It’s the principle of the matter, United
February 26, 2007
I took a moment to check my credit card billing statement for the CitiPremierPass that I used to buy all my airfare for this trip, and lo and behold I was charged two fees for booking an award flight!
The first item shows the correct flight information and a $5 charge. The second shows dummy flight information, an incorrect departure date, and a $50 charge. Since I booked 12 days before the departure, the $50 charge would be right (exhorbitant for an award flight, but it’s according to their new rules), but I was under the impression that the charge was inclusive, security, tax, extra lunch money, extortion overhead, whatever.
The customer representative I’m on hold with claims that the $5 fee is the security fee, and the $50 charge is the correct service fee IN ADDITION TO the security fee. I’ve booked many an award ticket with plenty of lead time and there’s always been a $5 charge, but to charge a total of $55 for an award ticket is bad business IMO.
Chalk another chunk o’ change up in the “costs of emergency, last-minute travel” category.
