Road Warriors rise up over stiff change fees for flights
Hotels often waive them, but airlines are another story
Airline cancellation and reservation-change policies remind frequent business traveler Stefan Sobol of doctors.
“If you miss an appointment without enough notice, you still have to pay for it, but if the doctor cancels your appointment, he doesn’t have to pay you,” says Sobol of Leesburg, Va.
A USA TODAY survey last month found that four big U.S. airlines charge $200 for changing or canceling a reservation for a domestic flight and larger amounts for an international flight. The survey followed data released in December by the Transportation Department that showed U.S. airlines reported a record $2.1 billion in revenue from reservation cancellations and changes during last year’s first three quarters.
With those numbers in mind, USA TODAY asked Sobol and other Road Warriors — some of the world’s most frequent travelers who voluntarily provide information to the news organization — for their views of airline and hotel cancellation and reservation-change policies.
They said airline fees for cancellations and reservation changes are unfair and, quite frankly, a rip-off. They said airlines responsible for canceled flights or long delays should similarly pay them a fee or operate like hotels, which often have more liberal policies.
Without fees for checked bags and reservation changes, airlines would lose money, says Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for the trade group representing U.S. airlines, Airlines for America. Revenue is lost by changes and cancellations by customers, and fees reduce the numbers of no-shows and overbooked passengers and keep airlines profitable, she says.
In 2012, Day says, airlines made a profit of 37 cents per passenger. Without fees for reservation changes and cancellations and other “optional services,” airlines would have lost $8 per passenger, she says.
Airlines may be entitled to a fee for a last-minute cancellation, Sobol says, but not when they have plenty of time to resell a seat.
“Southwest Airlines does not charge penalty fees for changing a reservation, and they still make a profit,” Sobol says. “If the other airlines cannot do this, perhaps there is something wrong with the way they are run.”
He says there should be a “sliding scale of compensation” for passengers based on the length of a flight delay when an airline is responsible for the delay.
His recent flight was canceled by an airline, Sobol says, and he was told he could rebook a flight for the same week as the originally scheduled flight without penalty or fare change.
“No effort was made by the airline to get me on the next flight,” he says. “I had to go to the reservation system and find an open flight like anyone making a new reservation.”
Day says consumers can buy refundable tickets that give them “flexibility” and have no change fees.
Such tickets are higher priced than non-refundable tickets that stipulate fees must be paid for cancellations or itinerary changes.
“The airlines’ business model incorporates optional choices that enable airfares to remain affordable,” Day says.
She says airline cancellation polices are similar to those of hotels.
“Airlines, like hotels and many other consumer-service industries, have differentiated service offerings to provide customers the ability to select the best service and price combination for their individual needs,” Day says.
Most large hotel chains offer advance-purchase room rates that have cancellation fees, she says.
Wyndham Hotels is a chain that has such rates. Nearly 80% of guests who make reservations directly with Wyndham, though, can cancel on the day of arrival without a charge, says Bob Loewen, COO of the Wyndham Hotel Group.
All 25 Road Warriors who responded to USA TODAY’s questions opposed airlines’ policies and said they view hotel policies as consumer-friendly, more lenient or more sensible. Many said they have been able to cancel or change a hotel reservation without paying a fee up to the day be- fore, or on, the arrival date.
Anders Amundson, a consultant in Colorado Springs, says the hotels where he has stayed allow cancellation without a fee up to the day before, or the day of, arrival. “And you can change the name on the booking at any time, up until checkin without penalties,” Amundson says. “Try that with an airline ticket.”
Maria Hairston of Arlington, Texas, says that at least 10 times last year, she had to pay a cancellation or change fee to an airline, and her elite frequent-flier status hasn’t helped waive any fees.
It’s a different story with her frequent-guest status at hotels — even when she cancels a room after 6 p.m. on the arrival date.
“I call the elite status desk, and this fee gets waived,” says Hairston, who works in the health care industry. “This does not happen with airlines. If I book my ticket at 8 a.m. and call back at 9 a.m. to change, I will be assessed the fee, regardless of status.”
Jennie Otey of Atlanta is the lone Road Warrior who says she sees “little difference” between airline and hotel policies.
“To me, however, the difference is the managing of the policy,” says Otey, a technical trainer in the beauty industry. “Typically, the hotel has the ability to override the fee at its discretion. The airlines never admit to any wiggle room.”