Imagine if your employer told you to lose a few pounds — not for health reasons — but to increase the company’s bottom line.
Sound crazy? If you are a Ryanair employee, it would be just another day at the office. The Irish budget airline recently asked crewmembers to watch their waistlines in an effort to cut fuel costs. And that’s not the only desperate measure airlines are taking to save a buck.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click Here to See the 9 Measures
Once upon a time, you might have thought baggage fees were an outrage, but today, you’ll have to do a lot more than pack light to get in and out of the airport without extra charges. Thanks to the recent onslaught of fees, air carriers are starting to turn a profit this year in spite of a poor economy and high fuel costs. The largest passenger airlines reported a 0.7 percent profit margin in the first quarter of 2012, up from the 0.5 percent loss from the first quarter of last year, with a whopping $816 million collected in baggage fees and $631 million in reservation change fees from January through March, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
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But with profits still low and fees proving to be so lucrative, carriers are looking for more innovative ways to boost revenues — and in many cases, you’ll be the one that’s paying for it. Here are nine of the most outrageous ways airlines are cutting costs.
