There is now a $20 roundtrip hidden fuel surcharge to all published airfares for travel within the 50 states.

All the majors (TWA, USAir, America West, Continental, American, United, Delta, and Northwest) have increased every single published airfare by $20 roundtrip. (Southwest and Alaska Airlines, for example, have not imposed this hidden surcharge.) The airlines claim that the new fee is an attempt to recoup spiraling fuel costs. Even though $20 may not sound like a major increase, American Airlines, which ticketed approximately 30 million passengers in 1999, will now reap over 600 million dollars in extra revenue due to the hidden fuel surcharge. Last year's total fuel costs to American were projected at approximately 1.7 billion dollars.

When booking air through a Web site, quoted fares do not show the $20 increase until you get a final total. For example, between two destinations, right now all the major airlines show the same price on your computer screen. What you don't know is that when booking the ticket, you will be charged airport facility charges up to $3 per segment or $12 roundtrip. Plus, on these airlines, an additional $20 will appear on your total that is not imposed by their competitors.

Note though that these fuel surcharges may be rescinded in markets where the major airlines must compete against Southwest, Alaska, AirTran, etc.

Alaska Airlines has now added a $5 one-way, or $10 round trip, fuel surcharge.

<<All the majors (TWA, USAir, America West, Continental, American, United, Delta, and Northwest) have increased every single published airfare by $20 roundtrip. (Southwest and Alaska Airlines, for example, have not imposed this hidden surcharge.) >>

V, you don't consider Southwest to be a major airline?????

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Bill in Santa Monica, CA

Bill: Change the wording, then, to <<All the following>>

That's better, V. [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] BTW, did you know Air JMT is something like 4th or 5th biggest airline in terms of passengers flown? I'm sure Joe can provide even more "fun facts."

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Bill in Santa Monica, CA

USAir has been waffling over that $20 surcharge. They rescinded it entirely over the weekend but have now brought it back to select markets offering standard fares, not the competitive fares offered by the low-cost airlines such as AirTran, American Trans Air, Vanguard, and Southwest.

Southwest raised airfares anywhere from $2 (one way) - $8 (round trip) depending on mileage to cover the rising costs of fuel. They handled this a lot better than the others, IMO, by being upfront about the whole thing instead of trying to hide it. And why do the other airlines charging $20 need from up to 5 times as much money!

Joe Brancatelli's column in BizTravel this week is on this topic.

The column can be read by going to the BizTravel site.


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Bill in Santa Monica, CA



[This message has been edited by Beth (edited January 29, 2000).]

Thanks, Bill.

Great article! Enjoyed reading it.

Beth