Airlines' Holiday Surcharges Expand to More Dates

Posted by: Justin Bachman on October 06

This news was just a matter of time: The “peak travel” surcharge American (AMR) added for three busy travel days this year has expanded to ten other dates, according to fare-watcher Farecompare.com. United (UAUA), Delta (DAL), Continental (CAL), Frontier (RJET) and US Airways (LCC) all matched the initial surcharge, which is really just a fare hike but was loaded into reservation systems as a fuel charge for the sake of efficiency. Most of the traditional budget carriers have not matched.

Here’s a breakdown on the 13 “holiday” dates you can expect to pay $10 more:

Nov. 29-30, 2009
Dec. 19, 2009
Dec. 26-27, 2009
Jan. 2-3, 2009
March 14, 2010
March 20-21, 2010
March 28, 2010
April 11, 2010
May 28, 2010

These correspond to the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Memorial Day holidays, as well as spring break travel periods. Interestingly, the third Monday in January, a federal holiday that most U.S. workers are off to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., did not make this list. (At least so far.) The airlines, as expected, did not see a negative reaction in sales, so it was logical to include other days of known demand. In the end, this extra $10 is not relevant on its face – supply and demand has always dictated fares and the airlines know that plenty of people want to fly on the above dates. However, at least in my view, this is somewhat a poke in the consumer eye for an industry that retains aspirations of being customer-oriented. Isn’t it just nicer to have the computers toss on the extra $10, $20, $50 or whatever when sales are heavy for a particular flight? I always thought so.