In recent days, it has been widely reported that Southwest has now added a new potential fee for customers. Yes, we have another 
airline fee that jumps out as being kind of interesting!
From what has been reported on various other sites, the fee is regarding early boarding privileges. A passenger can be assured to be one of the first 15 to board, an incredibly grand privilege indeed, for the “bargain” price of just $40. I know, I know….you’re so excited that you simply can’t wait to book a flight and get to be one of the first 15 on board! Just know that it’s reported to be only if space is available, and can be done up to 45 minutes before boarding.
It’s getting comical how these fees are being tacked on for air travelers. Back in the day, it was just a matter of paying your airfare and being done with it, for the most part anyway. Actually, the whole air travel experience was apparently a big deal at one point. People made it a point to dress up a bit, and it was a real special occasion to fly. Meals were served to everyone too!
Now, if you want a real meal, maybe think about flying first class. Or, settle for that snack box for which you’ll be paying more than just a couple of dollars. If you want to watch the in-flight movie or listen to music, you might have to pay up. Actually, depending on the airline, you may have to for such things as bottled water, a blanket, a pillow, or the right to choose your seat. It’s not unheard of to have to pay to be able to store a bag in the overhead compartment.
All of this doesn’t even include the hefty fees now in place for checking bags. This certainly wasn’t that case not too many years ago! I do have to say, I have inadvertently circumvented this once before, and managed to avoid airline baggage fees without even trying or intending to do so!
Anyway, at this point, airline travel is getting quite expensive. I have really, really enjoyed traveling in the past – and flying has been a lot of fun. I’ve traveled more than a bit, as mentioned here a few times. 47 states, plus internationally to Europe, Asia, Caribbean, etc. But as fun as it is has been, all of these fees are adding up to make flying less of a bargain than it might have been in the past. Not that I have time to do much traveling anymore, but even if I did, it’s getting pricey!
Might as well just not worry about it, and instead just get a good laugh at the newest attempts at revenue generation by the various airlines in business today. After the aforementioned trips to Europe, and being faced with paying for water at restaurants and paying to use restrooms, I now keep an open mind to such revenue generation attempts by businesses. At least air travel is optional in life, unlike the things I just mentioned having to pay for!
With all this said, I’m curious of your views on this.
Would you pay $40 in order to be one of the first to board the plane?
What do you think of all of these airline fees that have been added, and which ones are the silliest to you?
Have increased costs impacted the amount of air travel that you do?
I guess I don’t mind the fees because I can avoid them all. If the alternative would be no fees but a higher priced ticket, then I’m better off. If they start charging for using the lavatory though, I’m in trouble. Think the airlines would object to me carrying on a hospital-style urinal? 🙂
LOL!
This one doesn’t bother me because it is avoidable. I think there will be some that do this, but I won’t be one of them.
I won’t be one of them either. Unless someone else is paying 🙂
…I thought a similar ‘perk’ used to be only $10 on Southwest. I’ll have to look and see what the difference is. Certainly not $30 worth…
Not sure about details of other such perks, but at $40, it’s not something I’ll be paying for, more than likely.
That’s a good one! My pet peeve is the fee for for serving a particular seat on Air Canada. They used to seat travellers together if they booked together (such as a family) but now they don’t, so couples, parents and children, etc are seated separately unless you pay the fee.
That’s not cool. Hopefully some decent people on board would be willing to switch seats for families.
That’s ridiculous! We already have to pay extra for checked luggage, seat selection, and food/drink… what else can they charge us for?
So long as I have my seat assigned (I pay extra to pick my seat so that I can sit beside my husband), I’m in no hurry to get on the plane. I’d rather wait in the terminal… where I can walk, stretch my legs, and make a final bathroom break. The less time spent on the plane… the better!
I too prefer being in the terminal. Paying to sit in cramped seats is no fun! Of course, there’s that thing about going across the country that we can’t get elsewhere. That is, unless we go for alternates such as car, bus, train…which aren’t so comforting either 🙂 I guess it’s just more fun to get to the destination and get the traveling over with as quickly as possible.