Travel

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For Once, Good News in Airline Fine Print

It doesn’t happen often, but new fine print in the Delta Airlines frequent flier program, Skymiles, has good news for passengers.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Miles Expiration: Effective January 1, 2011, we eliminated our mileage expiration policy so you can earn and redeem miles without worrying if and when your miles will expire.

Previously, if you didn’t deposit or withdraw miles in your account at least once every 24 months, your miles would expire.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Award Redemption Fees: We no longer charge a fee for Award Ticket redemptions, even last-minute bookings.

Previously, there was no charge for redemptions only if made more than 21 days before departure. From 8-20 days, the fee was $75 USD; from 4-7 days, $100; three days or less, $150.

Hats off to Delta for doing something positive for consumers in their fine print. Now let’s see if the other airlines follow suit.

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United Airlines: #1 On-Time Airline?

United Airlines issued a press release last week proclaiming that it ranked highest for on-time performance among its peers, based on the latest government statistics.

A closer look at the actual report from the Department of Transportation, however, tells a slightly different story.

*MOUSE PRINT:

2010 On-Time Arrivals

United is actually third best for on-time arrivals, because Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines were the actual number and number two ranked airlines.

So how could United claim superiority? One has to go back and look very carefully at exactly how they worded their claim. They actually said:

“United Ranks Highest For On-Time Performance Among Network Peers For 2010”

and then United qualified that even more by saying:

“United Airlines today announced the company was — for the second consecutive year — first in on-time performance for domestic scheduled flights among America’s five largest global carriers* for 2010.”

Last summer we pointed out a similar case when Dish Network claimed to be tops in customer satisfaction (because they cleverly didn’t count the actual number one and number two companies). We said then, and repeat now, that is kind of like Alamo declaring “We are number one (if you don’t count Hertz and Avis)”.

In United’s case, while every word they said was literally true, consumers could still come away with a false impression.

One thing that United didn’t issue a press release about was another statistic the government reported. According to that same study, what United really was number one in for the most recent month (December 2010) was — consumer complaints. They had 1.47 complaints per 100,000 emplanements — the worst record of the 18 air carriers surveyed.

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Spirit Airlines: They Believe in Full Disclosure?

Spirit Airlines advertised a $1 airfare sale a few months back. One dollar for a one-way flight? Two dollars roundtrip? Impossible!

Of course, the little asterisk indicates that taxes and fees are additional. How much extra? You have to look in three places on their website to find all the extra costs, which we consolidated in the chart below.

*MOUSE PRINT:

The quoted fare does not include the following taxes and fees that may apply to your air travel:

– September 11th Security Fee: A September 11th Security Fee of $2.50 applies per enplanement originating at a U.S. airport up to $10 per roundtrip.
– Domestic Segment Tax: A segment tax of $3.70 per U.S. domestic flight segment (a flight segment is defined as one takeoff and landing).
– Passenger Facility Charges (PFC): Up to $18 per round trip per passenger in local airport charges.
– Passenger Usage Fee: Passenger Usage Fee of $8 per traveling customer per one way travel applies to all reservations with the exception of those bookings created directly at Spirit Airlines’ airport locations.
– To view and obtain these fares you must be logged in as a member of the Spirit Airlines $9 Fare Club — if not already enrolled, please go to www.spiritair.com for details on how to become a member of the Spirit Airlines $9 Fare Club. [Membership costs $39.95]
– Overhead carry-on luggage checked at the gate: $45

So how much could a $2 roundtrip fare wind up costing, assuming non-stop flights in both directions, with one carry-on and no checked luggage? If you add up everything listed above, including the $9 club membership fee, the total is a whopping $178.35 for what was advertised as a $1 fare each way!

It seems if any company really believed in full disclosure, they would not advertise come-on fares that bear no relationship to the actual charges the customer will face.