By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com
October 3, 2006
Even with airline profits sailing out of sight, consumers continue to experience service that is often surly, indifferent, and even incompetent. And they're paying more for the experience.
Fuel cost surcharges imposed in 2003 jumped wildly after gas hit $3 per gallon in the wake of Hurricane Katrina two years later. A September 11th security fee, allegedly to help cover the cost of Transportation Security Administration screeners, was accompanied within weeks by an Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee, which varies with each airline.
Airlines have added fees for roomier exit-row seats, fees for baggage weighing over 50 pounds, and even "service charges" for onboard purchases made with credit cards. Some of those purchases include food and drink that were once free.
Many airports, cities, counties, and states have added taxes and surcharges, placing more strain on a traveling public that has few viable alternatives.
With record numbers of travelers, the eight legacy airlines made a combined $1 billion profit in the last quarter but continued to operate in penny-pinching mode. Fleets are down 23 per cent since the 2001 terrorist attacks and airlines staffing is down 38 per cent. That move put more than 69,000 people on the unemployment line.
International carriers, invariably more progressive than most of their U.S. counterparts, actually rolled back ticket prices when fuel costs dropped. But American airlines did so only for cargo planes -- leaving intact charges that add up to $30 a ticket.
A bigger problem than pricing may emerge this winter, when flu season peaks. Packed planes, cleaned less often and less thoroughly because of airline employee cutbacks, may become an even bigger breeding ground for germs.
That won't help the dwindling corps of flight attendants, who are already doubling as security agents and traveling salespeople, or the beleaguered public, already coping with longer baggage claim lines because of restrictions on carry-ons.
With fewer flights, scheduling has also become haphazard. When this columnist flew from New York's LaGuardia to Salt Lake City via Denver earlier this week, he found a barely-legal connection time of 25 minutes on the Frontier Airlines website. The incoming New York flight, slowed by bad weather in the East, arrived 15 minutes late -- forcing a run from Gate A50 to Gate A24 when Frontier failed to provide its usual automated cart.
Midway through the terminal, the passenger heard his name paged and warned that he was the only one not on the flight -- even though the gate agent at A50 promised to call the other gate. It wasn't a good day for a guy with an arthritic knee.
The return schedule, equally maddening, had a three-hour layover in Denver. It seems these things must be designed by a committee.
We're paying more for this?
