You're charging me for what?! Airline fees way up since January 1

On Saturday my BF had to fly from Honolulu to Fort Myers, FL to attend his grandma's funeral. Because he booked his flight at the last minute, airfares were sky high. Bereavement fares were a joke, too. We were lucky to find a R/T for $1297 when most carriers were charging well over $2K. He had to fly Northwest to SFO, and then US Airways to Charlotte then Fort Myers, though. Coming back he has to fly to ATL, then PDX, then back to Honolulu.

And why in the world do airlines think that fruit and cheese platters are what we want? He wanted me to see what kind of food they offered on board (comp or buy). I told him he's better off buying three Whoppers from the airport BK.

I can understand not serving food for short haul flights. Hawaii is 5-6 hours from anywhere on the West Coast. I can't believe most don't have anything else besides sandwiches.

[TrojanWoman]

I am in a long distance relationship and it is crazy how much money I spend on plane flights back and forth. Luckily, I fly southwest and they have a great rewards program and I have already received three free roundtrip tickets to anywhere they fly. I also buy my tickets months ahead of schedule because they have a good policy on changing flights. But prices are getting more and more out of hand maybe it is time to have the "when are we going to live in the same city" talk.

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

I just booked my flight for LA. It was almost twice as expensive to fly PHL-> LAX than Allentown -> PHL -> LAX. So guess who's going to be getting up before the crack of dawn to make the hour drive to Allentown? With the price of gas though, this might not end up being much cheaper.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by OTW

I can understand not serving food for short haul flights. Hawaii is 5-6 hours from anywhere on the West Coast. I can't believe most don't have anything else besides sandwiches.

I'm sorry to hear about your bf's grandmother - hope he's okay.

Does American still have those bistro bags? Those seem to be the only really practical meal for the longer flight. My pet peeve on a long flight is to be seated next to the drunk who complains about absolutely everything he's served - but he wants seconds, if possible.

[jon1856]

American to charge $15 for first checked bag

FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices.
But rival Delta doesn’t plan to match American’s fee for the first checked bag, a spokeswoman said.
American, the nation’s largest carrier, said Wednesday the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags. The other fees will mostly range from $5 to $50 per service, the airline said.....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24756513/