June 30--Heidi Harter considered the drive from Eureka Springs, Ark., to Tulsa International Airport well worth the trouble after a time-consuming ordeal flying with her two sons last year.
While flying out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, she checked in four minutes late, got bumped from her flight and ended up on standby at two airports before arriving hours later at her final destination in Salt Lake City.
"We're flying direct this year," said Harter's 11-year-old son, Xander Szykowny. "No stops this time."
On Wednesday, Harter was at Tulsa International Airport sending her two boys, Xander and Ivan Szykowny, to Salt Lake alone for a three-week visit with their father.
Harter's last-minute bump last year is no surprise considering that aircraft are fuller than ever. In an attempt to increase efficiency, airlines had 2.3 percent fewer flights in March of this year compared to a year earlier, even though there are 1 percent more fliers, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
"A lot of flights on popular routes are 90 percent full or more," said Mark Gerchick, an airline consultant and author of "Full Upright and Locked Position," which details the discomforts of commercial flight. "Airlines have committed to making money on every single flight and every passenger now."
After more than a decade of losses where carriers fought for market share while sacrificing profits, airlines are operating more planes at capacity and finding new ways to squeeze money from every flight and passenger, airline consultants say.
But while airlines steer their balance sheets back toward profitability, Gerchick and others say that flying experience is suffering, with the chase for fuller planes, new fees and lower costs getting in the way of a decent flying experience.
Less room for passengers
American Airlines' leadership revealed discussions this month about adding more seats to their MD-80 and Boeing 737 aircraft.
Those 385 planes in the American fleet fly most of its short-haul, hub-to-hub routes.
"So from where we stand today, we expect to add seats to the 737 and MD-80 fleets, but we haven't determined the number of seats, and as a result, the impact on revenue and costs," wrote Laurie Curtis, American vice president of flight service, in a letter to employees on June 12.
The MD-80 has 140 seats and more rows, with five seats in each, and could bring passenger totals to 145 or 150, while the Boeing 737s have 148 to 160 passengers, depending on the configuration. That's five to 10 more paying fares on hundreds of routes.
But perhaps more important to flyers, those extra seats could come at the expense of leg room for passengers, ranging from 1 1/2 to 3 inches by some estimates.
Coach passengers have already watched the distance between seats shrink from 35 inches to 31, Gerchick said.
"Spirit and others are talking about 28 inches, about 10 percent less than the current amount of leg space you get from most airlines," Gerchick said in a phone interview.
He said a lot has changed in the last two decades of flying, even if memories paint a rosier picture of times past. But long gone are the days of free baggage, pillows and blankets in coach and in-flight meals served for all passengers.
Welcome to the new era of travel, Gerchick said, a less comfortable era with more fees and more hassles.
The actual discomforts of flying go beyond seats. The entire process -- including adjusting for altitude, dry air on board and cramped seats -- already makes the process difficult on our bodies.
"Some are even considering redesigning lavatories to make them smaller -- as if that's possible," Gerchick said.
But those sacrifices may be necessary to save an ailing airline industry from billions of dollars in losses.
Squeezing for profits
Domestic and international airlines have been charging passengers to check bags for more than five years after the practice began in 2008. At first it was to make up for sky-high fuel prices, but the practice, along with a growing list of other fees, has become a major source of revenue for airlines.
In 2012, the world's airlines pulled in $27.1 billion in ancillary fees, according to airline consulting company IdeaWorks.
Those fees include checked and carry-on bags, in-flight Wi-Fi, early boarding and some services that used to be free, such as meals, pillows and blankets. In 2007, airlines made just $2.45 billion on ancillary fees.
"Airlines are chasing profits," said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry consultant with Hudson Crossing in San Francisco. "Those of us that travel on discount fares, we are money-losing customers for the airlines. That's one reason why we have these fees. Airlines are trying to at least break even in the domestic market."
Airlines say baggage and other fees are just a way of offering a la carte service to passengers, only making them pay for services they want.
In fact, bag fees have created a complicated cycle that has only led to more fees.
Airline officials have readily admitted that fewer people are checking bags and more are carrying luggage on board. With nearly every passenger carrying bags that push size limits, there often isn't even room in the cabin for that luggage.
The boarding process has become slower, with passengers scrambling to find that last overhead spot and then sheepishly pushing their way to the front of packed planes when there isn't space.
Airlines now charge $10 to $40 for early check-in and early boarding, a way of ensuring passengers they get first priority to those overhead storage bins.
The lure of early boarding and check-in also lures travelers into business and first-class tickets, which sell for three to five times as much as discount fares.
Profitability, service
The good news, Harteveldt said, is that airlines have invested billions into new aircraft, designs and technology that will help alleviate many of the headaches that have annoyed passengers in the last decade.
By 2017, the American Airlines fleet will go from one of the oldest in the industry to the youngest, with 460 new aircraft. Among those are 211 new Boeing 737 aircraft, which are not only more fuel efficient but also have redesigned luggage storage space to extract more room from the cabin.
In newer aircraft, air pressurization systems are also improving, lowering the relative altitude from 8,000 to 5,000 feet.
All this comes as airline profits are improving after two decades of consolidation and bankruptcies. Labor costs have been trimmed, including layoffs and cutbacks for maintenance workers at American Airlines' 6,200-employee Tulsa maintenance base.
But airlines say those sacrifices are necessary for an industry that is finally churning a profit. In 2012, U.S. airlines made a $5.3 billion profit, a $400 million improvement from the year before, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Baggage fees totaled $3.5 billion, with another $2.6 billion in fees for changing and canceling flights, another area where airlines have significantly increased charges in the last year.
But Harteveldt said those costs, and the discomforts, may be the price customers have to pay for cheap flying in an industry that isn't losing billions of dollars.
"Whereas in the past, airlines would chase market share, they are now chasing profits," Harteveldt said. "There is an important thing for travelers. As airlines begin to make money, they have more money to invest in their product. That should start to show."
Distance between seats (economy class)
Airline Plane Distance Seat width
American Airlines MD-80 31-33 inches 18 inches
Delta MD-88 31-33 inches 18.1 inches
Southwest Boeing 737-300 32-33 inches 17 inches
Spirit Airbus A320 28.0 inches 17.5 inches
Virgin America Airbus A319 (319) 38 inches 19.7 inches
Source: Seatguru.com/Delta Air Lines
Fees on domestic flights
First bag Second bag Early boarding
American $25 $35 $9-19
Delta $25 $35 NA*
Southwest $0 $0 $40
United $25 $35 $9
--Member only
Source: airfarewatchdog.com/airlines
Kyle Arnold 918-581-8380
Copyright 2013 - Tulsa World, Okla.
