Originally Posted by
here2thereinAZ
And the only reason is to improperly take money from you while providing no product or service in return for the money provided.
When you face a change and don't show up at Safeway for your weekly grocery shopping during a given week do you get charged by Safeway for your groceries anyway? When you shop should be left up to you. And, when you return from Columbia should be as well.
It is my hope that US may soon wake up and escape from the prison that they have constructed around their own business at the expense of their customers who are increasingly sick of it. It is also my hope that DL/NW wake up to the fact that "change fee's" are destroying their ability to make a great deal more money (by eliminating them) by connecting properly and beneficially (to DL) with their customers.
I'm certainly not an apologist for the airlines and don't like to pay fees either, however, you comparison doesn't make much sense. First of all, you are comparing a tangible good vs. a semi-intangible service. Airline seats are a 'reserved' for a reason. Once a flight departs, that inventory is gone forever, very different that a grocery store.
If there were no change fees, then no one would ever buy a refundable / changeable fare. Its those fares that actually make them money...
Again, I don't like fees, but as another poster said, they are there for a reason. It why you can get a Cross Country ticket for $250 sometimes. Its because someone else on the plane is paying $2500.