Spirit Airlines to Charge Fee for Making Reservation (Again)
Mar 3rd, 2009 | By Jared BlankBack in July, Spirit Airlines tested charging a $10 “web convenience fee” that basically charged you $10 for making a reservation. The government stopped that pretty quickly. According to the WSJ, they’ve changed their mind. The government and Spirit have worked out some sort of deal where they will be permitted to charge a fee for making a reservation online as long as it is properly disclosed (note: there is no way it will be properly disclosed).
The Journal suggests that no other airline would dare try this, but just wait – if this fee works, you think every other airline will stand by and watch Spirit raking in $10 for every reservation? I doubt it.
The government just needs to mandate that unavoidable fees are included in all advertised prices, and suddenly it becomes a non-issue. I don’t care how a $150 ticket breaks down as long as I know upfront that it’s $150 (and not $100+ a hidden $5+$10+$25+$10).