Travels Hidden Costs

Hidden Costs

A few Airlines have made the papers recently for hidden fees, charging high amounts for fairly mundane services or tasks.

• Individuals taking a flight were being charged $30.oo for having a baby on their lap, even though they were only using one seat. Till recently it cost no extra to take a very young baby on a plane.
• Those who tried to transfer a booking to another name were charged a hefty fee, sometime far more than the original cost of the ticket! And only for a name change.
• Meal, once considered complementary, and generally charged for on budget airlines, especially on short flights.
• Entertainment (films …etc.) may be charged for, though the trend is towards using your own device with Wi-Fi.
• Choosing your own seat – some may charge for this. The window and aisle seats may cost more.
• There is a charge if stowed luggage exceeds a certain weight; it does take more fuel to carry this excess weight. Some carry-on baggage now suffers a similar charge.
• Some people want to be the first off a plane. This might be a charged for privilege in the future. Apparently a survey reports that 15% of people are willing to pay for this.
• Booking the ticket sometime entails a fee. Online booking via a credit card tends to be cheaper than using an operator, but check the site beforehand to find the best method.

Some of these hidden fees are not a conspiracy to swindle customers. There is a high cost for changing the name on a ticket because the cost difference between the time of booking the ticket and the time of changing the name it added to the total cost. This was to prevent people ‘scalping’ tickets and selling to others at a profit.

Other hidden fees are so the general cost is not spread out to all travellers – only the person using the service incurs the fee.

Knowledge of hidden fees helps us to save money when travelling. The total cost of traveling may be less if we are not paying for extras we don’t really use.

Sydney Airport Shuttle

Sydney Airport Transfers get you to your flight on time without problems. Our Airport Shuttle has no hidden fees; you know what is expected and delivered upfront.

Anytime Shuttle conducts airport transfers Sydney wide.