Beware the Hidden Costs of Air Travel

You can no longer rely on the price of your airline ticket alone to determine if you got a good deal on air travel.

That's because the price of the ticket is only one of multiple factors that you now have to consider when calculating the cost of your travel. Some discount tickets are a real bargain, while others come with hidden fees that make the ticket much more expensive when everything is calculated together.

Add in varying nonticket expenses associated with air travel, and all of a sudden that $100 bargain ticket can end up costing a whole lot more. As with most things financial, the real costs are found in the details.

When it comes to buying an airline ticket, many people are used to simply purchasing the ticket that costs the least. While this strategy could be used in past years without much of a problem, that is no longer the case.

Airlines know that people have formed the habit of picking their tickets primarily on price rather than actual cost, so they price tickets to reflect this. The result has been a large number of fee increases to battle the higher cost of fuel, while airline ticket prices haven't nearly increased as much as soaring oil would indicate that they should.

Despite the fact that these airline fees drive virtually everyone crazy, they will continue until consumers begin to take the time to look at overall costs rather than simply ticket price.

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