If I need to take a quick business trip from Boise, Idaho to San Francisco to meet with Leo Laporte, I could easily spend a $1,000. Now if I did some research and planning, I could cut that cost in half.

A flight to San Francisco from Boise Idaho starts at $216, with one stop in Salt Lake City. Most of the discount airline booking website average around $260 to $300 for a round trip ticket, for the same trip.

Now there is a few things that you can or can not do that will raise that cost.

Pre-Ship Luggage - If you have a lot of luggage you may want to pre-ship it UPS. Airlines are watching how much up check as well as what you carry on the plane. Many of the airline are charging $25 to $50 extra per piece. This is where shipping an extra bag of cloths to your hotel may just be cheaper

Just like any good profitable business there airlines will always try to up sale you to more expensive setting, and extras. What makes me angry is when I get a great deal on a flight to San Francisco then when I go to check in I am hit with $25 or $30 just to check a bag!

I do not fault a business for making money. After all that is what they are in business to do. What I do not like is the hidden cost they do not tell you. I would be much happier if I could get one set price for my flight.

That one set price would include checking bags, drinks, WiFi, and telephone service. I would even be happier if I could get a set price at time of booking my flight that would include, taxi ride to airport, everything during flight, taxi ride to hotel, and everything in between.

I know this will never happen. However, I can calculate it these extra costs pretty close.

If you want to get an idea what some of these cost will be per different airline, I would recomend that you go Billshrink.com and their comparison chart.