Is the Era of Cheap Travel Over Permanently?

Filed in archive Travel on September 11, 2008

© aka Kath

It doesn't feel like so long ago when you could pick up and go on a whim - decide to fly to Chicago (or out of Chicago) for the weekend at the last minute and still get a flight whose price you could live with. Will air travel ever be like that again? Two stories that say "no":

Continental says new bag fee could bring $100M:

Continental Airlines Inc. said it continues to expect that it will carry fewer customers in the U.S. but collect more from them, including more than $100 million a year in fees and savings by charging travelers to check luggage.

...

On Friday Continental announced a $15 fee for the first checked bag, for travel beginning Oct. 7. The new filing said it expects the fee to generate more than $100 million in "net benefits" on a yearly basis because of a combination of the fees and cost savings, presumably because fewer passengers will check bags.

And...

US airlines not planning to cut fuel surcharges:

Although oil prices have dropped over the past few weeks, U.S. airlines have no immediate plans to reduce fuel surcharges that they tack on to the price of a ticket.

Most carriers have imposed several increases in their fuel surcharges - they range up to $170 per round trip in the United States and more for international flights - on top of fare hikes.

...

U.S. carriers, which other than Southwest all lost money in the first half of this year, said Tuesday it's too early to eliminate the surcharges.

It's a little depressing, but at the same time you have to ask, why did they let it get so cheap in the first place?

Running an airline is an expensive operation, and, as noted above, only Southwest Airlines seems to have figured out how to do it profitably. The rest of them lose money for a variety of reasons, some having to do with unions and fuel costs as much as competency.

I think we all got spoiled. Between $150 round trips and frequent flier miles out the wazoo, we could go anywhere, sometimes for cheaper than it would cost to drive (and much faster of course). But if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you have to ask yourself how you could expect to pay so little to get in a massive flying contraption that takes you across the whole country in 3 or 4 hours.

Not saying we deserve to pay more, but, looking back, it's amazing that we paid so little.