These days travelers and travel agents alike have gotten used to fees. But we all wonder, what’s next?
Air France has a new potential answer to that question — a fee to hold a reservation. This is a new fee with some advantages. It’s for economy class tickets within Europe, which normally must be ticketed immediately. Passengers who pay from €10 to €15 per reservation can hold that reservation for up to 14 days. If they decide after 14 days not to ticket, they simply lose the reservation fee.
In the U.S., unrestricted fares can be held for some time, and some package airfares through tour operators can be held up to a week or two.
But travel agents can only generally hold basic discount economy class domestic reservations for 24 hours. And the “time-limit” on most international discount space is usually no more than three days. After which time the reservation is either canceled or the fare is invalid.
(Even when agents hold reservations longer than the mandated times and manage to get the flights to price, many airlines have started charging penalties after the fact.)
For do-it-yourselfers, online reservations generally must be ticketed at the time of booking, although most carriers allow a refund within 24 hours of ticketing.
A new DOT proposal would require U.S. airlines to make that 24 hours refund rule mandatory, or allow travelers to simply hold the reservation for those same 24 hours. [Editor’s note: Make sure to let DOT know that you support this proposed rule. Go to www.regulationroom.org.]
As an agent who constantly has clients ask if we can hold something for a week or so, I actually wouldn’t mind a “reservation hold’ fee, IF there was an easy way to charge it.
No doubt too, there are times when the option, if reasonably priced, would be well worth it to passengers trying to finalize travel plans, especially with multiple travelers involved. (Family travel in particularly often seems to be like herding cats.)
What scares me about the new Air France rule, however, is that a fee that started out being to hold a reservation for up to two weeks, might end up being a fee to hold a reservation, period. Especially during peak travel periods.
In any case, there’s no doubt U.S. carriers will be watching the Air France experiment with interest. If it’s successful, count on seeing a similar test on this side of the Atlantic.
Want to guess which U.S. carrier will try this first? My guess is Spirit or Delta.
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.)
