An Airline Ticket’s Like a Phone Bill: Fees Like Fleas

By Denis Horgan | Last updated Nov 4, 2009, 1:18 pm

Recently I took a trip to Europe. It was a slightly complex flight but nothing out of the ordinary. The ticket cost $293. Not bad at all.

Except that the ticket actually cost me $666.22. There were $373.33 in various fees and taxes and levies — well more than the price of the actual ducat itself.

That’s international. If I fly from Hartford to Los Angeles I can get a ticket for $208 — but must add $42 in fees and taxes, too.

(Coming Friday: Sales to ruminate over the weekend.)

And that’s the stuff you know about in advance. You need to plan on what the price is going to actually reach. You might be surprised at what things cost. Most search engines give you the total ticket price up front, so you don’t have a heart attack when your neat little $208 soars by nearly 40 percent — or your international jaunt more than doubles. But there’s more.

We expect taxes and we expect some fees — notably for security. But the always-troubled airline industry has more and more fees of its own — for baggage, for extra weight, for food, for paper tickets, for nearly the air we breathe.

According to Expedia, the big ticket jump-up is made up of:

Surcharges – various airline surcharges from $1.50 to over $50 may apply.
Federal Excise Tax – 7.5 percent of base fare.
A Travel Facilities Tax of up to $14 per roundtrip for domestic flights beginning or ending in Alaska or Hawaii may apply.
Passenger Facility Charges – up to $18.00, depending on the itinerary.
Federal Segment Fees – $3.60 per U.S. flight segment.
Sept. 11th Security Fee – $2.50 per enplanement at a U.S. airport up to a maximum of two enplanements per one-way trip.
Non-US Destinations – for international travel, foreign and U.S. government-imposed charges of up to $200 per roundtrip ticket, depending on routing and destination.

But that’s hardly all that you need to budget on. If you want paper tickets it’ll be another $19.99 each, for example, and if you order it in person or over the phone add another $20. And more:

Let’s say that you want to take a United flight somewhere, just to pick one major carrier. Your checked bag costs you $20. A second bag is another $30. A third bag is another $125. If that makes you 50 pounds overweight, add another $125. If one of those bags is oversized, pay another $175. If you thought to send all this with an unaccompanied minor, pony up an additional $99, and if the kid has a pet with him, it’s another $125. If you want a special seat add at least another $14 — up to a lot more for pricier seats.

In this imaginary situation the $250 ticket is bloated for a phone-ordered, paper ticket for an unaccompanied kid with a dog carrying three bags that are overweight and oversized by a minimum of some $755. Don’t even think about ordering a drink, as much as you might need one.

OK maybe all those things don’t cascade all at once very often. But bags can be too heavy. They can be oversized. You may need to change a flight if something comes up. Prepare to pay — a lot. JetBlue charges $10 extra for a seat with extra legroom. Spirit demands $20 for an exit row seat, $12 aisle or window and $7 for a middle seat. Apparently you pay for the seat and then pay extra to sit on it. Amazing.

Here’s smartertravel.com’s accounting of fee-bites at the major airlines.

It’s your money. Plan ahead.