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The Airlines Made HOW Much on Fees?

Remember when the airlines put extra fees in place and told us that it was because fuel costs had spiked?

Yeah, they lied. Fuel costs went back into line, but the extra fees remained.

Now, the airline consulting firm IdeaWorksCompany found, the airlines are raking in cash at a record level.

The airline industry will make $49.9 billion in ancillary fees this year, up 17.2% from last year when it was $43 billion.

That's right. $50 billion on income including charging you extra for everything from food to baggage. And in the meantime, it has adjusted passengers' expectations downward so now we expect our air travel to be bare-bones and the core product poor enough to require extra expenditure to be tolerable or useful.

Fuel prices are actually descending right now, but airfare is climbing anyway. The Associated Press reports that the average cost of a round-trip domestic ticket has gone up 10.7% in five years—and still the extra fees remain, mostly because passengers submit.

You get the airline industry you demand, America. 

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