wigstheone
Jul 3, 02, 5:31 am
As millions of vacationers plan holiday getaways this weekend, here's one headache they won't be leaving behind: the burgeoning list of travel surcharges.
Fees on everything from hotel rooms to airplane seats to rental cars are surging as companies look for new ways to boost weak revenues. In April, Continental Airlines raised the fee it charges for children flying alone by as much as $15, to $40 on nonstop flights and $75 for connecting flights. A few hotels are still levying "energy surcharges" of up to $3 -- despite the fact that last summer's energy crisis has long since abated.
In February, airlines added a federal security fee of as much as $10 per round-trip ticket. In addition, carriers including American, United, Delta and Continental continue to impose "fuel" surcharges up to $25 on some routes, although fuel prices are considerably lower than when the industry initiated the fees in 2000.
Most airlines, in fact, no longer use the fuel fees to actually pay fuel expenses. "The charge now covers the costs of doing business," says Julie King, a spokeswoman for Continental.
The surfeit of surcharges is partly the fallout from one of the worst travel slumps in decades, as weak demand and the added costs of security measures are cutting heavily into the industry's bottom line. Nine major U.S. airlines reported more than $2 billion in combined losses in the first quarter earlier this year. Demand for rental cars is down more than 10% from a year ago, and hotel occupancy rates are also lower.
Some surcharges are a direct result of last year's terrorist attacks, says Tia Gordon of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Hotels "had to look at other ways of generating money."
Today, taxes and fees on a typical $200 domestic round-trip ticket total roughly a quarter of the overall cost, a 76% jump from five years ago. By comparison, the tax on cigarettes, one of the most heavily taxed products in the U.S., comes to about 18%.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1025640701902515320,00.html?mod=At%5FLeisure% 5FMain%5FPersonal%5FJournal%5FHS
Fees on everything from hotel rooms to airplane seats to rental cars are surging as companies look for new ways to boost weak revenues. In April, Continental Airlines raised the fee it charges for children flying alone by as much as $15, to $40 on nonstop flights and $75 for connecting flights. A few hotels are still levying "energy surcharges" of up to $3 -- despite the fact that last summer's energy crisis has long since abated.
In February, airlines added a federal security fee of as much as $10 per round-trip ticket. In addition, carriers including American, United, Delta and Continental continue to impose "fuel" surcharges up to $25 on some routes, although fuel prices are considerably lower than when the industry initiated the fees in 2000.
Most airlines, in fact, no longer use the fuel fees to actually pay fuel expenses. "The charge now covers the costs of doing business," says Julie King, a spokeswoman for Continental.
The surfeit of surcharges is partly the fallout from one of the worst travel slumps in decades, as weak demand and the added costs of security measures are cutting heavily into the industry's bottom line. Nine major U.S. airlines reported more than $2 billion in combined losses in the first quarter earlier this year. Demand for rental cars is down more than 10% from a year ago, and hotel occupancy rates are also lower.
Some surcharges are a direct result of last year's terrorist attacks, says Tia Gordon of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Hotels "had to look at other ways of generating money."
Today, taxes and fees on a typical $200 domestic round-trip ticket total roughly a quarter of the overall cost, a 76% jump from five years ago. By comparison, the tax on cigarettes, one of the most heavily taxed products in the U.S., comes to about 18%.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1025640701902515320,00.html?mod=At%5FLeisure% 5FMain%5FPersonal%5FJournal%5FHS