The "No Fly List" now takes on a new meaning

[Ichingcarpenter]

Airline Tickets to Soar 200% and Beyond

Some nonstop flights out of Houston cost over 200 percent more this summer compared with last year, and the trip to Memphis has seen one of the biggest increases, according to BestFares.com.

Last year, the lowest advance-purchase fare for a Continental Airlines flight from Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport to Memphis for travel during the week of July 22 cost $198 round-trip, but the same trip this year is running $663, according to BestFares.

The major airlines have raised fares 13 times this year on noncompetitive domestic routes by as much as $340 round trip, he said.

Some big increases BestFares highlighted include a round-trip flight to Charleston, S.C., that jumped to $412 this year from $138 last year (199 percent) and a trip to Detroit that has motored up to $476 from $188 (153 percent) on a comparable ticket in June 2007.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5819857.html

Now they are charging for your bags

American last month was the first major airline to announce it would charge customers to check a single piece of luggage. The fee takes effect on tickets bought on or after June 15. American said three-quarters of summer travelers had already bought their tickets and wouldn't pay the fee.

The airline defended the fee, saying it was a bargain compared with the cost of shipping a 45-pound bag overnight on a package-delivery company. It said the cost of sending a bag from Dallas to New York would range from $150 to $230 or more.



The next step could be charging for overweight passengers


Airline fares are expected to go nowhere but up as the price of fuel continues to rise, and, now there's word of a possible charge that's sure to make people angry -- charging by the pound.

The airlines have been guessing passengers' weights for years because of the physics of flying. It's called the passenger weight standard and, with most airlines in dire financial straits, they may start using the weight standard to set new fees. That means it will get personal.

``They're going to get down to specific passengers, probably. Something like, if you're more than the standard weight, then they may charge you an extra surcharge," says Louie Theile of ``The Travel Show" on News/Talk 92-3 KTAR.

The current weight standard is 175 pounds, male or female.

The standarized weight issue allows airlines to keep their base fares cheap, getting more bookings online. Then they can add on fees at the airport.

``What they do with you after you get to the airport -- `If you want to check baggage, we're going to charge you. If you want to have a meal, we're going to charge you.' That way, they can make it specifically your problem. So if you show up and you weigh 300 pounds, that's your problem and it doesn't affect the fare for everybody else."

Despite the bad press that airlines' might draw, as long as they keep advertised fares law, they will be able to sell tickets, Thiele says.







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