Gee & Ursula: What about those airline fees?

What about those airline fees? Say you buy a round-trip ticket from Seattle to San Francisco for $220. Add bag fees, a seat upgrade, flight insurance, a meal, and a cocktail, and you’ve paid for the price of your ticket … again.

So why not list the “real” costs? Because airlines value listing a ticket at a low price for internet searches. You think you got a great deal until the credit card bill arrives. By then, you may have already taken your flight.

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KIRO Newsradio’s Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin had different takes on the value of airline fees.

“I hate fees,” Ursula said. “I should just first of all go to an airline that doesn’t have those additional fees. And just do that consistently. And forget about trying to save the additional $50.”

“I absolutely love the fees,” Gee Scott said. “I’m sick and tired of y’all taking advantage. When you get on a plane, you got that big old backpack on your back. And then you got to carry on. Some of you are so cool with it, you have a big old backpack, and you will have a big old purse.”

“For someone who just keeps fighting for the people, you now want people to pay more to get on an airplane,” Ursula said. “And remember about picking and choosing.”

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“I’m just tired of people thinking they’re slick,” Gee said. “And what ends up happening is, if your seat is in 6-A or 7-B, you get to your spot, and you find that you don’t have any room and your overhead because it’s filled up. And then they’re always asking you, sir, ma’am, you’re going to have to probably check that bag. So you end up checking your bag, something you didn’t want to do in the first place.”

Ursula said we have to brace ourselves for more fees because the airlines are going in that direction.

“They get people, like me, who think that they’re getting a bargain when you search and search and go on Kayak, and you look for that lowest price at the time you kind of want to travel,” Ursula said. “And then you find out, oh, that airline makes you pay for not just your first check bag, but also your carry-on bag. And then, if you want a seat other than the middle seat, you have to pay additionally. And then apparently, there are some airlines who say, ‘hey, if you want to sit all together as a family, you can pay a little extra for that too.'”

Gee wanted to know if everyone on a flight should pay the same no matter where they sit. “Should somebody sitting in 32-A pay the same amount as row seven?”

Ursula said, “yes, they should be paying the same. They’re going to the same place.

“I say just give the one price and make it all-inclusive,” she continued. “Because the other thing is your jockeying for seats, and there’s too much airline rage still to this day.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.