Continental to start charging extra for certain seats?

[DisneyBamaFan]

Sigh...

I've been in the travel biz since '99. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about...

Thanks - does that make you any less wrong?

When I talk about advertised fares, I am talking about something like the ones that I get from AA or Continental or UA. They advertise fares like, $39 each way on round trip airfare between XXX and XXX. I actually just copied that from an email that I got last week from American. They know exactly which flights (with specific routes) are included in that advertisement. They won't have 5 different routes for that advertised fare. Choose a route that wasn't included for that fare and you will see a difference in fare, not just fees.

 

[kaytieeldr]

1) Advertise the price for the Dallas routing and quote it a bit higher than it might be for those that choose the Memphis routing (thus possibly making them "more expensive" than the competition).

And with so many passengers being SO price-sensitive (vs. service-sensitive) that $1.50 per passenger could be the difference between making and losing the sale.

His point is that Southwest has no trouble including these.

They don't include the fees as part of the advertised price. They don't even include it on the page where one selects one's flights. I wish I knew how to take a snapshot of a screen print and post it in a, well, post - but I'm technologically challenged. Above, I give an example of Southwest pricing I just researched. By clicking on the actual - vs. base - price, you can see a breakdown of what ALL the different fees are. But the $54 fare in the "Wanna Get Away" column becomes a $64.70 fare when all is said and done and feed and taxed.

IT also seems they do indeed know at the time of your search if the flight that you are being shown is a non-stop, 1 -stop, etc...and they know exactly where it will be stopping and the price adjusted accordingly

But they don't - can't - include these fees in advertised pricing.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

They don't include the fees as part of the advertised price. They don't even include it on the page where one selects one's flights. I wish I knew how to take a snapshot of a screen print and post it in a, well, post - but I'm technologically challenged. Above, I give an example of Southwest pricing I just researched. By clicking on the actual - vs. base - price, you can see a breakdown of what ALL the different fees are. But the $54 fare in the "Wanna Get Away" column becomes a $64.70 fare when all is said and done and feed and taxed.

You mean these:

Taxes and fees are not added until the end. If anything I find SWA a little more confusing because their Fare listed isn't even the same (selection screen or on the confirmation page after net of taxes).

 

[kaytieeldr]

They advertise fares like, $39 each way on round trip airfare between XXX and XXX

Well, sure. A $39 fare is likely a short-distance, non-stop flight. One possible routing, period.

With flights being cut regularly in an effort to stop losing money (and who knows, maybe even someday make a profit), there are more and more connecting itineraries. Look at Southwest. Most of its flights at least stop somewhere, if not require the passenger to switch to another flight entirely. Either of the latter two cases would invoke an additional PFC.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Well, sure. A $39 fare is likely a short-distance, non-stop flight. One possible routing, period...

Wrong...

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Wrong...

I don't necessarily disagree, but please, expand upon your one worded, short response to disprove.

 

[bettymae1121]

Thanks - does that make you any less wrong?

When I talk about advertised fares, I am talking about something like the ones that I get from AA or Continental or UA. They advertise fares like, $39 each way on round trip airfare between XXX and XXX. I actually just copied that from an email that I got last week from American. They know exactly which flights (with specific routes) are included in that advertisement. They won't have 5 different routes for that advertised fare. Choose a route that wasn't included for that fare and you will see a difference in fare, not just fees.

Airline tarriffs are based on point A to point B. Chicago to Orlando's tarriff can be (for example) $39 each way, and that tarriff is good for all that airlines routes, including non-stop and every possible connecting point that airline offers. They do not know and cannot predict what route you will decide to take, even in online or email ads (not to mention all other forms of adverstising). Once you're on the site and pricing out actual flights...yes then they can (if they want to) includ PFC's. But not before.

If that $39 fare is ONLY good on flights connecting in a specific city and ONLY that city (or of course it's only good on non-stops), then yes, if they wanted to, they could include the taxes. But you don't usually get sales that actually limit what routes you can take. And when I say "usually" I mean 99.9% of the time. Frankly I've never seen an ad that restricts routing, but I'm leaving that .1% as a possiblity because I of course haven't reviewed every ad ever run by every airline.

I book one million dollars of airline tickets per year. Again, I know what I'm talking about.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You mean these:

Yes! Except I wanted to do that little box with the fee breakdown

 

[kaytieeldr]

So this apparently means there is more than one routing for each pair of cities.

Is each pairing only non-stop?

Does each destination city incur the same passenger facility charge as every other destination city - both its 'pair' and all other cities involved in this special offer?

 

[bettymae1121]

So this apparently means there is more than one routing for each pair of cities.

Is each pairing only non-stop?

Does each destination city incur the same passenger facility charge as every other destination city - both its 'pair' and all other cities involved in this special offer?

YES! Exactly! As always it depends on the airline and their actual route network, but often there are multiple ways of getting from your origin to your destination. And not all airports have the same fees. So depending on how you are routed, your total taxes can be a bit different. Obviously, if an airline runs an ad for Chicago to Orlando, they know the fees for Chicago and Orlando. But they don't know if you are going to pick a non-stop (if one exists) or a connecting flight, or which city you will wind up connecting through if there is more than one routing.

ETA: Now, if, for example, there is truely only one possible routing (either non-stop or connecting) for a specific advertised fare (rare, but it can happen in very small feeder markets), in that instance the airline would know the PFC's. But, then they would be in the position of have some ads in some markets include taxes, and other ads in other markets exclude taxes, when it's imposible for taxes to be known. Rather than have a situation where sometimes advertised fares include it and sometimes they don't, it is MUCH easier for both the airline AND the customer to keep it consistant. Since they can't always know 100% of the time what taxes will be for all advertised fares, the only way to keep it consistant is to always leave them out.