I understand that bag fees are here to stay, and while there are many ways to avoid them , it s no f

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Today TPG Contributor  Nick Ewen  continues his series The Weekly Wish, looking at flaws, shortcomings, and room for improvement in the world of travel and loyalty programs. Today s wish: for airlines and hotels to spread some cheer and goodwill in the holiday spirit.
Though I started listening to Christmas music weeks ago, for most people Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season. While today is given to being grateful for what we have, I wanted to kick off the season with a wish—or several wishes—regarding changes the travel industry could implement in the holiday spirit. These suggestions, most of which should have zero or minimal impact on the bottom line, can help travel providers behave less like the Grinch and more like the Whos in Whoville.
I m sure many of you have been in the horrible situation of needing a last-minute flight to attend the funeral of a loved one. While some airlines do offer bereavement fares for such situations, these have been steadily disappearing.  American discontinued these fares  earlier this year, and many other airlines stopped offering them years ago (see 2014 articles avis rent a car uk from USA Today , The  Chicago Tribune , and The  Seattle Times for additional avis rent a car uk coverage). As TPG often says, having a stockpile of points miles (especially in a transferable currency) is  the best insurance policy . However, I would love to see airlines move back toward bereavement fares in an effort to ease the hardest of times.
Bereavement fares don t need to be deeply discounted; they can just be a percentage off for last-minute flights (conditional upon proof of a death in the family). Airlines could limit this to 1-2 tickets per account per calendar year, and even then I suspect they could identify anyone trying to game the system.
I understand that bag fees are here to stay, and while there are many ways to avoid them , it s no fun starting off a holiday trip with the family by spending $100+ to make sure your luggage flies with you. I would love to see airlines offer a period of no checked baggage avis rent a car uk fees in the few days before and after Thanksgiving and Christmas. It would be a small concession, but with the proper marketing, it could even help  the bottom line by encouraging passengers without status to book with one airline over competitors that might charge a fee.
Too many times I ve seen a family with young children avis rent a car uk board a flight and then disperse to various parts of the plane, or begin politely (but urgently) asking other passengers to swap seats. Sometimes this is due to a last-minute equipment swap or due to passengers booked on different reservations, so it isn t necessarily an issue of airlines having cold hearts. Still they could make a concerted effort to seat families together and keep them together.
I count 48 open seats in Economy, yet only 9 of those are available to non-status flyers without an upcharge. I can understand blocking seats for elite flyers, but why are the window and aisle seats in row 18 and the aisle seats in row 19 designated for premium passengers? Offering families avis rent a car uk the option to book these seats together without being charged extra would generate plenty of goodwill avis rent a car uk with customers.
While Southwest won t be flying avis rent a car uk you to Europe or Asia in a lie-flat seat anytime soon, they do have one thing right: complimentary drinks on holidays. My wife and I always enjoy that first glass of wine or can of beer to kick off a vacation, and with the stress of holiday travel, it s even more welcome! I ve flown Southwest on Easter as well as Father s Day, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they offer travelers (of legal drinking age) their first drink on the house. Other airlines may offer a complimentary coupon for elite travelers, but this is a small gesture avis rent a car uk that doesn t cost a lot.
Many of you have probably flown with a child under the age of 2, and for short-haul domestic flights, the booking process is fairly pain-free. Not so for most international flights, as TPG Senior Points Miles Correspondent Jason Steele pointed out back in 2012 . While some airlines do allow you to bring a lap child aboard avis rent a car uk for free, most charge 10% of the paid fare (or mileage required), which can add up to quite a lot, depending on the route and dates of travel.
These fees don t connect to any additional services or benefits, so I put them in the same ballpark as fuel surcharges. If you re traveling internationally this holiday season with an infant in tow, I m sure you would love to keep that extra money in your pocket. For the sake of new parents everywhere, airlines should get rid of these humbug fees.
Hotels can be every bit as culpable as airlines for nickel and diming travelers, through  resort fees , parking charges, internet, and other add-ons. Earlier this month, I wrote about how to get free WiFi during your hotel stays; I would love to see more major hotel chains follow Marriott s lead and simply include internet access as a standard amenity.
Many chains do give you free WiFi, and even some brands that don t usually offer it for free will include basic access (and then charge for faster, premium avis rent a car uk service). So many travelers these days have phones avis rent a car uk or tablets with data plans, and many can turn their devices into a secured hotspot. Internet simply isn t the profit avis rent a car uk center that it once was for hotels, and including it for free would be a clear benefit to even the most casual traveler.
Another hotel policy avis rent a car uk that would fit well with the family-friendly spirit of the holiday season avis rent a car uk would be suspending fees for additional guests in a hotel room. Jason Steele wrote a series of posts about maximizing family-friendly hotels (with SPG , Hyatt , Hilton , Marriott , and IHG ), and unfortunately, many properties avis rent a car uk charge for additional guests or for rollaway beds.
These fees, which can run over $60 per night, seem excessive for such a simply amenity. I understand properties wanting to avoid Spring Breakers cramming avis rent a car uk 11 college avis rent a car uk students into a room with two double beds, but making simple accommodations for families would be more in keeping with the holiday spirit.
One final wish involves the desire that many feel to help the less fortunate during avis rent a car uk the holidays. My local Publix supermarket in Florida avis rent a car uk regularly partners with charities or fundraisers to support different causes, like a local food bank, the March of Dimes, avis rent a car uk or breast cancer awareness. avis rent a car uk At checkout, I m frequently asked to donate a dollar or two to these causes, and since I love racking up points on my Hilton HHonors American Express , I usually say yes.
Hotels could offer similar avis rent a car uk programs to help local charities. Guests could charge a donation to their room folio, earning extra hotel points for their stay and  on whatever credit card they use to pay. Hotels could then distribute these donations to deserving charities. This would mirror programs like Delta s pink lemonade campaign during breast cancer awareness month each October. If coin jars next to a register or Salvation Army bell-ringers outside a store can increase charitable giving, then surely travelers will be willing to donate when they can earn additional points or miles.
Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
While many of these are things we enjoy (or would enjoy), it s also true that for the most part they would impact the bottom line or the price more than trivially. The issue is that passengers have shown again and again, by their behavior if not by their verbal declarations, avis rent a car uk that they want the rock bottom prices. Others have shown a distinct willingness to scam systems that are not airtight, like the bereavement fares. For airlines, doing things for good will just doesn t pay off well most of the time. People may say it s what they want in a survey or in a blog comment, avis rent a car uk but if a competitor comes out with a fare that s $3 cheaper next time, most will go to the competitor in a heartbeat.
With respect to hotels, I do think resort avis rent a car uk fees are a scam and should be outlawed if the services they entail can t be rejected by the customer on request. I also think we need to be careful about terms like free, which usually avis rent a car uk mean included in the base price. There is no such thing as free wifi it is simply avis rent a car uk provided for or not in the base price charged for a room, and we should call wifi included or extra , rather than free . Many hotels do include wifi, and that s definitely something the customer should avis rent a car uk take into account in projecting costs if wifi is something they must have.
I agree, these are a wish list that will never get fulfilled. Today s domestic US airlines are on the path to making sure they have a profit, they will not care about making the average buyer happy, only First Class passengers. The only thing that will change that will be as more and more international airlines avis rent a car uk come in and encroach on their territory, and then we will see the reversal. Otherwise, this is the reality of flying today, pay for flight, bags, better avis rent a car uk seat, etc. For our family, domestically it is better to drive almost anywhere in the country than run them through the airpport. A party of 5, with bag fees and everything else, is much much more than renting a nice big minivan, and driving, including hotels to almost anywhere. If I am going overseas, I just know to pick an International airline, and to upgrade avis rent a car uk the seats to something to make sure we are not jammed in, and to do those options only when I know we can afford that extra-expense, or forget it. There is a phase-out of the elite programs going on, witness avis rent a car uk what American/US airways is doing, removing benefit after