New Airline Fees: My Experience with Conteinetal Airlines and US Airways

I have done a lot of traveling because of my line of work and the fact that my job requires that I be in different places for meetings and business. This sounds like a lot of fun but I have found that traveling can be very difficult and expensive. The reason for this is that airlines have begun to charge a lot for the cost of traveling. Anyone that travels has realized that the price of the average ticket has gone up dramatically over the past year and now many airlines are using the practice of additional fees. Essentially the traveler needs to be ready to pay for just about everything they are given from the airline once they enter the airport. I remember traveling with Continental Airlines in 2007 and they offered free window seating and free meals during the flight. However, all airlines today have begun to charge customers for just about everything and I have lost a lot of money because of these fees.

An article posted on Smarttravel.com lists all of the current fees charged by domestic airlines on every fight. Continental Airlines charges $25 for the first checked bag $35 for the second and $100 for the third bag. I recently traveled to Los Angeles, California and I was charged a total of $50 in fees for one checked bag both ways. Continental Airlines also charges a $150 ticket change fee and a $20 booking fee on any ticket booked through their customer service phone number. In addition to these fees I was charged $20 for a window seat during each portion of my trip. This means that I was charged $40 for the window seating total and $50 for the one checked bag during my flight. That is a total of $90 that Continental Airlines charged in fees for services that were formally offered for free.

I also had the pleasure of flying US Airways last month and I was amazed at all the fees I was charged. There was a $25 checked bag fee each way and a $5 window seating fee each way. I also paid $5 for a can of soda during my flight because I was thirty and $7 in fees for a pillow and blanket so that I could relax during the flight. They had no food available to purchase and I was upset that I had to pay almost $90 in additional fees after already paying for a very expensive flight.