@Areyouagoodlittleconsumer: They do. Gas prices tend to be higher at the end of the week than mid-week.

Well at least prices didn't increase $10 more everyday of the year... just a matter of time I suppose. Everyone is trying to make an extra dime these days, so it's no wonder that once one goes, they all follow suit. Too bad all the airlines weren't lowering their prices instead... hmm...

/tangent

If "fees" are not subject to taxes why not make the ticket price $.01 for every flight and make the rest a fee of some kind. I heard an airline industry analyst on NPR state very clearly that fees are the airlines reaction to the price transparency created by the internet. These fees intentionally prevent you, the customer from knowing exactly what you are going to pay for a given service. Imagine if you were at the grocery store and every price had an asterisk on it to prevent you form knowing what you were going to be charged. You would never shop there. This is exactly why Southwest with their flat rate pricing are cleaning the clocks of the legacy carriers.

hmm I wonder if gas stations will follow suit and start charging $7 a gallon on predictable high-traffic road periods...

@zentex:It's like trying to call a system access "fee" a government charge. Another form of "crap shift", where lazy companies that don't want to actually do anything shift the work AND the costs onto the customer.

@tailstoo:

Read the article. The surcharge is included in the published fare.

@Blueskylaw:
They're not calling it a fuel surcharge. The post here is inaccurate.

@xthexlanternx: I agree that they should just price it into the ticket . Hotels do it at peak season in most vacation areas . Try booking a stay during the summer holidays like July 4th and it will probably be much higher than if you booked for October 4 .

The problem with all these fees is that they are not reasonable . I'd rather see higher ticket prices and not have to pay 3$ for a drink or bag of peanuts you can get at 7-11 for a 1$ .

Just do it . Throw the costs into the tickets .

I think the product provided by most US airlines (with the exception of Southwest and Jet Blue, who I have always had good experiences with) has become so unreliable and overpriced that people are flying less and driving more, which just drives up the prices more and exacerbates the problem. Whereas at one point it may have made sense to fly from Boston to DC, now I'll just drive or take the bus. Their business model is only losing them customers.
It's another reason why a Euro style wide-reaching high-speed rail network is absolutely necessary. Give the airlines some real competition besides Greyhound.

Lan isn't always competitive for prices in S. Amer, though, so, when on a grad student budget, if the prices are that different, I go with the cheaper of Lan and AA. I do have a fair amount of km languishing on Lan at the moment, though.

...If I could ever take the time for one.

Just saying, sometimes, there are good reasons for taking AA. Out of Miami, I never had a problem with AA. It's less great out of LA, I'll admit.

If it isn't - then a big WTF, since there are usually several open gates nearby - why not reassign?

It's just too expensive.

I don't know who is responsible for this (and yes, I agree with you that the air traffic control system is in serious need of an upgrade) but whoever is allowing two airlines to advertise a scheduled departure of 8 AM is violating the laws of physics since two planes can't occupy the same space at the same time. Maybe a partial answer is to simply cut back the number of flights allowed out of an airport at a particular time. Actually plan a schedule that can be met with the understood exceptions of weather and mechanical integrity. I think it's doable and when we finally get the upgrade (which may take some horror stories from controllers in the media)I think we'll be able add back flights.

@zentex:

Crude oil prices are down along with oil company stocks and the best fee explanation they could come up with is fuel surcharge?

These are extra profit fees plain and simple and any other explanation by the airlines says they take us for fools.

That is an oxymoron.

Seriously, though, enough with these bullshit fees, airlines!

It's like when you have three gas stations on a corner. Most of the time, they have the same prices without any price-fixing.

If you need a spreadsheet to figure out what a trip is going to cost you, then it's clear that that airline is try to screw you.

Other businesses might take a page from the airlines. $1.00 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but 50 cents for the service fee, 25 cents for the lid, 20 cents for access to the fixin's bar, 35 cents surcharge for rush hour brewing.

Or a gas station - $1.50 a gallon, but 50 cent self servicing fee, 25 cent pump reset fee, 50 cent payment processing fee and 50 cent surcharge for access to the window washer.

So if I just paid, say, $219 for a $59 flight (which was the difference in IAD -> BOS for a flight I ended up not taking last year), why do they need to charge me an extra $10, again?

@zentex: IIRC, 'fees' are not subject to the taxes and surcharges the govt takes as a percentage of the 'fare'. Of course, it just makes it harder for all of us to figure what's what. Just so we're clear, I agree with you (& the others that have said the same thing). It's not like the person in an exit row is using more or less than the amount of fuel than someone in a window seat 10 rows behind him.

@greatgman:

No, price fixin is when I, the head of pricing at big-shot-airlines, calls my friend, the head of pricing at super-duper-airlines, and we talk for hours on how we can adjust our prices and/or surcharges to screw the customers out of a few extra bucks.

In this case a single airline set a policy to screw over the customers and 30 seconds later another airline followed. See, no conspiracy to fix prices.

Oh, in the old days, you would see brand A raise prices $50, brand B would follow with a $25 price increase at which point brand A would re-adjust their prices by $25 and announce a substantial price reduction. Of course all of this took place in less than 30 minutes of time.

Airlines should get in on this. Sell flights for $10, just pay taxes and surcharges, plus get the return ticket FREE (just pay the taxes and surcharges again).

Really, is raising prices such anathema to airlines that they've resorted to this?

Frontier, JetBlue, AirTran all offer better service at a more reasonable price. Southwest does also, as long as you aren't obese.

Unless the trip is overseas, fly a "discount" carrier.

Don't fly anything smaller than a Boeing 717 under any circumstances.

That's all you have to do to keep your sanity.

American is actually late to the show on something like this, and paying a pittance.

@xthexlanternx: i wonder if people would bitch and freak out less if the cost of the tickets just went up instead of the increased smorgasbord of semi-hidden fees?

Southwest: $130
Airtran: $140
Delta: $180
United: $200
American: $590

Someone hasn't caught the clue, I think.

YMMV if your travel requirements limit you to flying out of DCA or on shorter notice.

RTFA

if the NYMEX fuel price exceeds $100 a barrel then Carnival will hike up the price of the cruise fare

@AppleAlex: Well you have Continental, Northwest (Branded as NWA), and US Airways along with Delta, American and United.

Then the "value" lines such as Southwest, Jet Blue, USA 3000, AirTran, Frontier, Spirit, Midwest....

Then there are tons of regional carriers like Comair, Mesaba and SkyWest. Those are usually owned subsidiaries of the larger carriers. For example, Comair and Mesaba and wholly owned subsidiaries of Delta Airlines.

alternatives from these money hungry companies?