Archive for the ‘Airlines’ Category
Common Airline Fees To Avoid
Airlines continue to add on fees for services and other common features when flying in an effort to generate extra revenue wherever they can. At E-Z Rent-A-Car we strive to help you get the best value for your discount rental car, and many of our customers travel by air first, so we want to help you save the most money possible! Here are some common fees when flying that you can avoid.
Checked Baggage
Many airlines now charge $25 for each checked bag EACH way. For a family of four, that can add up to $200 per trip! This is unfortunate, because some long trips require people to pack a larger bag. If you’re on a longer trip, try to call your hotel or whoever you’re staying with and see if you can do laundry while you are there.
How To Avoid It: The easiest way to avoid this fee is to pack light. You’ll be helping the environment by making the plane lighter, and you’ll have a more enjoyable trip without lugging around a ton of baggage. Another easy way to avoid this fee is to fly with Southwest or JetBlue. They both offer one free checked bag per traveler. Delta is also offering one free checked bag for SkyMiles gold car members.
Food and Drinks
In the early days of flying, it was customary to receive a light meal or snack on trips longer than an hour. Now, you’re lucky to get a pack of peanuts. Many airlines still offer a complimentary non-alcoholic drink, but hardly any of them offer free food. JetBlue offers good snacks for free, but you’re on your own for most other airlines.
How To Avoid It: Pack snacks with you. You won’t be able to get drinks through security (which is why airlines still offer drinks for free), but any kind of dry snack or even a sandwich should make it through security and hold you over if you have a longer flight. You can also try to eat right before you get on the flight, but make sure it’s not too heavy of a meal. As we all know, the airplane bathrooms are not very comfortable!
Reserved Seating
I was buying tickets on AirTran the other day, and I was shocked to see that they charged $6 for every seat that you reserved, and exit rows were $20 to reserve. This is the epitome of tacking on extra fees to gain more revenue.
How To Avoid It: The only way to avoid it is by not reserving a seat and getting to the airport earlier than normal so you can reserve seats at the counter. Also, some frequent flyers get priority seating for free, depending on the airline.
Watch out for fees from extreme discount airline companies. Companies like Allegiant Air will sometimes offer $10 and $20 flights one way, but they’ll charge you $15 to book it online, they’ll charge for seating reservations, checked bags, and they might even charge for a non-alcoholic drink.
Tags: airline fees, airtran, checked baggage fees, how to avoid airline fees, southwest air