Sherman's Travel

And another budget airline goes a little less budget: Allegiant Air is following in the legally messy footsteps of Spirit Airlines and will become the second U.S.-based carrier charging for carry-on bags, effective for all new reservations made from Wednesday, April 4 on. As with Spirit’s guidelines, you’ll still be allowed a free personal item, such as a purse or a laptop, which must fit under the seat in front of you. Also like Spirit, paying for your carry-on in advance can save you money. If you pay the carry-on fee at the airport, it’ll cost you $35, the same as the checked luggage charge. The prepaid fees for a carry-on range from $10-$30, which is slightly lower than the $14.99-$34.99 for prepaid checked luggage. The fees vary by airport, but you can check what you’ll be paying here.

Read more

Have you ever gone gaga for those $9 advertised airfares, only to discover that after taking into account applicable taxes and fees, they worked out to as much as 10 times as much? New U.S. Department of Transportation rules, set to take effect on January 26, will soon require airlines and travel sites to disclose the full price of a ticket upfront, inclusive of all fees and taxes. While consumers might rejoice at the promise of transparency in advertised rates (particularly on international fares, where some of the most drastic discrepancies between base rates and post-tax and fee-inclusive fares apply), some airlines aren’t quite so happy. In fact, a handful, including Southwest, Spirit, and Allegiant, are going to court to try and defend their right to free speech and to utilize that long-used little asterisk, leading to that dreaded tiny paragraph of fee- and tax-disclosure print. Read more