If you feel you’re being nickel and dimed by airline fees, get used to it. As the airline industry attempts to trim down and cut costs, formerly included services are being chopped up and billed a la carte.
First it was picking prime seating and early boarding, then it was carry-on baggage. Even printing your ticket at the airport has started garnering a fee.
READ MORE: WestJet, Air Canada facing lawsuit over bag fees
Here are some of the extra fees giving the wallets of airline passengers a workout.
Carry-on bag fee
United Airlines will begin charging its lowest-fare passengers a fee for using the overhead storage bins for carry-on luggage, starting in April 2017.
Thrifty travellers have taken to carrying on their luggage to avoid checked bag fees (and to avoid bags getting lost or damaged) and United’s new measure will force customers to trim down once again. Passengers will be allowed one small carry-on bag “that must fit under the seat.”
The Basic Economy fare passengers will also not be allowed to pick their seat ahead of time, and will be assigned on the day of departure. That increases the chance that people travelling together will be split up — even parents from small children.
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The new rules are part of the airline’s “plans for long-term earnings growth,” expected to boost its bottom line.
“Along with maintaining disciplined cost control, this strategy is expected to generate $4.8 billion in earnings improvement by 2020.”
Frequent flyers should be wary that this practice could spread among airlines, considering industry competitors tend to follow suit when it comes to new fees and rules.
Pay-by-weight fee
This may sound like a hoax but it’s truly the case: Samoa Air charges passengers according to their body weight combined with their luggage weight.
While at first the island nation airline caught heat for the decision, CEO Chris Langton said it’s been a success.
READ MORE: More fees, less leg room: a new normal at Canadian airlines
The airline has even adopted “Where you pay by weight” as its tagline.
Lost and found fee
Leaving behind an item on a flight can be a heart-stopping experience. While getting your forgotten passport or cellphone back is a relief, paying a fee to collect your own belongings stings.
Luggage Point is a lost and found service operating at some U.K. airports. The service charges a “retrieval cost” when an item is collected. If an item needs to be stored, there is an additional charge — £10 per day to a maximum of £50, or about C$83.50 , along with the retrieval fee.
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The charges were thrust into the spotlight in July 2015, after a passenger at Edinburgh Airport was charged a £20 fee by the service to collect the laptop he’d left on a plane, four hours after his flight.
Airport check-in fee
Using a kiosk to check in for a flight you’ve already purchased with RyanAir will cost you. The ultra-low cost carrier charges €45 euros or £45 pounds (C$65 or C$75) to use the self-serve computers at the airport.
It will cost you a further fee should you need to have your boarding pass re-issued.
Breathing tax
Fresh air will cost you at Venezuela’s Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas. A fee of 127 Bolivars, about C$17, is included in all fares departing the airport.
The cost was introduced to cover the airport’s new air purification system, the BBC reports.