American to charge for all baggage: Good or bad idea?
American Airlines announced this morning that beginning June 15, they will charge a $15 fee for EVERY checked bag from their passengers. They cite the increasing fuel costs for transporting passenger’s luggage for the new charge.
Will airplane cabins become even more overloaded as more passengers bring their luggage as carry-ons instead? I can see more passengers bringing their allotment of carry-on baggage making TSA security checkpoint lines even longer as more packages and wheeled suitcases need to be screened.
On top of all this, American’s parent corporation, AMR, this morning also announced “significant reductions” to its 2008 domestic flight schedule. The say that capacity is expected to decline by 10 percent to 11 percent in the fourth quarter compared to fourth quarter 2007 levels.
Will American lose even more passengers over this new fee and schedule reductions? Given the new baggage fees, would you seek out other airlines when you need to travel?
I will look into other airlines. I think the price of the flight and all other fees is more than enough to pay now!!
It is wrong to penalize the average family that just travels for vacations and on long trips that require checked baggage. Especially for couples with children and everything they have to have with them to travel.
I will not pay the baggage fee on top of everything else.
I really liked flying with American, but they are adding fees that will turn business away for sure!
We new charges had to be coming after the fiasco over the MD-80 safety downing of flights.
I never take baggage on the plane. I think people without carry-ons should be allowed to get on and off the plane first (after the infirm). Carry-ons hold up the boarding and unboarding. If you don’t want to have to go to baggage claim, then you should have to wait for those people without bags to get off the plane first, which would only take like 5 minutes, instead of everyone having to wait 15-20 minutes for those who have carry-ons to drag them out of the overhead compartments.
People without bags should also have their own line at the security checkpoints. Why should others be tied up in line having to wait because someone else doesn’t want to check their bag?
Wow, just what we need…another charge, surcharge, fee, convenience cost, whatever you want to call it.
This is why we drive to our ski vacations.
Mandy St. Amand
Terrible idea. After the TSA instituted the see through bag with toiletries limited to sample size – that had to be removed from the bag and sent down the x-ray machine separately - the number of checked bags soared. Now with AA charging $15 for the first bag (no word on price for the second), everyone will try to carry again – which (thanks to the above mentioned toiletries rule) will make the security screening line a circus.
Boarding will be the next area affected – as people try to slip increasingly large bags through, knowing it would take a sledge hammer to fit them into an overhead bin. When these people get confronted by the gate agent, be prepared for a fight as they challenge the rules (and the fee) and argue that their bag should be permitted.
Of course, the ultimate battle will be in the cabin – people stopping loading trying to shoehorn their bags into bins, people moving across half the aircraft trying to find a clear spot, and the clincher, people getting mad at passengers who stuff all their carry ons into overhead bins so they can have their foot room free. Oh yeah, it will be epic.
I think this is a crazy idea! Carrying passenger luggage either in the belly or overhead bins is still going to affect their fuel bill. I don’t understand the need for the charge. Why don’t they just tack it on to the airfare as a surcharge?
I’ve got over 200000 frequent flyer miles with this airline and unfortunately don’t fly enough to qualify for Gold status any longer. I use to travel two weeks out of the month. Guess I’ll be looking for ways of using those miles.
I will now be more likely to check Southwest before booking my next flight. American is just grasping at straws!!
What I can’t understand why everyone is trying their best to collect money for fuel charges. When the government doesn’t wake up and do something about the horrible fuel prices.
I’m with Sarah - why are the airlines so worried about extra pounds coming from baggage and not from people? Not really fair that my 100-pound self has to pay the same price as a 400-pound man.
So American, what’s next, paying the flight attendants to use the restroom?
This is a bad idea, will give passengers an added incentive to carry yet more baggage on board rather than checked, carry-on is already abused enough.
Wow, what a lousy marketing decision. If they’d just quietly adjusted their ticket prices, no one would have noticed or cared. This is just going to make people angry and lead to the kinds of issues in security lines, on boarding, etc. that posters have already noted. Best thing American could do would be to say — today — Whoops! that was dumb, we heard you, never mind, we’ll just adjust ticket prices. They’ll never do it though.
Is American trying to force themselves out of business? If you are flying there is probably a good chance you are going to be gone for more than a few days, so a carry-on isn’t going to cut it. Doesn’t anyone at that airline have a masters in business?