A new survey found that airline passengers are willing to pay additional fees to get off their planes faster.
Airfarewatchdog.com, a fare-tracking website, said that 16-percent of passengers are willing to pay extra money to disembark planes quicker. Ten percent of the survey responders said they would pay $10 to be at the front of the line while three-percent said they would pay as much as $20.
Many coach passengers already pay fees ranging from $9 to $39 to speed up their boarding process.
"They're willing to pay to board early and sit in those uncomfortable seats, so why wouldn't they pay for the reverse, to get out of those uncomfortable seats?' said George Hobica, Airfarewatchdog's founder. “That would make the whole experience less torturous."
Passengers who have the opportunity to get off their planes earlier have a better chance of catching connecting flights.
Commercial airlines have taken strides to improve on-time arrivals. According to the Transportation Department’s Bureau of Transportation, many major U.S. airlines have improved their arrival times this year by 84.5 percent. This is their best performance in 18 years.
Hobica believes that even though many carriers do not currently offer such a fee, it is only a matter of time.
"I never thought they would start charging for carry-on bags, or even for pets, so you never know," Hobica said.
Charging additional fees has proven to be an asset for the airline industry.
So far this year, U.S. airliners have profited $816 million in baggage fees and $631 million in fees for changing flight reservations.
"I think it means the difference between profitability and financial disaster for some airlines," Hobica said.
In October, Spirit Airlines will charge passengers $2 to print out their boarding passes at airport kiosks.
"We are encouraging customers to print their boarding passes before arriving to the airport," Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Misty Pinson said. "This allows us to keep costs lower and we, in turn, pass this savings along to our customers."
