More fuel surcharges from the big airlines

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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At the end of last year, after more than a dozen (mostly successful) attempts to raise fares in the name of higher fuel and operating costs, there was some speculation that airlines would lay off the price increases a bit this year, having exhausted consumers’ willingness and ability to keep up with fare rises.

It turns out that line of thinking was a little too optimistic. According to this Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, there have already been six increases since late December, upping the cost of a flight by $70 round-trip.

Fuel surcharges were back in full force this past weekend, when United kicked off the increase attempt by adding up to a $10 fuel surcharge on round-trip flights. American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways matched the rise, which is intended to offset the costs of jet fuel. At $3.09 a gallon, gas prices are inching towards the 2005 $3.16 a gallon record high.

I know that the tank sizes are vastly different and that I’m not buying in bulk, so the comparison is flawed, but it just hit me that jet fuel is cheaper than the gas at the station down the street. Maybe it’s time to look into super-charging my car. But could I get away with charging my passengers a fuel surcharge? I’d throw in a mini-bag of pretzels and everything.

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