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- iHaveNet.com: Travel
By Christopher Elliott
A few weeks ago, Bob Johnson got an email from a
What was
And here's where Johnson comes in. Calling him a loyal
While he isn't opposed to reasonable fees, he says this one makes no sense.
"
I asked Jim Olson, a
"We have fixed a loophole," he says. "Customers who purchased tickets at travel agencies were calling our reservations center to make changes and we were not charging the $25 fee. So in effect customers who originally booked through
There's another way of looking at this: If you buy a ticket through a travel agency and you have to make a change through the airline call center, then you're being charged twice -- once by your agent, who adds a transaction fee to your ticket, and then again by
Is that ridiculous?
Actually, it's reality when you're dealing with big airlines.
"Legacy airlines charge fees for full-service -- telephone and airport ticket office -- transactions, including full-service voluntary modifications of tickets originally made through any channel," says Kristina Rundquist, a spokeswoman for the
Seems
But just because everyone else is doing it, does that make it right? Rundquist took the high road when I asked about the fee, saying only that, "the agency channel provides an enhanced set of values as compared to the direct full-service channel," and then listed those benefits in an email.
I asked Art Pushkin, another frequent
"This is tantamount to preying on distressed travelers," he says, adding that the people who are likeliest to be hit with this fee would phone the airline as a last resort, either when their travel agent is unavailable or when they must make a last-minute change because of a storm.
"They might pick up an extra $25 here and there, but what will it cost in lost future revenue?" he asks.
Olson notes that passengers can still make itinerary changes for free -- as long as they use the airline's website.
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the co-founder of the
© CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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Travel | US Airways Closes a Loophole But Opens a Can of Worms