You know how you think you’ve found a good price for an airline ticket – but thanks to a slew of fees your final price tag is flying at an altitude of 3500 feet?
Well…that’s about to change thanks to new rules from the Department of Transportation.
Unfortunately – you won’t be seeing fees for luggage, meals and other services go away. However, they should be much more obvious. These new DOT rules are meant to make the airline industry a bit more transparent.
Fee disclosures aren’t the only thing that could benefit both frequent and infrequent flyers.
You could also get a better refund when you’re forced to deal with those all-to-familiar hassles that come with air travel.
For instance…the new rules require airlines to boost passenger compensation in the event people are bumped from an oversold flight. Right now, you’d get refunded equal cash value of your ticket up to $400 if the airline gets you to your domestic destination within two hours (4 hours international). Longer delays could mean double the ticket price up to $800.
The new rule increases those refunds to $650 for short delays and $1,300 for longer delays.
You’ll also get a refund on bag fees if your luggage gets lost. That’s in addition to the normal compensation for lost luggage damage or delay.
In the near future, when you go to book a flight online, you should see everything your paying for before you click “buy.” Airlines now have to display potential fees on their websites in an obvious fashion.
In addition to being more transparent about fees, the DOT wants airlines to get better at informing passengers concerning delays. The airline staff must notify you “promptly” if a flight is delayed by more than 30 minutes, and also must post the delay on its website. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the changes Wednesday and said he thinks it’s all for the best.
“Airline passengers have a right to be treated fairly,” said LaHood in a written statement. “It’s just common sense that if an airline loses your bag or you get bumped from a flight because it was oversold, you should be reimbursed.”
Sadly – we certainly can’t expect those annoying fees to disappear. In the past few years, the rising cost of fuel has brought about many new airline fees.
You didn’t always have to pay fees for your bags. That’s why so many passengers are trying to cram over-sized carry-ons into the overhead bins. Plus, meals, in-flight snacks as well as drink services have been scaled back.
Fuel prices are obviously still a problem – so don’t expect the cost of flying the friendly skies to get any cheaper. This week United Continental and Southwest Airlines admitted that the price of fueling planes hurt their first-quarter earnings.
So if we’re going to pay all these fees – it would be nice to have a plane that wasn’t infested with rodents.
But that’s what happened on a Delta Flight.
No, it’s not Samuel L. Jackson’s next movie (although Rabid Rats on a Plane could be pretty sweet). Rat poopies “too numerous to count” were recently was discovered inside a carrier. Read more about it at The Stir. By the way poopy is the scientific term for feces.
New rules for the airlines become official in about four months.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net and sardinelly
+Kasey Steinbrinck is the lead blogger on personal finance and the economy for Check Advantage. When you order checks from Check Advantage, you’ll find hundreds of unique photography and illustrations featured on Wildlife Checks as well as Flower Checks and much more! Contact Kasey if you’d like free original content for your blog or website.
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It’s appalling to me to see airline fees skyrocketing like this. What does it matter if you get the cheapest airline tickets if they tack on tons of fees on top of the price!
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