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Airlines Consider New Ways To Add Charges To Your Flight
The airline industry is considering some new creative ways to add to the cost of your next airline flight. The airline companies may start adding these news fees this year which consumers will have to take in consideration when booking a flight.
The first new charge will be for infants that are held in their parents lap. There may be a charge for booking the infant on a flight, even if the child sits on your lap during the flight. The added weight of the infants causes the plane to use more fuel, so a charge may be coming your way.
Also under consideration is a fee for booking your flight using a credit card. Those who pay cash would be exempt from the charge and actually receive a 3% discount for paying by cash.
This one I really like. How about a convenience fee for booking a flight on the Internet? I thought by using your computer to buy something was cheaper since you did not have to interact with a real live person?
There is also another option that the airlines are thinking about. Charging for all luggage by the pound, even carry-ons.
And how are the airlines going to get away with this? Here is how:
For starters, there is less competition. After a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, there are fewer airlines. Delta Air Lines Inc. combined with Northwest Ailines Corp. United Airlines is tying the knot with Continental Airlines Inc. Southwest Airlines Co. announced it would buy rival AirTran Airways.
“The competition is certainly much less fragmented,” said airline analyst Hunter Keay of Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets. “There’s been a lot of inefficient capacity taken out of the system.”
There is one thing the airlines are not thinking about yet. Charging passengers by the pound of their own body weight.
But who knows. That could be coming. As America continues to put on the pounds, the airlines may see this as another revenue source.
Comments welcome.
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