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December 12, 2007

USAirways Adds Surcharge for USAirways.com Bookings

USAirways has apparently added a $5 surcharge to flights booked on its own website. CrankyFlier has the goods.

This seems inconsistent with USAirways' own policies

There is no booking fee for tickets purchased or redeemed on usairways.com.

However, when CrankyFlier confronted USAirways with evidence -- that the website was pricing out itineraries $5 higher than the airline's published fares -- they acknowledged it, but refuse to call it a booking fee.

[T]he $5 increase you’re seeing is essentially a fare increase to fares booked at usairways.com.”

Regardless of the semantics, it is now $5 more expensive to book tickets at usairways.com than it is to book at some other online engines such as Priceline.com (their traditional airfare booking site, not the name your own price site - Priceline doesn't add booking fees).

Even booking through Expedia, Orbitz, or Travelocity is superior as you can access those sites via a cashback portal (eg FatWallet, but always check EvRewards for the best current offers) and receive a rebate that in many cases is larger than the booking fee those sites charge.

Posted by gleff at December 12, 2007 11:53 AM

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