These are the days of added fees on added fees, with more airlines charging for carry-ons (Norwegian is the latest), so new fees are not really news. But when a major airline drops a fee altogether, that's a real headline.
And it's just happened. For years, American Airlines has charged its AAdvantage members a $75 fee per ticket for award seats less than three weeks away. The airline has usually waived the fee for elite-tier members, but it has now canceled it for everyone.
The change was noted by the Points Guy website, which was told by an AA spokesperson that American is “always looking for ways to make AAdvantage award redemption easier for our customers, and this update offers more flexibility when booking award travel and requesting mileage upgrades.”
And American may not be alone. Delta chief Ed Bastian, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, acknowledged that the public hates ancillary fees and said, "How do you, with change fees or other fees that you have in the process, how do you turn them into something that people can understand more, why they’re there, and maybe provide greater value alongside it, or change the structure?'' That's led to speculation that Delta may be about to drop change fees or make the rules more flexible. Perhaps...
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