swag

I'd imagine that the cost of the toll free calls is dwarfed by the cost of call center staff, and perhaps also by the cost of the infrastructure (office space, equipment). So they could save a little, but would take a big PR hit.

A company like Spirit revels in and boasts about their fees, but I don't see the others following.

There a still a lot of less-common tasks that can't be completed online. And it seems to costly for the airlines to get those automated. Email and social media may be effective, but can be slow. Call centers may shrink, and I wouldn't be surprised by more fees for tasks that can be done online, but I don't see them vanishing altogether.

pinniped

Does it matter in 2014? Only time it could possibly matter is international calling, and then I'd probably just Skype them whether their number was toll-free or not. So even that hardly matters.

The part I don't get about Spirit is why they want me buying their tickets in person at the airport. That's surely a more expensive way for them to do it, right? The inability to book online (without paying garbage fees) is a major deterrent from me booking Spirit. (In case 28" seats aren't deterrent enough...) I'm rarely just hangin' out at the airport in the Spirit counter area...

WCT3U

Even with a wealth of other communication options, I hope the phone service remains. I typically book everything over the internet but sometimes a call is necessary. A couple of times storms knocked all utilities out at the house and I needed to find a hotel nearby which still had power and phone. I've also had to make reservations while visiting elderly relatives who have no wifi. And sometimes I just have a question or two that I can't find the answer for on the web. Speaking to a person is much more efficient than typing over some clunky chat interface. Plus I like the anonymity it provides if I don't want to give my name or account #. Seeing an agent's face and having them see mine would change the dynamic in a negative way in many scenarios.

WIRunner

They want you to because most people won't. Someone will look at the convenience fee and say "its only $10" (or whatever it really is) "I'll just pay it so I don't have to go out of my way to go to the airport."

And in the long run, it probably isn't costing them much more anyway.

will2288

I am curious what these call center actually pay for these calls. My small business has a toll free number that comes with more free/included minutes than I could ever use. With the various Voip type services, I would imagine a large call center would be able to spend a very small amount for the 'toll free' part of the call, meaning their expenses would be the same with an 800 number vs. local number.

With so many options for service, there is no reason for companies to have to spend a lot per call, especially as more and more people use cell phones, which don't distinguish between toll free and local numbers anyways.

jspira

Toll-free and WATS service used to be quite expensive and subject to tariff. Today some of it is negotiated and not subject to tariff and the facility costs are probably as much if not more than the total per minute cost per line when you look at T-1s and T-3s.

CMK10

I've been wondering this myself, I can't remember the last time I called an airline/hotel etc. from anything but my cell phone. I don't care if it's a 1-800 number or not based on my current plan.

sbm12

Claim it is low-end or cheap or whatever. But one of the largest and most respected tourist destinations in the world doesn't have a toll-free number for their bookings.

Give 'em a call: 407-W-Disney.

sdsearch

Well, good for you, but not everyone is like that.

Some people have limited calling plans (say, just $15/month but only for 200 minutes/month), and just don't want to make calls from their cell phone that they can make from a "real" phone at home or at work.

Some people prefer keying in credit card numbers (when calling a credit card company), FFP numbers (when calling an airline), etc, on a dialing keypad instead of speaking them out loud (in an area with other people around), and often that's much easier on a desk phone at work than on a smartphone which thinks the onscreen keypad should disappear every time you haven't pressed a number for a few seconds (and in any case where you have to take the phone away from ear to be able to use the keypad, but then you may not hear the prompt as to what to key in!). Maybe you always use a headset with your phone (which solves this last problem), but a lot of people don't (not even in cars! ).

Some people find the voice quality from "real" phones better than handhelds.
(I much prefer trying to make out what someone who barely speaks English. with a heavy accent at an outsourced call center is saying on a traditional phone handset than on a small cell phone!) Again, a good Bluetooth headset may solve this perhaps, but lots of people don't invest in one or leave it in their car (and thus don't use it elsewhere).

Some people don't have good reception at work. Some people don't even have good reception in all parts of their home all the time. If they also have a landline, why not use it for toll-free calls? (But on home landlines, non-toll-free calls still cost something, in fact often nontrivial somethings if you don't use a third-party long distance providor.)

swag

The same reason ATMs have fees and branch tellers are free.

matrixwalker2012

With the shared data plans that I have, minutes are free, so it makes no difference calling a toll free vs any other domestic area code number, they're all the same to me.

st1575

The "paid toll-free" service is a relic of the past. It was discontinued and the 880-882 area codes were reclaimed for future toll-free use back in 2004.