Airlines play hide-and-seek with ticket prices

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It�s time that airlines take a new approach fees, such as for carry-on and checked baggage: honesty and clarity. (CP)

RESPONSIBILITY and frustration are the two words that best reflect the nature of this week's reader questions. Travel can bring out the best and worst of both.

QUESTION: I was under the impression airlines were obligated to present prices in a more transparent environment.

What clouds that transparency is the ridiculous nature of extra charges one has to include if you try to compare bottom-line costs from one airline ticket to another.

Is there nothing that can be done to address this?

ANSWER: While Canadian carriers are contributing to the bottom-line cost confusion, in the United States and other jurisdictions the ability to compare one airline price to another is approaching impossible proportions. It would take a mathematician to figure out comparisons with the proliferation of ancillary charges.

It was not that far back when purchasing a seat from an airline was as simple as calling a travel agent or booking online at a price that included checked bags, lunch, pillows, blankets and any seat you desired that was available at the time of booking.

Alas, those days of simplicity may be gone forever as the creative geniuses in the boardrooms of the major airlines create confusion and complexity.

In the United States today, airlines will not only have varying charges for checked-in baggage, but different prices will exist depending upon whether you check in online or in person.

Booking a seat in advance is no longer a simple matter. Prices vary depending upon where you sit. Carry-on bags are becoming the new charge norm, but even that isn't all that simple. The size of the carry-on may dictate pricing.

It will cost you more for a telephone reservation than doing it online. Those who book online at the major agency websites often are not even aware of the multiple extra costs they face. The booking agency is simply selling a straightforward ticket. The extras are lumped together in a small-print warning statement.

It all comes under a category the airlines call unbundling, a menu-driven strategy that theoretically allows you to go without extra services and amenities if you want the lowest ticket price. But most industry analysts agree the extent to which air carriers have taken the concept works against the best interests of the consumer.

A recent analysis worked out a matrix over a couple of scenarios. A couple flying on a single major U.S airline will have 64 different variations for baggage fees alone.

Airline auxiliary fees are not industry standard, so to do an accurate comparison you would have to research each separately, taking into account the varying charges between each airline you are considering. In trying to do that, you could be facing more than 4,000 different options, according to the analyst's calculations.

It seems to me it's time airlines realize consumers are willing to face the real price of travel in a mature manner. The hide-and-seek approach the industry has taken has only caused travellers to lose respect for airline companies.

And since their strategy has continued to result in huge financial losses and low share prices for the industry worldwide, it seems to me they have nothing to lose now by taking a new and approach: honesty and clarity.

QUESTION: Tourism has come under criticism as a contributor to environmental issues. Yet, I read about parts of the industry working hard to alleviate some of those concerns.

How can we as individuals choose transportation or hotels that do more, rather than less, to help ensure a less-wasteful environment?

ANSWER: New aircraft design, the growth of eco-tourism and a genuine desire from the travelling public to seek tour options that reduce our carbon footprint, without giving up the ability to explore the world, have led to many changes.

Most cruise companies recycle water, waste and many other on-board items they would have dumped into the sea not that long ago.

Convention facilities, such as the Winnipeg Convention Centre, seek international certification recognition for adhering to a standard of preset requirements.

Posters in hotel rooms encourage guests to recycle products and suggest refusing bed sheet changes and the use of fewer towels.

In the accommodation sector, this might lead one to believe the large chain hotels do the best job of being eco-friendly.

As it turns out, it's not the large mega-chains that are leading the way. According to the organization Brighter Planet, it's the budget-priced chains and smaller mid-range hotels that are the leaders.

Its recent report indicates world-wide JW Marriott Hotels and Resorts were at the bottom of the 75 chains that were researched, while the Vagabond Inn group and Red Lion Hotels were at the top.

How can this be explained? Do the Marriott people not care?

No, that's not the case. But the reality is the more amenities offered, as is the case in chains such as Marriott, the wider becomes the carbon footprint. Large rooms, swimming pools, exclusive executive areas, and multiple pillows and bathroom amenities all contribute.

So while we love to be pampered, we're paying for the pleasures in more ways than one. We do have choices -- but we have to take them.

Forward your travel questions to askjourneys@journeystravel.com. Ron Pradinuk is president of Journeys Travel & Leisure SuperCentre and can be heard Sundays at noon on CJOB. Previous columns and tips can be found on www.journeystravelgear.com or read Ron's travel blog at www.thattravelguy.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 26, 2012 D2