The agony of determining what a flight really costs
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Winging It
The agony of determining what a flight really costs
Tom Belden
You may have noticed your correspondent has been missing in action for a few weeks. A host of health and personal matters have been in the way, but I'm back now with a fresh take on the most important air-travel issue of our time: What does it really cost to take an airline flight these days, considering the fees that you may be hit with as you make plans or while you're on your trip. Here's what I'm talking about, based on personal experience, and later in this post I'll link to some others' writings with the same theme.
My story: I needed to make a last-minute roundtrip to reach my ailing 98-year-old mother's bedside during her final days. I faced what many business travelers and those in my situation face every day. I had just an hour or so to make a decision on which airline to use. Using Expedia, I found a lot of choice, with roundtrip fares from around $300 to well over $700. Would it be the apparently low $298 price on Delta that involved connections both ways, or my usual default choice, Southwest (default, of course, because of virtrually no fees), at closer to $600 roundtrip? Among the considerations, the outbound Southwest flight was nonstop so that was a plus since I needed to get there fast.The total flight times on Delta on the return were a little shorter than Southwest's lowest-priced choices. But with that much apparent difference in the fare, it would seem that Delta should get my business.
Oh, but wait. What about fees that could mean the real cost would be different, perhaps a lot different? I didn't have to worry about checked bag fees in either direction since this would be a short trip with a single carry-on. On Southwest, the only one was the optional "early bird checkin" fee of $10 that puts you among the first 60 or so to board a flight. Before buying from Delta, however, I discovered that when buying only 24 hours ahead, my lack of frequent-flier status on the airline meant that there seemed to be no way to reserve a seat. It looked as if I would be randomly assigned a middle seat on all four legs of the trip.
After a good 10 minutes of drilling down in the Delta Web site (I had earlier given up trying to scope out Delta fees on Expedia.), I found some information, but it was practically useless. The airline appeared to be saying that after buying a ticket, I might be able to purchase an upgrade to a "preferred seat," one on a widow or aisle toward the front of the cabin -- if there were any left after any last-minute frequent-flier demand was met. The cost for these "better" seats: $9 to $99 per segment, the site said. So what was I really going to wind up paying if I wanted to rest my arthritic old body in an aisle seat where I could get up and stretch when I needed? Was it going to be an extra $36 or might it be another $396? And I really had to work hard to even find out that much.
You can guess what I chose. I paid the higher fare on Southwest and was able to sit in an aisle seat on each flight, despite being in the "B" boarding group outbound because I had not had enough advance-purchase time to use early bird checkin. Did I pay more than I could have on Delta? Yes, perhaps a good bit more, but I didn't really care.The lack of transparency in what my trip on Delta would really cost wound up costing it not only my money on this trip but perhps a lot more on future travel. I was so frustrated and disgusted that I certtainly won't consider it first on my next trip. If Delta wants to tell me how I failed to be a smart consumer in using its Web site, I'll listen. Or maybe not. I'm so tired of this run-around, aren't you?
There are even more reasons today validating an observation I made in Inquirer travel columns several times in years past: There are too many airlines that their customers may need to use, but they do not like, respect or trust them.
The U.S. Department of Transportation currently is working on consumer-protection rules airlines would have to follow in clearly displaying all fees a customer has to pay for a ticket before buying it. Below this entry, there are links to several articles on this DOT effort and the need for it in previous postings, moslty in June and July. Here you will find the latest story from the travel trade press on questions about airline behavior on this topic raised by one of the crusaders on this topic, Charle Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance.
AMEN!!!! Until other airlines "get it", I will continue to fly Southwest. Delta is one of the worst.— Justicek- I used to feel the same about avoiding all airlines other than SW, but my job required me to fly quite frequently (2x/month) to the West Coast, and SW offered very little flexibility in terms of schedule or direct flights. US Air offers a 90 day trial to upgrade to a prefered level and if you meet certain mileage requirements (which are much lower than what you need on an annual basis) during the 90 day period you keep that status thru Feb of next year. With my status, I have priorty checkin/security line at PHl, board in Zone1 so I don't have to worry about overhead space, and I can reserve exit row and preferred seats in the front of the cabit free of charge. I also have been upgraded to First Class on several of my trips. Status certainly has its privledges, and unfortunately SW does not have similiar programs.
The flip side here is the big airlines only really cater to those who use their airline frequently, and the rest of the leisure travelers seem to get the short end of the stick.— dankil13 - Tom, your experience at the Delta website is similar to what I hear from my readers regularly. In fact, it doesn't matter whether you're flying out today or next month, if you're looking to purchase a "choice seat" on Delta. You can't purchase a "choice seat" as a Delta "nobody" when you purchase your ticket, and therefore you won't know how much the ticket will eventually cost, if you upgrade to a choice seat, at the time you purchase your underlying ticket. At least that's what I've found. That being said, you can select a seat, even a same day seat, just not those "choice seats."
To confirm that, I just went on the Delta website to purchase a round trip ticket on a flight this evening, just about 9 hours from the time I'm writing this comment. While their stock of regular seats, on the flight I chose for today, included only middle seats, had there been aisle or window seats available which were not "choice seats," I could have chosen one. The stock of seats on the flight I chose to return, a couple of days later, still had regular aisle seats and I was able to choose one.
On the other hand, over at US Airways, choosing flights, as a "nobody" at about the same flight times, on the same days, including a flight tonight, to and from the same airports, you could choose and pay for your seat, including US Air's "choice seats" at the time you were purchasing your ticket, and thereby know exactly how much the seat cost.
For a lot of reasons, I'm not a fan of Southwest, and choose not to fly on them. I really try to avoid Delta, in part for the unknown cost factor you wrote about above. I fly on US Air often in and out of Philly.
I'm happy you're back. I always enjoy reading your thoughts about travel.— NedLevi - I have to take issue with the some of the misinformation here.
Is this really "a fresh take on the most important air-travel issue of our time"? hardly.
Have you tried to buy a car lately? Have you tried to buy insurance? Have you tried to understand the hotel bill? Everyone wants to hide the price from you. Its fair game. But the consumer is not stupid. Its annoying but hardly a crime (especially since January it has been a requirement in law to disclose all fees).
I will agree it could be a LOT better than it is. The consumer is really much smarter these days and there are tools to help you. AND I believe it will get better.
If you truly think you are being duped... then complain to the DOT about it. But you made your decision and voted with your wallet. I sure that Delta is devastated by this news.
A couple of other points. You imply in this conversation that the consumer has had the ability to search neutrally and with full disclosure. Frankly I dont think she/he has ever had the ability to search for fares fully transparently. This is why we went to Travel Agencies in the old days. They were accessible and could walk us through the minefield of data that is disseminated by airlines.
As you noted you already started at Expedia. Yet Expedia doesn't give you Southwest so you had to go to the Southwest website ANYWAY.
So ease of search hasn't existed for years if ever. I am sorry that you don't like the way Delta does things. (For the record as a DL Diamond Medallion member - I dont like it either). But do I think that the government should step in and magically fix things for me? No. KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THIS P U L E A S E !!!
Keep up the good work. And if I can complain about something. Your comment process is REALLY horrid. 4 lines of exposed comment space is hard to work with.
Cheers
The Prof.— professorsabena
