Rabidstoat

So, I was reading somewhere about Spirit Airline's plan to start charging for checked bags (and different prices depending on whether or not you book online), and of course for a while various airlines have been charging for snacks. There's a charge for movies on some planes. But with all these "ala carte" options, the only real norms that have caught on in the US (that I've noticed) are paying different prices for different fare classes, and paying for alcohol in economy on domestic.

So my question is, do you think this "ala carte" pricing scheme will ever become the norm in the US?

Can you envision a future flying world where the base service you get is transferring a person from point A to point B and that's all? Where your bill looks like:

Airfare: $97.35
Taxes: $13.75
Soda: $1.00
Peanuts: $1.00
Movie: $4.00
2 checked bags: $10.00
1 carryon bag: $5.00
Carryon liquids: $5.00
Pillow usage: $1.00
Blanket usage: $1.00
=================
TOTAL: $x.xxx <-- too lazy to add!

Think we'll go there? Too costly to track and itemize?

ralfp

I'd like to pass on that...

Eastbay1K

My jury (of 1) is still out on this, but I think no, with respect to the basics (some checked luggage, a beverage service of sorts). However, I remember when people ridiculed Peoples Express years ago - OMG, they charged for food. But remember, we are a society of buffets, unlimited jams, ketchup and butter on the table (included in the price), and still have a much more competive marketplace than most countries could ever have in the skies. Those from places used to being charged for every local phone call, every jam and butter, sauce for the fries, and whatnot, accept these sorts of carriers better.

IMOA

Whereas people who are used to paying to receive a phonecall would not accept it all

ButIsItArt

Not quite sure if the US is ready for another People's Express

MollyNYC

Odd that you say this because just about every foreign airline I fly on which is a "full service" airline.....which AA, UA, CO, DL claim to be.... serves a complimentary snack even on very short flights.
I've had pastry on Emu Air (20 seats), Empanada's on Varig and lunch w/ dessert on Swiss Air on flights which are about an hour. On flights under two hours, I've been served a delicious hot lunch on Thai airlines and Qantas.
All in coach seating.

Personally, the thought of this a la carte pricing is upsetting and annoying. Just charge me the $20. in the ticket price and treat me with a little dignity and class. The nickel and diming concept is just so unpleasant.

Maybe restaurants should start offering tableclothes as a optional charge? And I want a discount if I don't use my salad fork!
Bottled beer without the glass gets a $.50 discount, etc etc etc.

majik

Here, here!

What you sayin? I have to pay to have someone call me? Ok.....right.....dopes

RustyC

Re: OP. I sure hope not. Some passengers tend to think that if the airline saves $X doing something then the savings will get passed on.

IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!!!

If a legacy carrier started charging for all drinks, for example, it's not gonna make the fare $196 rather than $199. Delta, for example, often charges more to fly from ATL to Macon or Birmingham than to L.A.! It's not a cost-plus business model, nor will it be anytime soon.

Airlines will happily cut things if they think they can get away with it, but passengers should demand some minimum standards. You can't bring most liquids on a plane and cabin air is unusually dry, so there should be some kind of complimentary liquids to drink.

There also should be a reasonable floor on the baggage allowance, since airlines have economic incentive to set unreasonable limits (like some Asian LCCs do) so that the area can be used as a revenue source. It's like NSFs and banks; what used to be something to punish the truly deserving morphs into a major profit center.

Rabidstoat

In some of the low budget restaurants that I went to in Asia, they did this! At least, they had these wet napkins you could use before the meal, but if you used it they'd charge the equivalent of like 3 cents.

I've found in Asia that 'normal' airlines serve meals, or at least decent snacks, on any flight. Even my under-one-hour flights (on Siem Reap Airways, Bangkok Airways, and Lao Airlines) had drinks and meals! Maybe not hot meals, but there were decent sized snack meals.

I guess one way to look at it is that if it was 'a la carte', those who didn't avail themselves of the services wouldn't have to subsidize those who did. But I tend to look at it like RustyC said, that they won't drop fares, they'll just drop service.

By the way, I finally remembered what me think of this question! It was from reading this thread over on MilesBuzz!, about Spirit and their 'per bag' charge. Read it before my nap and must've stuck.

iancanton

ryanair, the irish low-cost carrier, does this, but most charges are collected online at time of booking. food and drinks extra, movie extra (this was a trial, but unsuccessful, since most ryanair flights are shorter than the length of a typical movie), checked bags extra, online check-in extra, priority boarding extra. blankets and pillows are not available at all. an attempt by ryanair to charge people for wheelchair use at london stansted airport was outlawed by the uk government.

ian.

gglave

>Think we'll go there?

Some of it is already there... If you book a domestic ticket on Air Canada's web site, at the base fare, with the booking engine you can add and subtract a la carte options, such as "Not checking a bag? Subract $15" "Reserve a seat? Add $15" "Want Aeroplan miles? Add $5" and so on. At the end you get an itemized summary. You can also pick different options for your inbound and outbound leg.

Once you're onboard the flight you can purchase a blanket and pillow etc.

The only place the a la carte falls down is in sales on board the aircraft. They should really have card readers on the carts that simply charge your credit card. Instead it's all in cash, they never have change, they always say "Do you have anything smaller?" Often I'll pay by $20 (even if I have something smaller) just to force the issue and make it clear cash is a ludicrous solution.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

jefrank

That's exactly what Spirit does... no cash allowed, credit/debit card only and the debit card must carry a credit card logo. Haven't actually bought anything from them yet, but if I fly with them again I'm sure I'll end up doing so.

Green Dragon

I took a flight from London to Shannon last summer, and the Aer Lingus folks had sandwiches/drinks for sale. They had the capability to take both credit and debit cards, for I had no Euros on me. They also said they could take Euros or British Pounds.

It was worth it, as I was parched from a mad race across T4 to catch the bloody flight... our flight came in late.

MisterNice

You gotta congratulate KLM for serving a sandwich or two and free beer and free wine in coach between LHR and AMS on a $130 RT flight taking about an hour.

MisterNice

pacer142

Indeed so, but it's far more civilised (if a bit noisier) served on board a Fokker 50 from LCY to AMS.

VLM go one further with their real glasses/cups and multiple drink servings. Cheaper ticket price to boot...