American Airlines to charge for FIRST checked bag

by Grant Martin on

Ouch. AMR corp just announced that they’re going to start charging for the first checked bag on all of their American Airlines and American Eagle flights, effective for tickets purchased on or after June 15.

And so ends the era of free checked baggage on airlines. I wonder how long it will be before the other major airlines follow suit?

I can already see the ruckus of carry-on baggage now. Right after the liquids ban, I remember getting on aircraft and seeing nearly empty overhead compartments — everyone wanted to check their luggage so that they could bring their 10 oz toothpaste with them. Things gradually returned to normal loads as people have adapted to the 100ml rule.

Now, since nobody wants to pay an extra 15$, everyone is going to want to bring their luggage aboard, overhead compartments are going to jam up, people with giant luggage are going to clog up space and passengers are going to get testy.

Of course the new rule doesn’t apply to elites, but as several people on the underground pointed out, it really affects everyone on the aircraft. If the overhead compartments are full and the flight spends an extra 15 minutes on the ground sorting out luggage issues and appeasing passengers, the entire plane is late, right?

Everyone is now charging for extra bags. Get used to it.

by Grant Martin on

If you’ve been following airline industry news over the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard news about many American carriers creating new fees for multiple checked bags. If your favorite hometown airline hasn’t started doing it yet, don’t hold your breath, it’s probably on the way.

These changes are too bad for American passengers, but long overdue, I’m afraid. Airlines have been struggling to cope with staggeringly high oil and operational costs over the last few years, all while maintaining competitive and fair prices. Their competition has cut so deep into the bottom line that carriers are now faced with two options: raise ticket prices or implement extra fees.

What currently drives the majority of the airline ticket market, however, is overwhelming demand for budget tickets — regardless of the carrier, class of service or amenities. Raising the bar on ticket prices thus runs the risk of losing large swaths of passengers with each increase.

So the airlines are forced to nickel and dime their regular passengers with extra fees along the way. This includes several in-flight amenities such as headphones or television that have already been integrated into many routes to extra baggage fees, which are unrolling this week.

Where to after that? It wouldn’t surprise me if airlines soon unilaterally started charging for all beverages, preferred seating, peanuts, wheelchair room or overweight passengers. Anything to keep the bottom line in its current place.

As the prevailing trend over the last few years dictates though, most of these changes won’t have any effect on the the frequent and business travelers. In addition to extra baggage fees being waived, most elite members are allowed an additional bag that they can bring along for free. Loyalty pays off, I suppose.

For now, make sure you keep an extra twenty with you when you’re on the road — if you want an extra shred of comfort, food or alcohol on board you’re going to have to pay for it. But as you’re handing your five dollars over for a dried up tuna sandwich on white bread and six ounces of gin, ask yourself, would you rather pay for your oil with your plane ticket or your in-flight privileges?

I don’t know about you, but I would rather save my money upfront, pack light and starve.

Excess Luggage Fees & Fines

by Adrienne Wilson on

LAX was an absolute mad house this morning. I’m going to full on go out there and just say it was probably the worst I’ve ever seen it in all my travels. To make matters worse I discovered my bag was over the Delta airlines weight limit and I was going to be hit with a $25 fee. “Is that going to be in cash or credit ma’am?”

Grrr…

So here’s my beef with this scenario. For starters my baggage has never been over the weight limit and secondly what is the purpose of charging innocent travelers? Isn’t the weight limit rule supposed to ensure the plane isn’t going to be too heavy? What if everyone’s bag was over the weight limit? How important would that $25 bucks be then? Ugh.

Anyways make sure you pack lightly unless you like coming out of pocket for your goods. The Travel Insider has some good info online on airline checked luggage allowances and a nice table with most airlines fees and weight limits. This should help you from going over and paying extra.