Jane's head is spinning. It seems that every day, American airline companies are adding fees, cutting flights, firing staff, and generally making things unpleasant for their employees and for the innocent traveler. You've probably all heard about the baggage fee that nearly every airline (except Southwest) is now charging. But did you hear the one about the frequent flyer fee? Yep, on Delta and US Airways, there's no such thing as a free ticket, anymore. Use your frequent flyer miles on Delta and you'll pay $25 for domestic flights and $50 for international journeys. Delta is calling the fee a fuel surcharge, but whatever. Jane notes that the airline seems a bit geographically challenged when it comes to defining domestic and international. Domestic includes Canada. Oh, the Canucks going to be thrilled with that, eh? Delta's "international" destinations includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last time Jane checked, both are U.S. territories. They even get to vote for president. But Delta, clearly, sees the map differently.
US Airways was the first to announce a $25 fee on its U.S. and Canadian flights. "Free" flights to Mexico and the Caribbean now cost $35, and international tickets frequent flyer tickets cost $50. US Airways, in another quirk of airline geography, counts Hawaii as an international destination. That's lei-ing it on a bit thick, don't you think?
Meantime, American Airlines, our friends who came up with the brilliant idea of charging for the first bag checked, is currently only charging a $5 processing fee for folks redeeming frequent flyer miles. But stayed tuned--that's likely to change any day now.
Now, Jane grants you that airlines do reserve the right to change their frequent flyer programs at any time, and $25, $35, and $50 are all cheap prices for tickets. On the other hand, when was the last time you paid $25 for something that was free? Do you, dear reader, now understand why Jane's head is beginning to resemble Linda Blair's?
