The rising cost of oil has severely affected the travel industry. The airlines in particular have been hurt really bad – major airlines in the USA have cut back on their routes and have trimmed their work force. As usual, the airlines have passed on the increased cost of operation to the consumer by raising tickets prices and tacking on hefty fuel surcharges.

Desperate times call for desperate measures - Well it was only about a month ago that United Airlines instituted a policy of charging $25 fee for a passenger’s 2nd checked bag on all domestic flights. Shortly thereafter, all major American carriers followed suit. Just today, American Airlines made big news by announcing plans to start charging passengers a $15 fee to check their first bag each way, or $30 round-trip, if they are flying on a discounted fare. Elite frequent fliers, full fare and international passengers will be exempt from this new checked bag fee. Of course, it will only be a matter of time that all major airlines in the USA institute the same policy.

Now this is pure speculation, but the airlines may consider the follow measures if oil prices continue to rise and eat into their bottom line :

• A surcharge for all window and aisle seats
• An additional fee will be assessed for headsets for economy class passengers
• Additional fees for carry-on luggage

In the not too distant future, the airlines may resort to selling ad space on their air tickets and food tray tables in order to raise additional cash. You know that the airlines will have sunk to the lowest common common denominator when they start charging passengers 25-50 cents to use the onboard restrooms. Now that will be some bad shit!

For an interesting take on this new baggage fee, check out this article.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.