America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - HP Matches $5/$10 Booking Fees

Effective October 6, 2004, America West will implement a $5 fee for tickets purchased through the airline’s reservation centers and a $10 fee for tickets issued at airport and city ticket offices. The fees do not apply to any tickets purchased or redeemed through www.americawest.com.

Elite members of the airline’s FlightFund program are exempt from the service fees, and the fees will also be waived for FlightFund Elite members’ traveling companions booked on the same itinerary.

The following types of tickets will be exempt from the fee:
FlightFund Elite members & their traveling companions
America West Travel vouchers
America West Senior Saver packs
Military fares
Interline and codeshare tickets (except Hawaiian Airlines)
Government fares
America West gift cards & gift certificates
America West Guaranteed Airfare vouchers
America West Future Travel Awards
America West Air Checks
America West Vacation packages

http://www.americawest.com/services/ticketingoptions/sv_ticketfees.htm

I guess this is no surprise, many of the other airlines are doing it. Why lose out on a profit opportunity in today's environment?

From a quick glance it seems they've excluded the situations that require you (by their own rules and systems) to interface with an agent, so that's good. It's also nice that they've excluded all FF Elite members & others traveling with them. They learned something from the others who have stumbled through this.

The only problem I see with this is related to redeeming miles for tickets on HP. I've experienced three situaitions I can think of where I looked on-line and found no availability on particular flights/days, but when I called them, there actually was availability. That almost necessitates a phone call, which if you're not an Elite member, is going to cost you. They should make certain that their on-line availability is accurate, or in situations where it isn't, waive the charge.