For several months I've thought about writing this column. Indeed, I did write something a few years back criticizing the way airlines have decided to make money today.
These days it's almost taken as a given that airlines can and should charge so-called ancillary fees on top of the fares they feature. Those fares, by the way, keep going higher, as airlines dominate their hubs and reduce service on their routes. And that, by the way, is endangering the future of the travel business big time.
But let me get back to ancillary fees. These are the charges for bags, extra bags, specific seating assignments, seats with extra legroom, overhead bin space, reservations made by phone, food, Wi-Fi and other "extras" on the flight.
They have added literally millions, if not billions, of dollars to airline profits and have cost both business and leisure travelers an equal amount.
Now I am certainly not against airlines making a fair profit from the service they provide. But they now say that ancillary fees are here to stay and represent literally the only way they can make a profit now and in the future.
My question is: Have airlines asked their passengers how they feel? Airlines argue that such ancillary fees cater to the desires of passengers by allowing they to tailor the flight experience they want and pay for it incrementally.
Indeed, the airlines have even proposed an entirely new standard of ticket distribution, known as the New Distribution Capability (NDC), to provide their customers with a way to create the experience they want - for a price, of course. For a time, the GDSs, travel agents and consumer groups had opposed NDC, mostly on privacy and cost grounds, but now they seem ready to accept it as long as they can help fashion such a system.
Yet, there's no visible revenue for travel agents or GDSs, or savings for consumers, in an NDC. And nobody seems to have polled airline customers about what they want!
[BLURB]I would counter that nearly every passenger I ask would much prefer a more all-inclusive experience when flying. They want their fare to include every seat in the same class, a checked bag and a small snack or meal onboard depending on the length of the flight. They don't want to be nickel-and-dimed to death.[/BLURB]
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I would counter that nearly every passenger I ask would much prefer a more all-inclusive experience when flying. They want their fare to include every seat in the same class, a checked bag and a small snack or meal onboard depending on the length of the flight. They don't want to be nickel-and-dimed to death (and it's hardly nickels and dimes we're talking about today). They want to be safely conveyed to their destination on time and in relative comfort.
In other words, they want a more inclusive, not a less inclusive, experience! And they want to know what the fare will cost upfront, not piecemeal as they add additional features that formerly were part of the entire fare.
As I've pointed out in the past, the trend in travel is to be more inclusive, at least in other segments of the business beyond airlines. Travelers want to know the cost of things upfront; they don't want to find out about extra charges after they've paid for their initial airline ticket, cruise fare, hotel room, car rental rate, etc.
Just look at the exponential growth of the all-inclusive resort business and you'll see a great example of this trend. Cruise lines, too, are adding in more features and amenities as part of the overall fare, especially premium and luxury lines. And even hotels and other non-inclusive resorts are beginning to include such features as Wi-Fi, telephone calls and free breakfasts, though some resorts still cling to those onerous "resort fees."
Are the airlines going to do an about face in the near future and make their product more inclusive? I doubt it. There's just too much revenue on the table right now in those ancillary fees and the airlines clearly aren't interested in what their passengers think about them. They have deemed ancillary fees to be necessary to their profitable future, so they won't back down anytime soon.
That said, my guess is we'll have to wait for a carrier to emerge that promotes the fact that it doesn't charge ancillary fees. Southwest and JetBlue, for example, already tout the fact that they don't charge for first checked bags, and I think that message has resonated well with passengers.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm willing to pay for extra legroom and even good food onboard. But it's getting a little crazy when you have to pay for an assigned or a "choice" seat (meaning one farther forward in the aircraft or a window or aisle without any extra legroom).
I also think it would make a lot more sense to allow at least one free checked bag, since it would eliminate the hassle of everyone trying to bring as much baggage as possible into the cabin. Of course, now some airlines are starting to charge for overhead space, which is patently ridiculous, as insane as the talk of charging a toilet-use fee (which actually was discussed by one European low-cost carrier).
I realize I'm a bit of a contrarian here and I have no illusions things will go back to the way they were many, many years ago. That, of course, was when airlines charged a reasonable fare that included pretty much everything, including good service. It was also a time, many, many years ago, when airlines did make a profit. Well, I can dream, can't I?
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