What’s next, a fee to put wings on the airplanes?
Like the old cartoon character, Mister Magoo, Spirit Airlines has done it again.
According to the Palm Beach (FL) Post, the people who plan to charge you for storing carry-on bags in their overhead bins are now looking to install non-reclining seats on their airplanes.
Want a seat that reclines? That’ll be extra.
And you thought the airlines couldn’t find any more ways to hit you with additional fees.
I’m not making this stuff up. You can’t make this stuff up. Read it for yourself.
(A shout-out to my friend, Jay, of Jay Travels for tipping me to this latest aerial outrage in air travel. Catch him on Twitter!)
Spirit seems hell-bent on becoming the Ryanair of North America. You remember them, right? That Irish low-far carrier that plans to install pay toilets on their airplanes?
The scary thing is, another low-carrier U.S. airline, Allegiant, apparently beat them to the non-reclining seat idea. According to the SmarterTravel.com site:
“Believe it or not, Spirit isn’t the first airline to go with the non-reclining seat. Many Allegiant customers have been sitting in stationary seats for years, as the airline has installed them on roughly three-quarters of its fleet.”
Guess I won’t be pledging my allegiance to Allegiant, either.
One can only wonder how far the airlines prepared to push this insanity, and what it’s likely to cost them in the long run.
All I can say is, the more I see of companies like this, the more I appreciate Southwest Airlines — and the better Amtrak looks.