Flight Delays Continue, United Ups Change Fees to $200

Now, for the latest hassle when it comes to air travel. This one is not cheap. Two airlines are charging more to change your flight plans. That will cost you 200 bucks. We want to welcome abc's new... See More

Now, for the latest hassle when it comes to air travel. This one is not cheap. Two airlines are charging more to change your flight plans. That will cost you 200 bucks. We want to welcome abc's new business and economic correspondent, rebecca jarvis. Great to have you here. Great to be here. I'm smiling. You guys are sweet. I'm smiling. I wish I had better news for you on my first day. This is sort of par for the course. The airlines, they are at it again. Between higher fees, more cancellations and delays, passengers are in for a bumpy ride. If you think flying the skies is supposed to be friendly, think again. A better word for today's air travel, delayed or canceled. Now, if congress wants to address specifically the problems caused by the sequester with the faa, w would be open to looking at that. Reporter: Thousands of flights across the country have been affected in the last three days alone. And experts are saying it will only get worse. The faa is basically saying, we don't know where they're going to have issues. We don't know where our controllers are going to be furloughed at any given point in time. We don't know what runways we may have to shut down. Reporter: It's also getting more expensive. There's a sushi menu of fees that airlines want to charge you. That's the new business model. No empty middle seats. Lots of fees. Reporter: Yesterday, united upped its change fees on domestic flights to $200. And even more for trips abroad. U.S. Airways quickly followed suit. With a double-dip from a consumer perspective. You already paid for your seat once. You're paying a penalty, to change your ticket. A higher price for the ticket you're changing it to. Reporter: The add-ons, from baggage fees, to charges for food, entertainment and flight changes, are also big business. Last year, airlines made more than $36 billion in add-on fees alone. But in a statement to abc news, united says it's making the changes because we carefully manage our seat inventory and incur costs when a traveler elects not to fly in a reserved seat. We adjusted this fee to better compensate for those costs. What's a traveler to do? You can change your trip in the first 24 hours of purchase. Or if you need to make changes on the fly, price it out because changing to a new ticket altogether, even on a different airline, well, that could end up being a lot cheaper. It's crazy stuff. But it's the new way. For a lot of flights, that's true. Rebecca, thanks a lot. Good to have you with us, rebecca. The george w. Bush