When I fly I do not use pillows or blankets, unless it is a long flight. (over 4 hours) I only bring carry on luggage,(unless it is a vacation or extended business trip) so a reduction in air fares would be a welcome thing. Unless you are rich, or your company is paying, then the cost for such amenities is a poor financial decision and a cash cow for the airlines.

American and others,

When will airlines wise up? When you are trying to overcome gravity, your biggest obstacle is weight. Charge by weight, not by the person and you’ll be better off in the long run. This way you can charge people for all their junk they think they need to bring on board. Also, you get the people who travel on one fare, who should actually be paying for probably two or more. Yes, I’m talking about you fatty.

Please institute a special upcharge for winey kids as well, or make them travel with the luggage.

I predicted airlines would charge by the bag and there’s no doubt in my mind one will take the lead and start charging by weight. You can’t violate the laws of physics.

Sorry people. Don’t like it, you don’t have to fly.

American can do anything they want, I won’t fly them, their response to customer complaint is arrogant. Southwest always gets my business.

Does that mean I am merely renting a blanket…or do I get to keep it for future flights?
IF renting…please make sure it is not filthy and full of germs from the previous 150 people who also rented the same blanket….That is—if they can afford some soap and water to wash them semi-regularly!

Really, how “low” can they drop the fares? They’ll have to sell a lot of water, soda and liquor….and rent lots of blankets….to offset the “reduced” fares. So in the end, the fares likely will not actually be reduced, and passengers will end up paying more for the “comforts”.

It sounds to me too much like another bait and switch tactic.

I flew to New Orleans this past weekend on Southwest. Great carrier! But even Southwest could improve their service by denying ALL carry-on luggage. The time delays at boarding and deplaning could be reduced by a full 30+ minutes, which might improve the bottom line for the company.

The article mentions the phone and cable companies have been using this practice for years.

Does the article also mention that the phone and cable companies are two of the most hated most complained about companies in the USA as well?

Nice business plan, adopt the strategies of companies everyone would avoid if they could. Oh wait, phone and cable are darn near a necessity. Flying is not. Guess time will tell how well it works out for them.

The market will decide whether this change is good for American. I personally don’t ask for extra stuff like pillows, blankets, or extra snacks on a flight. If I want those things then I’ll buy them in the airport or pack them before I fly. Now, if American can actually decrease their fares by cutting back on the amenities, they may get my business. That is to say, if American’s plan is for people to just assume that their fares must be cheaper since they don’t add on extras, they have another thing coming. With Internet ticket sales, it’s easy enough for anyone to compare fares between airlines. If American wants my business, they’ll have the lowest fares, eliminating extras if they need to in order to accomplish that.

I am comfortable with American’s new pricing plan, so long as they make everything transparent from start to finish. If the ticket is $300, and the blanket rental is $3, and a bottle of soda is $4, then make all of that very clear up front, when reserving the ticket.

It is just another way to charge more. Before I say yes or no, I would like to know how much AA will lower their prices. Airline pricing is just a non-sence. AA already killed STL airport, now they are trying to kill themselves.

Whatever the airlines decide to do, they need to do it and stop changing every few weeks. As far as I’m concerned, they all need to look at what Southwest is doing and try to copy. The way I see it is that there is no way that they are ever going to lower fares as long as fuel is at the price it is now. They can only take away so much. I’m glad I don’t have a prosthetic leg. They may charge me extra for it.

The airlines are taking the “bus” in “Airbus” a touch too seriously.

I’ll pay extra for these things if it truly results in lower prices, or at least not any higher pricing. I won’t use the dirty pillows or blankets and could care less about the peanuts/pretzels. The drink situation is a bit annoying as I can’t bring mine from home and am forced to pay exorbitant prices in the airport and now possibly on the planes now?!?!

To think I might have to pay a fee for booking online really annoys me however. It hasn’t been all that many years ago that there was an incentive to book online over an agent or the phone. Now I might “get” to pay for this “privilege” to spend MY time looking for and booking the best fare?!?!

Flying has gotten to be a real pain but unfortunately, when one needs to get to a location some distance from home and only has a few vacation days to do so, it’s still the best bet around. Meaning: they’ve got us by the short hairs…

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES is the BEST!!

Who cares, the Cubs are out of the playoffs, so I am floating on cloud 9 right now anyway…I don’t need American for that.

Gimmicks are not what is needed. I want airlines to charge a fair price to take me to my destination without tearing through my pockets to get me there.

I don’t mind a basic price and an additional fee for options. But that still won’t make my fly AA. They are the worst. I’m a Southwest man.

Here’s an idea:

Create a simple and easy to understand fare structure. Something like this:

Rule 1: everybody on the airplane pays the same fare.
Rule 2: the fare has some relationship to the number of air miles being traveled.
Rule 3: A reasonable amount of luggage is permitted for each passenger as part of their fare. (Say one suitcase of 45 lbs or less, and one carry on)

Rule 2 would work like this: The airline would publish a table that lists the passenger miles between every stop they make. They would also publish their per passenger/mile operating cost. So, if it costs 30 cents per passenger mile, and you want to fly 900 miles, your fare is $270. Easy, right? Logical, right?

If an airline figures they can save a few cents per mile by not providing blankets, pillows, or peanuts…no problem.

I have no problem with American “unbundling” their fees. I don’t want a blanket or pillow, nor do I care about having a snack or a drink. It is nice know that I don’t have to pay extra in the price of my ticket for things I don’t want or need. If I change my mind, then I can pay for it. It is nice to have that option.

Let me get this straight: This is America. Homeland Security and TSA won’t let you take a soda, or a bottle of water on board because it might be a security risk, and now the airlines want to charge you for a drink of water? (They already charge for alcohol– that’s fine.) Hey, on Amtrak (that rattling crawling excuse for passenger rail) there is a free water fountain in every car, and I’ve seen people board with picnic baskets. No problem.

This isn’t an issue for a hop to Chicago, but a 4 hour flight to coast or longer over the seas? No bread or water? They’ve made carry ons so small you are able to take only a few personal items, but now they want to charge for a pillow and blankie? (I’ve never had either on a plane; they are passed out in coach on Amtrak all the time, then collected in the morning. You can also usually get to your big luggage from coach.)

The last time I flew was in 2006. Someday I hope to go to Hawaii (which doesn’t have rail service and is a long flight from the Midwest.) I can see charging for true amenities, but if they go to charging for water, and not allowing people to bring their own, they’ve got a fight on their hands.

Actually, Teresa, that’s not quite accurate. You can’t take a bottle of water through the security gate. You CAN buy one on the ’safe’ side of the barricade and take it on board.

You can carry a sandwich through security.

However, one of the unintended consequences of the ‘per bag’ charges, more and more people are trying to push the limits on carry ons (obviously), so they’re now talking about really getting strict on carry on luggage for the (obvious) space reasons.

Anybody know when Southwest’s fuel hedge deal will be up? Saw a segment on 60 Minutes or something similar, where if I remember correctly, Southwest purchased options on some riduculous amount of jet fuel and locked in a comparatively low price for an extended period of time. I would guess this is what has allowed them to be so competitive recently. They are not getting killed at the pump like the rest of the big carriers. It will be interesting to see how they compete once the fuel arrangement expires???????