Air fares If you are old enough, you may remember the good old days when all sorts of conveniences were included in the price of an air line ticket. Under pressure to reduce the sticker price of their tickets, airlines have started charging less for the tickets themselves, but made it a habit to recover the losses by charging fees for everything from checked luggage to food and drink and early boarding. Perhaps they sell more tickets this way, but the effort is likely to sharply reduce customer satisfaction. Why?