Okay, so it’s not an everyday fee, but United Airlines is actually eliminating one of their most irritating charges – it’s the last minute ticketing fee for “free” Mileage Plus tickets.
As most frequent fliers know, mileage tickets haven’t been completely free for a long time — many tax charges still apply, especially for international travel. Domestic tickets, on the other hand, have had relatively limited fees, unless you book at what the airline considers the last minute.
And in United Airline’s case, the fee was charged for ticketing done less than 21 days in advance. Free tickets booked 7-20 days before departure have been subject to a $75 per ticket charge; tickets booked 6 days or less before departure have been subject to a $100 per ticket charge. Those charges could make cashing in miles for a family trip quite expensive.
The last-minute policy made more sense in the times of paper tickets, as the airline actually had to process, ticket and physically mail or delivery tickets to passengers. But now, in the electronic ticket age, there’s zero delivery required, except for a few Star Alliance partner carriers.
But as of July 30, 2009, United is eliminating the last minute fees. There will still be a $25 fee for talking to a live agent, and $30 for tickets issued at the airport. But procrastinators are off the hook. Ditto travelers who like checking back to see if free “Saver” seats open up on previously unavailable flights.
From my perspective, this seems like a smart move on United’s part. Seats that are available within three weeks of departure are probably less likely to be sold anyway. And the same limited inventory rules will apply – “Saver awards,” which use less miles will only be available for a limited number of seats per flight, “standard awards” will still take double miles. So it will help get those unused miles as a liability off United’s books.
In addition, besides the goodwill the promotion may engender, if United is going to fly planes anyway, filling them up does at least mean additional baggage and other revenue. It will still cost extra, for example, for economy plus seating.
At this time, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have not matched United’s change. Delta, in fact, actually charges $150 for tickets booked within three days of departure. But as with most airline changes, no doubt it will be a “wait and see” policy. We can only hope in this case that “follow the leader” doesn’t mean “follow the price hike.”
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
