While the Biden Administration has recently been on a mission to crack down on hidden “junk fees” that airlines and hotels were previously adding to the final bill, some travelers have noticed that these additional expenses have started to rise in other ways.
All of this also comes at a time when airlines like United (UAL) delta (give it) and American airlines (AAL) have filed a federal lawsuit challenging new Department of Transportation rules that require them to disclose everything from baggage to cancellation fees in advance.
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Meanwhile, hotels are also finding increasingly creative ways to offset resort fees that many have formally announced they will get rid of. In his travel column, USA Today writer Christopher Elliott described how One traveler was charged a $30 “city fee” for each night they stayed in a Los Angeles hotel.
Transaction fees, city fees and 'meat surcharge' fees, oh my!
“Travelers will probably feel like they're drowning in junk fares this summer,” Elliott writes. “They will beat themselves up because somewhere in the hotel's fine print or portfolio the mandatory extras were revealed. And companies have been reluctant to eliminate junk rates.”
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Other junk fees noted by Elliott and some of the travelers he surveyed include a “beef surcharge fee” that was snuck onto the bottom of the bill at his restaurant in Moab, Utah, that was added even though the diner ordered a chicken dish. While transaction fees are normal for everything from concert ticket booking sites to airlines, the extra 3%-5% is often renamed so as not to be flagged as a “resort fee” or “fee.” “credit card” when regulators crack down on a particular type.
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Are you tired of junk rates? This is how you can avoid at least some
While in the past certain fees could be hidden and then appear when the customer made the reservation, companies will now solve this problem by disclosing them up front, but in very small print or at the bottom of a large wall of small print, all with the aim. to hide them from the passenger long enough that most are far enough along in the booking process to want to cancel the transaction.
While fighting junk fees is proving an uphill battle even for regulators and politicians, those who like to know what they're paying for up front should read the fine print, no matter how tedious. Since airlines are known for showing an initially low fare and then offsetting it with high fees for baggage and seat selection (which are not part of Biden's battle, as baggage is treated as an “extra”), the Building status or obtaining a company credit card provides these benefits for free will also add up in the long run. However, it's hard to fight transaction fees alone: One traveler described having to pay a 3% “credit card fee” even after offering cash.
“You can read the fine print, join a loyalty program, and patronize a free business, but still get stuck with a garbage rate this summer,” Elliott writes. “Yes, that's how ubiquitous they are.”
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