Get Ready For Fees

Great news for airlines; many of them have emerged from serious financial problems and are now expected to start becoming profitable again. However, this may not be particularly good news for fliers this summer. Much of the predicted profitably comes from the fact that your flights this summer will be more crowded than ever. Also expected are more fees as airlines continue to bring up their bottom line:

Seat assignment fees: carriers such as AirTrans Airways, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines are planning on charging for reserving seats with more legroom, reserving seats in advances, or changing seat assignments.

Checking bags: as flights get fuller, fuel gets more expensive, and the weight of the average American continues to increase, carriers are trying to decrease the amount of baggage weighing down the plane. Spirit Airlines and Skybus are already planning on charging per bag; expect many more carriers to start doing the same.

Fuel fees: British Airways is increasing its tacked on fuel fee by $6, starting today. Expect other airlines to follow as gas prices rise during the summer.

Standby fees: Northwest just added a $25 standby fee, with other airlines considering adding a standby fee.

Fees for everything: RyanAir, a low-cost European carrier, charges fees on just about everything you can think of. Skybus, the new American low-cost carrier, plans to do the same.