Found out airline "discount" sites charge $17 extra just for using a debit card
I was booking a flight to Denver for next month and went through one of those cheap ticket sites that always pop up first on Google. Compared to the airline's own site, the base fare looked like it saved me $40. Then I got to the payment screen and noticed a $17 "processing fee" for debit cards. Had to actually click into the fine print to find it. That's not a hack, that's just a trap. I checked two other sites and they all did the same thing, some even charged more for debit than credit. Since when is using my own money more expensive? Ended up booking direct and saved $12 total after all their fees. Has anyone else noticed these fake savings or is there actually a third-party site that doesn't pull this?
Wait, is a $17 fee really worth getting worked up over when the base fare was already $40 cheaper? Maybe it's just me but that still puts you ahead unless the other fees pile up too. I get that hidden fees are annoying but calling it a trap feels like a stretch when you can just back out at checkout.