater demand for those same seats. For example, the number of miles awarded in Delta’s SkyMiles program has increased by almost 25% in recent years, while the number of seats on its planes hasn’t

Remember also that starting next month many airlines will begin eliminating flights in a variety of markets, greatly decreasing the number of available seats. American will cut its domestic flights 11-12% (and about 8% system-wide), while United is slated to cut its fleet by 100 planes, reducing its domestic capacity by 16%, and system-wide by 12%.

Even Southwest Airlines, the brightest star on the runway these days — it hasn’t added passed on fuel surcharges or added any additional fees for luggage or (you guessed it) water — is impacted. Although it has grown consistently almost every year for the past 37 years, its capacity will remain flat this year.

But the really bad news is that all these capacity cuts will not take place evenly across the system. Targeted first are the carrier’s most popular detonations — including Hawaii, Orlando and Las Vegas — the least profitable routes because of intense competition on them. Free up a few seats here and there and you can increase your revenue on these “no-profit’ corridors, if only negligibly.

This means, of course, that the most easily getable award tickets will be on those routes where most people don’t want to go. That’s great if you’re going home to see family, but if you’re a family wanting to get away do you really want to go to Kalamazoo (sorry Kalamazoo, but you’re the first city that came to mind) or take the kids to Disney World?

And, of course, everyone should have great pity for the person whose favorite airline — on which they’ve accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles on in recent years — has now left their city entirely.

As a fairly frequent traveler I side with those who suggest that the airlines just begin using some common sense.

Enough already! Stop nickel and diming and fifty-dollar-ing us every time we go to the airport. Just cut all the fees and raise your fares to cover your operating costs.

Airlines need to nurture their image, stop flying by the seat of their pants and look at the longer-term consequences of their actions. Doesn’t JetBlue realize how badly its reputation is damaged when on the NBC Evening News Brian Williams reports on $2 pillows right after he gives the lead news from Washington and Beijing?

Just raise your fare by $2 JetBlue —  when the price of oil goes down again (pray everyone) you can lower the fare.Then again, does anyone really think after the price of fuel levels off that Delta will stop charging for baggage, JetBlue for pillows or US Airways for a bottle water (am I being too hard on US Airways)?

But all those folks up in the corporate cockpit know that’s the beauty of added fees — even when fuel prices go down and ticket prices follow, added fees can stick around forever.

Jim Ferri