The Airline Fees Flyers Love to Hate

It goes without saying that of the many gripes travelers currently have about flying, the so-called ancillary fees charged by the airlines for, well, everything they can disaggregate from the core service would rank near the top of the most-despised list.

But of the multitude of such fees, which irk travelers the most?

A new survey conducted by Skift shines some light into that dark corner of the travel experience.

According to a poll of 1,000 adults, the most and least reviled airline fees are as follows:

• Bag check fees (50.1 percent)
• Seat selection fees (18.4 percent)
• Inflight WiFi fees (12.4 percent)
• Inflight food or beverage fees (9.7 percent)
• Early boarding fees (9.4 percent)

Although there was general unanimity across age and other groups, there were a few interesting demographic disconnects:

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• Wealthier travelers were less bothered by bag fees but more bothered by seat-selection fees.
• Less wealthy travelers were notably less bothered by inflight meal/drink fees.
• Younger flyers were more bothered by inflight WiFi fees.
• Travelers 65 years and older were most bothered by inflight meal/drink fees.

Reader Reality Check

Which airline fees do you find most irksome?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.

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