Airline Will Charge A Boarding Pass Fee

Choose your airlines carefully!  I remember flying to Mazatlan when I was 7 years old.  People could smoke on the plane, they served hot food and we had real silverware.  Things have changed...airlines are taking some amenities away and charging for others...the latest charge is with Spirit Airlines. 

Florida-based Spirit Airlines has announced it will charge a $5 fee for passengers who ask an agent to print their boarding pass at the airport.

You can bypass the fee by checking in online and printing your own boarding pass, or by checking in at an airport kiosk -- for now. (Starting next summer, boarding passes at airport kiosks will cost $1.)

It's the first U.S. carrier to charge a boarding pass fee. In Europe, Irish-based low-cost airline Ryanair has a similar, though more expensive, policy.

Spirit is just listening to its customers, it said. In a survey, most told the carrier that they preferred lower fares in exchange for checking in online.

"We want to give [passengers] the ability to choose the extras they want without forcing them to pay for add-ons they don't want or need," Ben Baldanza, the president and CEO of Spirit, said in a statement.

"By lowering the fare for everyone and then charging only those who choose for us to print their boarding pass, we let the customer decide. It's all about consumer choice."

Spirit is used to being in the news for its fees and advertising campaigns.

Last year, the airline became the first carrier in the United States to implement a fee for carry-ons. In March, it added fees for travelers who wait to pay for carry-on or checked luggage within 24 hours of departure.

Spirit proudly calls itself "the unbundling leader in the industry," offering low base fares and charging fees for any extra service.

via Airline to charge boarding pass fee - CNN.com.