171–180 of 191 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
$30 for a day pass to a first class lounge? I can't believe that at all. Can you show me which airports and lounges offer that because I'm going to take them up on it.
They call it VIP lounge, not first: https://www.prioritypass.com/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Fee to check even one bag" means that people traveling with small amounts of luggage can pay less. "Fee to pick reasonable seats" means that people who prefer a lower price can pay less in exchange for getting worse seats, while people who insist on better seats have to pay. "Fee to board at a reasonable time" either means that people with more carry-on luggage pay more, or it means that people who don't understand…
> "Fee to check even one bag" means that people traveling with small amounts of luggage can pay less. "Pay less" is how the airlines would like to phrase it, but as a consumer I care more about the comparison to what I paid yesterday. And today, if you're not paying for those services, you're actually paying the same amount that you used to. They're just charging other people more. It's not like the prices went down…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well then if it's worth something to you then it should be worth paying for. Price transparency is a problem, but not a huge one in my own experience (yours may, of course, vary). Airlines are rarely close enough in price for things like baggage fees to tip the scales, and when they are it's not too hard to see just what their policies are.
"Well then if it's worth something to you then it should be worth paying for." Agreed - that wasn't intended as an objection to paying, but as response to your implication that it was silly to want to. I understand that it wasn't intended very strongly; I was just sharing a view from the other side. I'd happily pay ten cents to board first. I wouldn't pay $100. Whether I'd take any given intermediate price depends on…
I imagine you've seen it, but Hipmunk at least takes a stab at balancing some of those issues into a single "agony" score you can sort by.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That wasn't their point. In most of the world if a product's price tag says X then you pay exactly X at the register (e.g. £2 sandwich costs exactly £2 in cash, you hand then exactly £2 and leave). In the US that is not the case. Almost everything has a "hidden fee." You go buy a $2 sandwich but pay $2 + 6% ($2.12), if you get food in a restaurant you pay $price + 15-20%, an advertised $30/month cell phone plan is ac…
I hope that was their point, because if "it's too hard to calculate tax yourself" was the point, it's a bad point, especially in the modern era of smartphones.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "Fee to check even one bag" means that people traveling with small amounts of luggage can pay less. "Pay less" is how the airlines would like to phrase it, but as a consumer I care more about the comparison to what I paid yesterday. And today, if you're not paying for those services, you're actually paying the same amount that you used to. They're just charging other people more. It's not like the prices went down…
Airline tickets are cheaper than they have ever been. And there's pretty decent variety in what gets included in the ticket price versus what's an extra fee, so if you feel that baggage fees are a ripoff, pick an airline that includes a checked bag with your ticket.
I do think baggage fees are a ripoff, and I don't pay for them. That doesn't mean that I have to like the fact that they've started charging for services that should be a part of normal service (like checking a bag the airplane has to fucking carry anyway). Nor does it mean that I have to believe their claims that it actually benefits me as a consumer to be nickled and dimed for everything I'm worth.
I'm surprised they haven't started charging more for seats that recline. Maybe that will be next.
[1]: http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/airfares/programs/economics_and_...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just installed it. Is there a way to set multiple home airports? There's a bunch of airports near me that I'd drive to if a good flight were available.
There is in v2.3, which is the latest on iOS (Settings>Home Airport>select up to 10 nearby airports). We haven't gotten that far on Android yet but should have it in January.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You should never have to pay for checked bags: just gate check the bags instead. This new checked bag pricing has made the (already crowded) overhead compartments even more crowded. If your flight is full, or nearly so, there will not be enough overhead space for the carry-ons and the flight attendants and gate agents will start gate checking bags. Even if there is space, it may be toward the back of the plane, possi…
Frontier: Checked baggage $25 web / $30 at airport. Carry on $30 web / $35 at airport. Gate check $50. Basically you're punished for gate checking, rather than committing in advance to either a carry on or checking before security. And it means no matter what you're paying for anything other than a personal item.
http://www.flyfrontier.com/travel-information/baggage/checke...
"Gate Check Fee - any bag brought to the departure gate that exceeds the carry-on dimensions"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That wasn't their point. In most of the world if a product's price tag says X then you pay exactly X at the register (e.g. £2 sandwich costs exactly £2 in cash, you hand then exactly £2 and leave). In the US that is not the case. Almost everything has a "hidden fee." You go buy a $2 sandwich but pay $2 + 6% ($2.12), if you get food in a restaurant you pay $price + 15-20%, an advertised $30/month cell phone plan is ac…
I hope that was their point, because if "it's too hard to calculate tax yourself" was the point, it's a bad point, especially in the modern era of smartphones.
A basket of 10 random goods in a grocery store may have wildly different taxes applicable to them.. there are sales taxes, sin taxes (on tobacco, alcohol, etc), and others. These aren't listed on the price tag, so are essentially hidden.
Here in Fiji, I walk into a grocery store with $100 and can arrive at the checkout counter knowing I have $98 worth of goods and can expect $2 change for my bus fare home. I don't even have to know how to multiply numbers to figure this out... simple addition gets me there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How far ahead and what days are you traveling and how many days apart is your start and return trip. I fly RDU -> SFO regularly. If I'm 21 days out and my trip is 3 days or more I can get it for $500 - $600. If I reduce it to 2 nights it goes up to nearly $1000. So "cheap" tickets still exist but they're much harder to find than they used to be.
This was for mid january, so about 4 weeks out. Leaving on a Friday and returning on Monday.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a deeply misleading summary of the data. The table excluding inflation is meaningless in the context of parent's comment, so I won't even touch that. Real prices have dropped 14% in the past 19 years, and have been basically flat since 2004, except for an obviously anomalous dip during the financial crisis (2009/2010). The prevailing trend lines are a steady drop of 1.7% per year from 1995-2004 and then a flat…
Airfares are most definitely higher than they were in the mid 2000's. The global recession saw a big cut back in capacity and that capacity hasn't been added back in to the system to offset the ever stronger economy. Flights are fuller than they've been in a long time meaning higher fares etc.
We've established that. The data shows that flights this year were about 13% higher than at the lowest point, which was 2009 (recession). They are a little under 5% higher than the lowest point during the "mid 2000's". These numbers (~.25% increase per year over 10 years) are fairly insignificant when you look at the broader trends (>1% decrease per year over 3-4 decades).