Double take: Airlines drop charges

September 18, 2008 by Sheila Whittaker

That’s right, no fuel surcharge is the lastest news from low-fares airline WestJet. When it added the charge it promised its passengers it would remove the charge if and when the price of fuel subsided. Fuel prices dropped. It dropped the fee.

Earlier today, Air Canada threw out their fee for a second piece of luggage. Although they won’t get rid of the fuel surcharge, they’re including it in the advertised fare for flights within Canada and the U.S.

The summer of 2008 was a hard one for many travellers. The price of fuel reaped havoc on airlines which trickled down to travellers. Fuel surcharges, added baggage fees and even some airline failures. Zoom Airlines was a sad example.

“The collapse of Zoom is a result of matter beyond our control. Only last year Zoom Airlines made profit, but that turned into a loss in the last year due to the unprecedented increase in the price of aviation fuel and the economic climate. The price of oil resulted in our fuel bill jumping by nearly $50 million in one year and we could not recover that from passengers who had already booked their flights,” Hugh and John Boyle, the founders of Zoom, said in an email to out-of-luck ticket holders.

The price of fuel dropping is good news, but the news didn’t come fast enough for flyers with Zoom. They are left trying to apply to credit card companies for a refund — if they were lucky enough to have paid that way. Those who paid by cash, cheque or debit have a far dimmer chance of recovering their money. Travel insurance rarely protects against airline insolvency, either.

Perhaps more airlines will follow this lead and give a break to tired, battered and broke travellers. I think it’s long overdue.