F2
R
KLMNO
THE NAVIGATOR Christopher Elliott
Airline fees and the $7.8 billion question H
ow much does your airline ticket really cost? Admit it, you have no
idea. Once you add the cost of a checked bag, a confirmed seat reservation and a day-old turkey sandwich, you’ll pay more than you expected. A lot more, probably. Not so long ago, ticket prices included all of the above. But thanks to an industry trend called unbundling,many airlines are now stripping everything out from the ticket but the cost of your seat. It’s a wildly successful scheme: Domestic airlines collected an astounding $7.8 billion in ancillary fees last year, up 42 percent from 2008, while keeping their base fares artificially low. (Legacy airlines still managed to lose $2.8 billion, somehow.)
But passengers are confused and angry about being
LUCI GUTIÉRREZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
nickel-and-dimed. Finally, help is on the way.
An amendment to the current
Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) that would require airlines and third-party Web sites to display a “complete and understandable” breakdown of an airfare, as well as any other possible fees that might be
incurred on the flight, is likely to pass this summer. Last week, the Transportation Department issued an administrative rule that, if enacted, would require air carriers to give their customers a more accurate price quote. Two private companies are also trying to clear up some of the confusion about fares. Seattle-based InsideTrip (
www.insidetrip.com), a site that rates airline flights by their overall quality, last month unveiled a feature called FinalAirfare, which factors bag and drink fees into a price quote. It’s a work in progress. A recent estimate added $12 for soft drinks to my fare, even though the airline I fly doesn’t charge for them. A second project, which has just entered the test phase and is expected to be rolled out by the end of June, is called TruPrice. The site will allow you to check all optional items before you
conduct an online fare search, offering the ability to see the real cost of a ticket and compare ticket prices side by side. Christopher Muise, a former
corporate compliance manager for Delta Air Lines and president of the Atlanta start-up, said that his development team has already identified 39 unique airline fees — surcharges for everything from luggage to antlers. (Yes, antlers. Frontier Airlines charges an extra $100 to check a set.) By the time their research is done, they expect to have 80 optional surcharges in their database. “Right now, if you want to know how much your ticket costs, you have to use a calculator,” he said. “You also have to know where to look: Each airline has its own way of describing fees, and they are not always clearly disclosed. People are frustrated.”
Muise allowed me to evaluate
TruPrice before its introduction, and I conducted several test searches. At any time after I generated the results, the site let me check or uncheck a fee, instantly recalculating the “true” price of the ticket. TruPrice has a lot of potential,
but like InsideTrip’s FinalAirfare, it is far from done. A sample fare from New York to Atlanta, for example, correctly identified Spirit Airlines as having the lowest fare, but when I checked the options for a seat assignment, a drink and extra legroom — all of which should cost extra — it didn’t recalculate the fare for that airline. It did for several other carriers, but without reorganizing them in my display from cheapest to most expensive.
Still, considering that the company didn’t exist before March, the site is an impressive
achievement. And when it launches, TruPrice will almost certainly change the way we buy airline tickets. If there’s a sentiment underscoring the recent rule changes and private ventures, it’s this: Air travelers have the right to know how much their tickets cost, and the way prices are quoted must change now. As airlines generate revenue by telling their customers half-truths — and apparently getting away with it — there’s a sense of urgency to these initiatives. Maybe it’s because airlines are just getting started with unbundling. “We’re waiting for them to
start charging for air,” Muise said.
Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate. E-mail him at
celliott@ngs.org.
SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2010
Your shot to win our photo contest We’re now accepting submissions for our 11th annual photo
contest. As always, we want gritty as well as pretty. The topic of travel is broad, so have some fun with it: Experiment with lighting, angles, subjects and composition. Start shooting . . . and surprise us. One entry per person. Photo must have been taken in 2009-2010. Send e-mail entries to
travelphotos@washpost.com. Photos should be JPEG or TIFF attachments, between 1MB and 10MB in size. Include caption information and when the photo was taken, plus your name, address and phone number, and put the photo topic (e.g., “Scotland rainbow”) in the subject line. If sending by conventional mail, attach a sticker or notecard with your name, contact info and a detailed caption to the back of the photo (please do not send loose sheets of paper). Photos, which are nonreturnable, may be color or black-and-white, and in print form. Send prints to The Washington Post Travel Section Photo Contest, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Entries must be received by July 26. Photos become the property
of The Washington Post, which may edit, publish, distribute and republish them in any form. No purchase necessary. The winner, to be determined by the Travel staff and photography professionals, receives a digital camera. Post employees and their immediate families are not eligible. Please do not call to ask whether we have received your entry. The winning photos will be published Aug. 22.
WHAT’S THE DEAL
This week’s best travel bargains around the globe.
LAND
With Orbitz’s Summer Hotel Sale, book a room at a participat- ing hotel by June 20 and receive $300 in coupons toward future trips booked on the site. The sale is nothing special — many of the rates we found on the Web site are readily available elsewhere, in- cluding the hotels’ own sites — but the coupons are a good deal: $100 off a flight-and-hotel pack- age of three or four nights, and $200 off a vacation of five or more nights. No blackout dates; coupons are good through Dec. 31. Info: 877-672-4892, www.orbitz. com.
Slime on sale: The Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa in Indi- an Wells, Calif., is offering its Nickelodeon Getaway Family Program at 25 percent off nor- mal rates. The discounted rate for a family of four starts at $194 per night weekdays and $214 week- ends, and includes sleepover amenity kits with pillowcases and backpacks, breakfast with SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, daily activities such as dive-in movies and crafts, mass slimings by the pool and daily re- sort fee. Add $22 to $24 daily in taxes. Valid June 18-Sept. 4. Info: 760-773-4444,
www.renaissance
esmeralda.com.
MICHAEL FROST
Michael Frost’s photo of a guard phoning home from his post at the Treasury in Petra, Jordan, won fourth place in 2009.
TRAVEL
Editor: Joe Yonan • Deputy Editor: Zofia Smardz • Art Directors: Marty Barrick, Kim Maxwell Vu • Staff Writers:
Andrea Sachs, Nancy Trejos • Editorial Assistant: Becky Krystal • Travel Advertising: Joseph E. Teipe Jr., 202-334-6250 • To respond to one of our articles: E-mail
travel@washpost.com, call 202-334-7750 or write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. • Manuscripts: Because of the volume of mail we receive, the Travel section cannot return or acknowledge unsolicited manuscripts, article proposals and photographs.
Travel Experts Guide to the
MADRID BRUSSELS PARIS FRANKFURT AMSTERDAM LONDON
GREATSPRINGRATES! 317
703-691-4601
450 250 325 475
322
ATHENS COPENHAGEN ZURICH VIENNA ROME
ISTANBUL
450 450 400 275 550 250
CAIRO TELAVIV MOSCOW BUDAPEST WARSAW PRAGUE
350 565
500 435
450 550
DISCOUNT TRAVEL Last Minute
Travel Bargin Hotline Automated 24/7! 1-800-548-8546 • 410-547-0828
Celebrating Our 51st Year! Just a call or click away!
www.gonowvacations.com
Travel Experts Travel!
Guide to the
Welcome to our market! s
every Sunday in
To learn more about promoting your travel services, destinations and specialties with us, please call Anne Bouchard directly at 202-334-7003 or email inquiries to
boucharda@washpost.com Printed using recycled fiber.
Six leading San Francisco mu- seums are offering family pro- grams July 16-18, with free ad- mission, hands-on art activities and performances. Hours and days of participation vary by insti- tution. On admissions alone, a family of four with two kids under age 12 can save $30 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, $36 at Zeum: San Francisco’s Chil- dren’s Museum, $20 at the De Young Museum, $24 at the Asian Art Museum, $20 at the Contem- porary Jewish Museum and $20 at the Museum of the African Dias- pora. Info: 415-391-2000,
www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/ target.
SEA With Holland America, the third and fourth guests sharing a cabin for four sail for free on the seven-day Alaskan Explorer cruise departing Sept. 11. For example, the first two passengers in a large outside cabin pay $799 each and the next two are free, but all pay taxes of $127 each, for a total of $2,107. The MS Rotterdam sails round trip from Seattle and visits Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, B.C. Info: 877-932-4259,
america.com.
www.holland
AIR AirTran is holding a system- wide sale with one-way fares of $49 to $149 from Washington area airports. Sample round-trip fares, with taxes: Washington Dul- les to Atlanta costs $179; BWI Marshall to Charlotte, $149; Rea- gan National to Orlando, $191. For the lowest prices, travel on Tues- days, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Ten-day advance purchase re- quired. Book by June 10 for travel through Nov. 9. Other airlines are matching. Info: 800-247-8726,
www.airtran.com.
PACKAGE
With Sceptre Tours, visit Dub- lin for four nights this fall or win- ter starting at $399 per person double, a savings of $500 per cou- ple over the normal rate of $650 per person. The Dublin City Pack- age includes round-trip air from New York’s JFK and four nights at the Regency Hotel (fifth and sixth nights are $50 additional per per- son per night). Travel is on select dates between Nov. 1 and Nov. 16, and Nov. 29 to Feb. 6. Add $180 per person in taxes. Add-on fare from Washington is about $138. Info: 800-221-0924,
sceptretours.com.
www. —K.C. Summers
Submit travel deals to
whatsthedeal@washpost.com. Please include your phone number and e-mail address. Prices were verified Thursday afternoon when the Travel section went to press, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Restrictions such as blackout dates and advance purchase may apply.
COMING & GOING
Airline introduces service at Reagan National Airport
JetBlue spreads its wings Traveling from Washington to Boston and Florida will become much easier starting Nov. 1, when JetBlue begins service out of Reagan National. The airline will operate nine daily nonstop flights: seven to Boston, one to Orlando and one to Fort Lau- derdale. Chief executive Dave Barger
told CoGo that this is just the be- ginning. “We will absolutely con- tinue to grow in DCA,” he said. JetBlue already flies out of
- ELIMINATE THE HASSLE OF FLYING
Sail directly from Baltimore to the Caribbean, Bermuda, or to the historic seaports of New England & Canada aboard . . .
ROYAL CARIBBEAN’S ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS. 5-Night Bermuda Cruises with 2 days in Bermuda – June thru Nov ‘10. 9 & 12 Night Eastern Caribbean voyages to San Juan, St. Tomas, Labadee, St. Maarten & Tortola – July thru Nov ‘10 plus 9-Nights to historic New England & Canada including Portland, Bar Harbor, St. John, Halifax & Boston – June thru Oct ‘10. 5-Night rates from $549. per pers dbl
CELEBRITY CRUISES returns to Baltimore with the Celebrity MERCURY featuring 9, 10, 11, 12 & 14 Night Cruises to the Eastern & Southern Caribbean sailing to St. Tomas, St. Croix, St. Kitts, Antigua & St. Maarten. 9-Nights to Charleston, Key West, plus Nassau & Freeport. Jan thru Dec ‘10. 9-Nights from $699. per pers dbl.
We provide door-to-door Shuttle Service to the Baltimore CruiseTerminal FOR ONLY $59. per person roundtrip. Government taxes and fees additional. Restrictions apply.
820 North Fairfax Street • Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 299-3490 • Out-of-Town 1-800-524-6258 Fax: (703) 299-3495 •
www.didioncruises.com
Washington Dulles and BWI Mar- shall. With the National flights, the airline will have 18 flights a day from Washington’s airports to Boston. Advance-purchase sales to Boston will start at $64 one way, with last-minute fares from $244 each way. Asked whether JetBlue would follow its competitors in adding or raising baggage fees, Barger said there were no imme- diate plans to do so. JetBlue al- lows customers to check one bag for free. He also said that there are no plans to add a carry-on bag- gage fee, as Spirit Airlines recent- ly did. “We don’t believe in nickel- and-diming the customer,” Barger said. As for last week’s proposals by the Department of Transportation
to rein in some airline practices, Barger said that the airline sup- ports consumer protection. The proposals would force airlines to increase the amount they pay pas- sengers for involuntarily bump- ing them from flights, reimburse them when bags don’t arrive on time, post baggage fees promi- nently and give passengers better information about flight status. JetBlue already has made it a
practice to reimburse customers for delayed baggage and to refrain from overselling, Barger said. He did say, however, that the airline would have to look more closely at the proposal to give passengers 24 hours to cancel reservations with- out penalty.
Travel Ticker Get your eyes, ears and stom- achs ready for the 10-day Gettys- burg Festival, starting June 18. Entertainment covers a span of genres: culinary arts, cabaret, jazz and more. Boldface-name stars include musician Kevin Eubanks and former White House chef Walter Scheib. Ticket prices vary, with many free events. Info: 717- 337-8200, 717-334-0853, www.
gettysburgfestival.org.
Reporting: Andrea Sachs and Nancy Trejos. Help feed CoGo. Send travel news to:
cogo@washpost.com. By mail: CoGo, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.
NF407 1x1
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164