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By Jeremy Branham on Feb 03, 2012 with Comments 8
This past week has seen some big changes in the airline industry. The DOT introduced new airfare rules and changes that help protect passengers when it comes to the price of airfares and making changes to flights.
Airlines have complied with the new airfare rules. However, not all the airlines are taking it well. One airline has implemented a new airline fee while another airline is making some big changes. And some big news from a travel review site may be misleading travelers.
Spirit Airlines imposes a new airline fee as a result of DOT rules
Spirit Airlines now charges an airline fee of $2 to cover the cost of possible cancellations as a result of new DOT rules. Since the new rules now give passengers a chance to cancel a flight within 24 hours, Spirit Airlines states that this hurts their business as confirmed seats could now be canceled causing the airline to miss out on filling all the seats on a flight.
Spirit Airlines already leads the airline industry in airline fees as they charge passengers for both checked luggage and carry on bags, booking tickets online, and printing airline tickets at the airport kiosks. While airfares may be cheap on the discount airline, a lot of their revenues comes from a number of fees.
While the new airline fee may make sense to some, the new DOT rules that allows passengers to cancel a flight within 24 hours doesn’t seem like it will hurt business that much. Only flights tickets that are booked in the last few days before a flight would seem to be an issue as airlines should have no problem filling seats weeks before a flight.
Understand how airline taxes and fees affect the cost of a flight
Maybe Spirit Airlines has a large percentage of last minute flights as part of their business. However, passengers flying last minute are less likely to cancel and 1 day is hardly a big deterrent to airlines getting their seats filled.
Maybe this is fee is more an act of defiance against the government since Spirit Airlines already claims that the new rules are a government conspiracy. Maybe forcing an airline like Spirit into full disclosure of taxes and mandatory fees doesn’t sit well with the airline.
Currently, Spirit has joined Allegiant and Southwest Airlines in a civil lawsuit to try and block the new rules.
What are your thoughts on Spirit Airlines and their airline fees?
Southwest Airlines redesign means more, smaller airline seats
Southwest Airline is redesigning its aircraft to with a new motif for its cabins, different colors, and environmentally-friendly materials. The new seat cushions will mean more storage room underneath the seat.
However, adding six more seats to each aircraft will mean less legroom.
The addition of the new seats will mean that seat pitch (the amount of space from one spot on a seat to the same spot on the seat in front or behind) will shrink from 32 inches to 31 inches.
While one inch may not seem like much, it can make a big difference for passengers when seats are reclined. Southwest has long been known for its legroom and for having one of the best overall airlines in the US as it often tops the list for customer service and best overall airline.
Find out how to find the best airline seat on your flight
Southwest ranked number 2 behind JetBlue in seat comfort and space. Now the gap between Southwest and the other US airlines like United, American, Continental, US Air, and Delta will shrink.
Will you still fly Southwest even though the seats are smaller?
Are TripAdvisor reviews no longer reliable?
A number of sites are reporting problems with TripAdvisor reviews as it could no longer be seen as reliable as the system could allow for fraudulent reviews on the site.
TripAdvisor claims that the number of fraudulent reviews are very small and negligible. However, a regulator in the UK claims that TripAdvisor can no longer state that reviews are all written by independent travelers.
A hotel and another company representing its clients state that the fraudulent reviews are substantial and could affect a number of small hotels in England.
Do you use TripAdvisor? Do you think some of the reviews are unreliable? Will you still use the site?
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Filed Under: Travel News • Travel Tips
Good info! I only fly Southwest on short trips so I think I’d be fine with slightly smaller seats. However, Spirit is a crap airline and you get what you pay for. I have flown them twice to Fort Lauderdale and have been incredibly uncomfortable the entire time (as well as being nickeled and dimed the whole way.
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I admit I’ve never flown Spirit. However, the more I read about them I probably never will.
It saddens me to hear that Southwest is reducing their legroom; it’s one of my favorite parts of flying with them though I rarely get the chance. I hope we’re not seeing the slow decline of Southwest into becoming just another one of the big carriers.
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I like Southwest as well. However, they are a comfortable budget airline that offers a pleasant flying experience. However, I feel like Southwest needs to make some improvements and the seat thing is going in the wrong direction. To be fair, they won’t be any different than all the other airlines after these changes but it’s hard to have something like extra legroom taken away when you’ve had it for so long.
I wonder if there is an opening for a carrier to have a no fees ticket. What they charge is what they charge. They take care of all the fees and such “from their side” instead of having to list them out. I would think that if the fees are not charged extra, the rules for disclosure wouldn’t apply. They let you check bags and eat reasonable food on flights, without the feeling of being nickeled and dimed to death. I guess it is expectations. I would think an airline that actually treated people as humans and not whiny cargo would be able to get a market.
The best seats I had on the recent trip to New Zealand was actually on Jetstar. This was a short flight from Auckland to Queenstown, but they were comfortable and leathery. Cathay Pacific was a great airline overall, with the seats being my major complaint. Not legroom per se, but they were hard and not comfortable on my legs for so many hours.
Tripadvisor is always hit or miss. In general the more emotional someone is the more likely they will write something. So even if they were independant, you get lots of emotional horror stories or glowing reviews. The normal “it was ok” rarely gets there. This is true not just on TA, but pretty much any review system. Take everything with a grain of salt.
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This is pretty much what Southwest does. They are very much “anti-fee” and are very different than most airlines. They don’t charge for bags at all and the only fee I am aware of is an early check in fee which guarantees an earlier boarding. However, this is optional and you can still get boarding in A. To my knowledge, there are no mandatory fees at all to fly Southwest. On top of that, they are the ones that generally take the lead on airfare sales and everyone else follows.
As for airlines outside of the US, I think these have been some of the best I have flown. One thing about US airlines is a lack of competition in some ways. However, even smaller airlines in other countries do a great job at treating passengers well and flying them in comfort (not all of course).
I just wish I could put my finger on it as to what is the real difference here. You shouldn’t have to compromise affordability for the sake of comfort or vice versa.
As for Trip Advisor, I like to look at a number of sites to see what they say about a place. Despite the controversy, I still think it still has value for travelers.
I have mixed feelings about Spirit. I liked flying $400.00 to Costa Rica. I did not like paying $45.00 per bag and also self-starving and dehydrating myself because I did not want to pay $3.00 for shot of water.
It is good to spread the word about their antics, so travelers know ahead of time the nickel and dime ways of the airline. I might fly Spirit again if the fare is considerably less than others, but at least I know what to expect. If I see a fare for $50.00 more though for another airline, I probably would take the more expensive flight.
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