Airline Fees | featured news

Airlines may begin charging for new services including early boarding, fancier meal options and reclining seats, as they continue to dig around for ways to pile on more fees, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

When the airline industry took a nose dive a decade ago, executives at global carriers scrambled to find a quick fix to avoid financial ruin. What they came up with, according to federal prosecutors, was a massive price-fixing scheme among airlines that artificially inflated passenger and cargo fuel surcharges between 2000 and 2006 to make up for lost profits.

U.S. Airways Group Inc. is raising the fee to check heavy luggage on its domestic flights to an extra $90 each.

Lots of people fume over airline fees, but one group of travelers became so enraged over having to pay extra charges that they were kicked off a plane over the weekend.

The à la carte fee menu for everything from aisle seats to bags to lunch has brought the airline industry back to profitability. That's good for the airlines, but passengers feel like they have been nickeled-and-dimed to death.

U.S. airlines collected $2.56 billion in baggage fees during the first nine months of the year. With industry experts expecting slower economic growth and rising oil prices in 2011, those ancillary fees aren't going anywhere.

Airlines are nickel-and-diming passengers, and now a coalition of three travel advocacy groups is fighting back.

He's already suggested installing coin-operated lavatories and selling standing room on flights, so it may not be surprising that the latest idea from the colorful CEO of Ryanair is once again pushing air travelers' buttons.

It used to be that the money you were charged for a seat in basic coach was called a fare. But in our age of nickle-and-dime airline fees, even the most trivial parts of the flight experience are up for grabs.

Airlines make billions of dollars in fees for check-on luggage, refreshments and other services formerly included in ticket prices, but consumers have a hard time figuring out how much they'll pay in total to fly, a congressional committee heard Wednesday.