Fee Fi Fo Fum

January 13, 2012

Airline baggage fees—hated by the masses.

I figure that if they weren’t socking us with the fees, they’d be socking us with higher rates, so either way, we pay. But I don’t think that they were very smart about it.

When you buy a concert ticket, the price listed is one thing; but by the time you’re finished paying fees, you’ve added $8-$10 to the cost. Besides that, I can get the tickets at the store near my home instead of going to the box office—for a mere $2 more. And the fees are per-ticket, not per order; order 3 tickets, pay an extra $30. So someone’s cleaning up big time.

Then there’s a $5 parking fee, which we also fork over.

There’s a freight service that will come to your business to pick up parcels. They invoice twice a month; and on every invoice is a $10 service fee. Why? For pickup, they say. It’s the same $10, no matter how many times they come. (And isn't that cost included in the freight price anyway?) So basically it’s a fee that they charge just to print your invoice, as far as I can tell.

Look at your utility bills. Fees for research, fees for education, fees for…

So the airlines aren’t doing anything that nobody else is doing; they were just stupid about it—and greedy. Had they only charged $5 per bag, it would have been a hiccup; people would have rolled their eyes and paid up, and Congress wouldn’t be getting involved.

Maybe it’s not too late, guys. Reduce the fee; look like semi-good guys. Avoid the Congressional inquiry—it’ll cost you.

And then you’ll have to raise our fees.