Don't Let the Basic Economy Gate-Service Fee Catch You By Surprise

[MULTIZ321]

Don't Let the Basic Economy Gate-Service Fee Catch You By Surprise
By Laura Northrup/ Consumerist/ consumerist.com

"This year, airlines have introduced a new kind of fare, the “Basic Economy” ticket. Passengers with this ticket type board last and, on some airlines, only get to bring one carry-on item on board, paying the same fees as Economy travelers to check other luggage. Some passengers on United or American who didn’t read the fine print are getting hit with fees for bringing extra carry-on bags in addition to the fees for gate-checking those bags.

“This fee is not at all fair”
The Wall Street Journal reports that some passengers who have chosen to save money by booking a basic economy ticket (or who booked one without raelizing it) lose the money they saved when they have to pay to gate-check their carry-ons, in addition to paying a fee for forgetting their lowly status and bringing two carry-ons in the first place.

One traveler described paying $25 for his own carry-on suitcase and $35 for his wife’s, since she had already checked another bag. On top of that, they had to pay an extra $25 fee for each bag for bringing them to the gate.

“Whatever I saved with Basic Economy, I had to pay more, he told the WSJ. “This fee is not at all fair.”....."

Richard

 

[AwayWeGo]

We just go Southwest.

Southwest economy tickets include two -- 2 -- checked bags for each passenger at no extra charge, plus 1 carry-on bag & 1 personal item each.

Hard to beat their Getaway fares on sale.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[klpca]

Yep, Southwest keeps it easy.

 

[Talent312]

Southwest economy tickets include two -- 2 -- checked bags for each passenger at no extra charge, plus 1 carry-on bag & 1 personal item each.

Herb Kelleher (co-founder of Southwest) was questioned about add-on luggage fees on CNBC shortly before he retired. He said, "I don't believe in that nonsense. As long as I have anything to say about it, our fares will include what a passenger needs to get where they're going." -- or something close to that.

I was impressed at the time, but not with their find-your-own-seat cattle call (festival seating).

 

[klpca]

I remember what Herb Kelleher (co-founder of Southwest) said on CNBC shortly before he retired as CEO. When questioned about add-on luggage fees, he said, "I don't believe in that nonsense. As long as I have anything to say about it, our fares will include what a passenger needs to get where they're going." -- or something close to that.

I was impressed at the time, but not with their find-your-own-seat cattle call (festival seating).

I really can't do festival seating - at a festival. But I've had no issues on Southwest. Sometimes I buy earlybird, sometimes I don't, but I always check in as soon as possible and have no issues getting either an aisle or window seat. Sometimes we're towards the back, but I have survived. Usually we're on a flight that is less than 4 hours (in fact a lot of the time it is less than 2 hours) so it hasn't been that big of a deal.