Travelers Don’t Want A-La-Carte Pricing

A few weeks ago, American and Frontier announced they would be moving to an a-la-carte pricing scheme similar to the one used by Air Canada. Not surprisingly, you, our readers, responded with generally negative feedback, though a few of you liked it. Now our friends at Airfarewatchdog.com have released some interesting poll results showing that while a majority of people reject the a-la-carte pricing model, that majority isn’t as large as you might expect.

At press time the survey was still ongoing, but the numbers so far show 67 percent of Airfarewatchdog’s readers think a-la-carte pricing is a “bad idea.” That’s an overwhelming majority, of course, but it does mean a full third of the survey’s respondents are okay with the idea.

Airfarewatchdog founder George Hobica was caught off guard by the results, admitting, “We honestly expected that 99.9% of respondents would be thumbs down.”

Clearly, while most people would rather airlines stayed away from a-la-carte pricing, a solid minority of this survey’s respondents see the value in only paying for what they use. What do you think these results mean? I wonder if some people reject a-la-carte pricing out of hand, because honestly, it could make good financial sense for travelers who don’t need a lot of amenities. But at the same time, paying for extras that used to be free is tough to swallow.

Anyway, please share your thoughts on these survey results, as well as a-la-carte pricing in general. And while you’re at it, head over to Airfarewatchdog and take the survey yourself!