The Weirdest Fee Charged by an Airline

I know there is a difference in services and comfort between the low-cost airlines and regular ones. Heck, there are significant differences between the economy class and the business one in the regular airlines, so it’s only logical to be differences between the two types of flight servicers.

I actually read at some point a message posted by someone from my country on his Facebook wall where he presented the costs for the two options he had for a destination somewhere in Europe and, after adding all the supplementary fees, the total amount to be paid for using a low-cost airline was higher than if he would have chose to fly with a regular one. Of course he chose the latter.

As I was reading a printed copy of Daily mail brought to me by my husband from his travels (yes, a recent one), I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw an article mentioning a fee a couple was asked to pay in order to be able to sit next to each other in the airplane as they were going in their honeymoon. There was a £7.5 fee per seat to guarantee they sit together which adds up to £30 per return flights for a couple.

Basically the company says that those traveling together might get the chance to sit together, but that in order to be sure they do that, they have this option of booking seats (so to speak).

Well, OK, I admit I don’t get this. I mean, in our trip to Paris (not with a low-cost carrier), we simply booked our places online in the same time and it was all OK. Companies should make it as easy as possible for them and their customers when it comes to traveling. Offer them the chance to book online their seats and everything is perfect.

I do get this fee – along with many other similar fees that seem to be incredible (yet they are true) – from the financial point of view. Any company wants to make as much money as possible, and let’s be honest, an airline is not cheap – personnel, aircrafts and so on.

All these fees, put together, lead to a final price sometimes higher than that of a regular airline.

I’m not saying that there isn’t any low-cost flight that is definitely worth the money, as I do have two friends who traveled like that and liked it, but I am also saying that we should all look for all the fees we might have to pay to have the flight and conditions we want. Some of my friends traveled low-cost and one experience was enough to make them choose other type of carriers in their next trips, while others don’t use the low-cost companies as they don’t provide the routes needed.

It’s a matter of choice, as always, but some of the fees are strange :). As I mentioned, in the case with this particular fee and company, the idea was that the fee would guarantee something that may or may not be received anyway. If you want to make sure you sit together in the airplane, you pay extra. And it’s not a small fee!