United Airlines has decided to pass on credit-card fees to travel agents when customers book their trips with said agents. The airline threated a $75 per ticket penalty to agents who charge the fee to United’s account. Increasing the cost of operations for agents has caused a ground swell of opposition. Agents claim that customers will eventually bear the burden of the shift if other airlines follow United’s lead. Earlier in the year, United Airlines made headlines by deciding to charge larger passengers for two seats instead of one.
United Airlines © Matt Hisnta
It’s not a surprise that airlines are beginning to shift fees to travel agents. The industry is struggling with the downturn in the economy. In this case, agents are most likely correct in predicting that fees would eventually be passed on to consumers. It has become a pattern in the airline industry to use fees to keep airline tickets low in search engines, but keep the same profits coming in.
Is the shift in fees from airlines to agents and travelers a smart policy?
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Gennaro Salamone is the founder and editor of Enduring Wanderlust. Feel free to contact him with questions, comments, or inquiries with reference to contributing a travel article or photograph for publication.
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Missy
That will definately end up costing the consumers if this continues with other airlines. It always does. It’s amazing how much airlines get away with in negative pr.
Carla
Since the airlines are really struggling, I would think they would be a little less stringent in their policies in and fees. Also, I really don’t know anyone who uses travel agents anymore besides large companies.
J.D. Meier
Is it a move to squeeze out the middlemen and optimize around supplier to consumer or simply a short-term, cost-saving, business-survival maneuver?
Trey - Swollen Thumb Entertainment
Hi Gennaro,
The airline industry is certainly going through some hard times, and I just don’t see them turning things around any time soon. I think that the way things are going, trains are going to be back in style within the next few decades, and the airline industry is going to have to scale back considerably. They just aren’t providing value to their customers very much anymore.
I don’t know how airline companies make their numbers work out. (If they do work out at all that is) But I do know that there must be a lot of politics and under-the-table deals going on that prevent them from taking any simple solutions. It seems to me that if they aren’t filling up their planes, that they need to just stop flying as many planes at once, and offer some transparency. They aren’t fooling anyone anymore with their hidden fees. All they are doing is upsetting people and making Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains seem better and better.
Nomadic Matt
they may pass the fee to agents but we all know we’re gonna pay for it somehow
Susan
It’s something I would like to know before I layout any money for an airfare which may prove useless for travellers in my position.
Stacey
It’s just their another strategy to lure the customers however its the customers that will still pay though, it doesn’t make any difference at all!