Travel by air getting tough

Making air travel affordable for the largest number of people has had unintended consequences, as deregulation often does.

The inflation-adjusted price of an airline ticket may have fallen significantly since deregulation in 1978. But today, despite recent declines in fuel costs, airlines are like any other business scrambling to replace lost revenue, making up the difference with an array of fees ranging from fuel surcharges to fees for an exit row seat.

Welcome to the new age of air travel, one of dauntingly complex ticketing structures, heightened security, long lines, diminishing routes, outsourced customer service, aging (if meticulously maintained) aircraft, lengthy waits on the tarmac and campaigns for a Traveler's Bill of Rights.

"As consumers, we need these airlines to be successful. Let's just hope they can figure it all out because they've made a mess of this thing," says Rick Hendrix, owner of Abbott and Hill Travel of Charleston.

It is not so much that airfares have gone up, says Hendrix, but that everything else has.

"What we advise our clients to do is think about why they are traveling in the first place. Is it for business? To visit family? A vacation? In this day and age, you really need to allow yourself enough time for unexpected delays and plan for them. I advise clients to allow for one to two hours for connecting flights. We also advise clients who are flying, say, to a cruise departure point, where they can't be delayed a couple of hours, to try to fly down a day ahead of time."

Fees embedded in ticket prices are far from transparent, says John Powers, a specialist with Travel Management Group here.

"The surcharges on international flights are being reduced fairly significantly," Powers notes, "but they are being incorporated into the tariffs, so the effect is that it's a wash. The domestic fuel surcharges are gone, essentially. But, in general, there really isn't a way to avoid these fees."

Every time you go through an airport, you are going to pay fees and taxes imposed by local governments as well as federal taxes. But every city's fee structure is different.

Taxes and fees

Hendrix says that one factor overlooked in discussions of hidden fees is the impact of taxes on fares.

"Taxes are huge. Picking at random one example of fares we arranged today, we had an international ticket from Charleston to Paris whose cost was $805. Of that figure, 27.8 percent are fuel charges and 14.4 percent are taxes — $116 in taxes on an $805 ticket. It just makes you sick."

Ticket pricing is bewildering. Although flights still are divided into first class, business and economy, there often are up to 200 price points for seats on each plane, according to "10 Things Your Airline Won't Tell You," an article in the May issue of Smart Money. Domestic fares can change up to three times a day. But they can go down as well. And you can capitalize. If prices fall on your flight before it departs, you can get a voucher for the difference — in theory.

"Policies vary from airline to airline," says Powers. "On Delta, if a fare goes down and you're astute enough to know it's gone down, you may ask the carrier for a nonrefundable voucher in the amount of the reduction in the fare. However, the airline will charge you a $150 administrative service fee for changing your ticket. Almost all airlines charge a substantial fee in order to issue the voucher."

Travelers can be left holding the bag when a scheduled flight is canceled without them being notified in advance by the airline, often with no flight to the destination available until the following day.

"The airlines are supposed to refund your money if they can't accommodate you, but there's a fine line in all that stuff," says Hendrix. "They have rules they must follow, but will these rules apply to you and your situation? You can call an airline two or three times and get two or three different answers to the same question. Even the airline personnel don't always know the answer for sure."

The best approach, when possible, is to try to travel as early in the day as possible to avoid cancellations.

Down and out

Downsizing and outsourcing of customer service, gate agents and baggage handlers have resulted in even more consumer frustration. But if you want to see fliers really get livid, have them sit in a plane on the tarmac for hours.

But Hendrix says the situation has improved.

"They are trying. But consumers need to educate themselves as best they can on what the rules are. It's the consumer's responsibility. You can go to the Web sites or talk to travel agents, but no one's going to know all the rules and how or when they apply in every circumstance. We don't have to accept the way things are; we should expect better. We should be pushing government agencies and writing airlines to complain," he says.

"We'll have to wait to see how legislation evolves, but I think you are going to see this sort of thing — inadequate gate space and reduction of capacity — start to diminish."

As matters now stand, travelers have little recourse. But legislation to address consumer concerns is pending in Congress.

In September, Kate Hanni, executive director of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights (www.flyersrights.org), urged U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., to provide relief to stranded airline passengers as part of emergency legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration.

The bill, under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which Oberstar chairs, gives the airlines $500 million in taxpayer-funded "war insurance," but, says Hanni, it fails to contain an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights "that would give relief to fliers stuck inside the aircraft indefinitely while planes' departures are delayed."

With 24,000 members, the coalition is reputed to be the nation's largest nonprofit airline passengers rights group. It has been joined by Consumer's Union, Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America and numerous other organizations in calling for legislation.

Hanni insists what is being requested is basic but essential.

Canada, even in an election year, managed to pass a passenger-rights bill specifying that Canadian airlines will be obligated to provide stranded travelers meal and hotel vouchers, though they won't be held responsible for inclement weather.

"It's time for Congress to give America these important protections," Hanni says. "We still have a lot of irons in the fire. We combined the House and Senate language and gave it to Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) office and their legislative people are looking at it right now. Hopefully, a bill will be introduced in January. There's also a similar bill from Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) in the House. We believe these will go into the FAA Reauthorization Bill, our best chance of getting it passed. We're committed to getting this done."

Meanwhile, apart from the professional services of travel agents, there's www.kayak.com, which Hanni recommends as a one-stop shop combining all the travel search engines — Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, etc. — in one location to enable travelers to compare the best fares. But the passenger's best defense, as always, is to take a philosophical view and be well-informed.

"First, lower your expectations of air travel and you'll be lot happier," says Powers. "You also need to do your own homework, and you need to voice your concerns to the appropriate people. You have to get by the gatekeepers. But airlines do listen."

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.