Airlines.....Remember When???....But Now!!!

I remember almost 41 years ago when I began my journey in the travel service business, it was a real pleasure and quite an adventure to fly in an airplane. Men were dressed in business attire; women were fashionably dressed; stewardess were polite and accommodating, seemingly glad you were flying with them, the captain greeted you as you disembarked and thanked you for flying with him. Even checking in then was so seamless, and of course, luggage did not have to be paid for.

Nowadays.......the fees just get my goat, and they are endless. Someone recently made a list of airline fees being imposed and I thought I'd share just a few.

• Ticket change fees—almost all airlines except Southwest are charging at least $200 to change a ticket plus any change in air fare.

• Seat assignments.....that's one that really makes me mad. We used to provide that service when making an airline reservation to reserve a seat; nowadays the airlines virtually block all the seats except a very few in the back of the plane with the intention and hope that the passenger will spend a little more money for an aisle or window seat, and the one traveling with them will also have to pay a reduced price to sit in the middle seat. Sweet!!!

• Charging $75 or more to move to an earlier or later flight even though neither flight is full.

• Some airlines are charging for using a credit card for payment, and someone even told me the other day that they had to pay extra for a reservation made over the phone.

• Some airlines charge you for printing your boarding pass. Some folks are bypassing this charge by pulling up the boarding pass on their phone and waving it under the agents scanner.

• Some airlines are charging for carry-on bags with wheels and some are limiting passengers carry-ons to only those that fit under the seat.

• Can you believe the over-weight charge for luggage? Most carriers limit the weight to 50 pounds, but even if 1 pound over, they will charge and additional $100. Now, you know it didn't cost the airline an extra $100 to carry that one pound, but it's their airplane, and if you want to take an overweight piece of luggage, you suffer the consequences. Some folks get by with this if they don't have a scale to weigh the luggage. They pack a little carry on bag to use to transfer whatever to make the weight threshold.

-As everyone knows who has flown lately, they are not serving any food for “free” anymore, which of course, encourages folks to take their own lunch bag aboard. Most airlines are still serving soft drinks, water, and coffee, and of course for a fee, the alcohol drinks. My hunch is that before long, the “free” drinks will become a thing of the past, and with them will go most of the stewardesses.

The experienced travel agents at The Travel Factory will be more than happy to assist you with your purchase of air or any other transportation, and to the best of our ability will advise you of fees you can anticipate. Contact us at 698-1421 or 800-760-4040. We are at 4150 Southwest Dr., Ste. 120.