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Save/ShareEven a free ticket on Delta is going to cost you money starting on August 15. In an e-mail sent to its SkyMiles members, Delta announced that it would be adding a fuel surcharge to all Award Tickets originating from the U.S. and Canada. The fee is $25 for trips within the U.S. and Canada, and $50 for international travel. The move was made due to ever-increasing fuel costs, as explained in the e-mail:
This was a difficult but essential decision to ensure we are doing everything possible to offset the cost of fuel which has nearly doubled in the last year…. We hope this is temporary, and should fuel prices subside from current levels, we will reevaluate this surcharge.The e-mail went on to note that any Award Tickets redeemed prior to August 15 would not be subject to the surcharge, regardless of the travel dates. So, if you plan on cashing in your reward miles, now would be a good time to do so.
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The airlines are 3 years behind the timeline at which they should have been increasing fares to offset rising fuel costs. The UPS' and FedEx's of the airline industry started offsetting their fuel cost increases at least that long ago and, thus, are not facing the same dilemma the passenger-carrying airlines are today. Each fuel increase in the passenger-carrying industry is a media event, mostly pejorative. However, the reality is until recently, ticket prices adjusted for inflation were not much higher than those of a decade-plus ago. What the airlines need to do is just raise the price of a ticket and not delineate fuel-related costs in the guise of increased fares for checking a bag or second bag or anything of the sort. It is what it is, i.e., time to understand that fuel costs for airlines have skyrocketed to their #1 cost line item and if they're to remain solvent, that cost must be passed on to the consumer. This country's irresponsible energy policies have now caught up with us and we failed to learn the lessons of 30-plus-years ago. Paraphrasing Harry Truman, "The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know."
Posted By Ken on July 21, 2008, 1:29 PM