The a-la-carte airfare trend not only mucks with price transparency; it mucks with your reimbursements.

One friend of mine had a hard time getting his checked-luggage fee reimbursed. A former colleague sent me a rant about a previous employer, noting that her $25 standby fee on US Airways, which she paid to fly back when her meetings finished early, wasn’t covered. Others have complained that buy-on-board food and drink rarely come with an expensible receipt (though the spread of inflight credit card use will ameliorate this).

This is a case of company accountants not keeping up with the changes in the airline industry, or more likely vice versa. Fees that are included at the time of booking are far more likely to pass muster than add-ons at the airport or in-flight.

There are a lot of fees and add-ons that might not pass the corporate muster. Checked bags, priority seating, seat reservation fees, aisle or window seat fee, inflight snack or drink, booze, standby fees, skycap fees… the list goes on!

And upgrade co-payments on airlines that charge cash fees for upgrades with miles, such as American and (soon) United? Even less likely to be reimbursed, as one recent commenter noted. If it’s not part of the ticket, you’ve got a fight on your hands.

So, what’s it like on your end? Have you run into any problems getting reimbursed for these a-la-carte out-of-pocket business travel expenses? If so, what were the problematic charges? And did you find a workaround to get repaid? Hit the comments!