Baggage Fee Calculator May Help With DOT Compliance

Farelogix plans to launch a website that calculates what a traveler will pay for checking bags and other items, allowing users to compare fees on various airlines.
 
The company developed the site for consumers, but chief executive Jim Davidson said it could resolve a thorny issue for travel agencies – complying with new Transportation Department rules that require agents either to provide checked-bag fee information on their own websites or to provide a link to the bag fee pages on airlines’ websites.

The first option requires a lot of manual labor, while the second is a form of commercial suicide.

Making fee info accessible
By placing a link on their websites to iflybags.com, which is slated to launch in October, agencies provide access to fee information that comes from ATPCo, the distributor of fare information to GDS companies and large online travel agencies.

ATPCo has developed a comprehensive list of “optional services” – a.k.a. ancillary services – and their fees, covering everything from musical instruments to antlers. Some airlines have begun filing their fee information in this manner.

“We get multiple feeds, three or four a day, so the information is as in sync as it can ever be,” Davidson said.

Farelogix also gets direct feeds from some airlines; it has checked-bag fee data for 309 airlines.

Web interface
Farelogix plans to offer a web services interface to the application that will allow travel agencies, corporate booking tools and even GDSs to integrate the application. Farelogix will charge a nominal fee for hosting and support.

It also will offer a “white-label” option, again for a nominal support fee. 

The consumer iflybags site will remain free to the public.

Packing help too
Davidson said iflybags.com also will help users “optimize” the way they pack and check their bags to ensure they don’t overpay.

For example, a family of four might be carrying and/or checking a variety of items: golf clubs, a diaper bag, a surfboard and one or two bags that might exceed the airline’s weight limit. Iflybags.com will calculate how to “even out” items among family members, shifting weight so no one person exceeds limits unnecessarily.

Farelogix has applied for a patent for the optimization tool, Davidson said.