US Airways, United charging fees on top of fees

They said it couldn't be done. USA Today almost couldn't do it. It took a week for a reporter there to sit down and sort out all the assorted extra fees that that the airlines are charging.

The paper's table will be current for about a week, because more unexpected and unheralded fees are being pelted at us each week, but reading the resulting chart will either make you furious or resigned to your lowly condition.

The airlines aren't just making up new charges, like $7 for a pillow and $3 for a Coke. They're piling fees on top of fees that already exist. As the summer travel season starts, the airlines are now instituting penalties that will milk customers simply because we can't plan ahead to their satisfaction.

Starting July 9, U.S. Airways will raise its fee for checking a bag by $5 to $20 for one and $30 for the second one.