Oil Prices Down, Airline Surcharges Still Exist

Oil prices are going down, but airlines aren't reducing the fees they added on because of high fuel costs. If you think because the cost of oil is down all those fuel-related airline surcharges are down...think again.There are plenty of airline fees nowadays. Booking tickets on the phone, requesting a specific seat, checking in bags...it can all add up to $50 or more per flight. "We checked two bags in, it cost 30 dollars,” John Urban from New Berlin said.Urban is a frequent business traveler. He's hoping with fuel prices on the way down, the airlines will say goodbye to some of those annoying fees."In light of the fuel being lower, I would expect that they lower the cost of the flight,” Urban said.Most airlines started bag checking fees because of high gas prices, but now that prices are low, no airline is stepping forward to put an end to those fees. A Midwest spokesman says the airlines are still struggling financially. They're worried holiday travel will be down, as seen Wednesday at Mitchell Airport, but travelers say they're struggling too."I think what they should do is lower the ticket prices, get them back to where they were when the fuel was down where it is today,” Urban said.There's also a fuel surcharge that a lot of airlines started adding to all of their tickets. Most airlines, including Midwest, say they've gotten rid of the fuel surcharge, but what they've actually done is they've stopped calling it a "fuel surcharge,” and added the extra cost to your ticket.

Source:Michael GeorgeKatie DeLong