Want to check a bag? That’ll be $15 extra.
United Airlines announced today that it would start charging passengers $15 for the first checked bag on all flights. This follows American Airlines’ decision three weeks ago, which made it the first U.S. carrier to implement the unprecedented fee.
Most U.S. carriers already have instituted a $25 charge for checking a second bag — part of a potpourri of new fees that reflect a struggling airline industry passing along record fuel prices to passengers in the form of higher fares, fuel surcharges and service charges.
…”The major airlines are truly a la carte now — you don’t get anything free any more,” said Parsons, chief executive of the travel website Bestfares.com. “You get a tin can in the air, and anything else you pay as you go.”
He expects the legacy carriers to follow the lead of discount carrier Spirit Airlines, which now charges extra for seat reservations — $5 for middle seats, $10 for window and aisle seats and $15 for exit-row seats. Other airlines also have begun charging for window or aisle seats.
The only U.S. airline that still allows passengers to check two bags for free is Southwest. Snacks are still complimentary on Southwest flights, as is the option to sit wherever you like. They continue to have the lowest fares of any U.S. carrier. They’re also the only U.S. airline that’s actually doing well financially.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Southwest is capitalizing on the “nickel-and-diming” of America by launching a brilliant ad campaign:
What do you think? These fees may have been inspired by the recent skyrocketing gas prices, but were these types of fees inevitable? Do you plan to adjust your traveling habits to compensate for these changes? If so, how?
American is still the best way to get from St. Louis to Orlando, unless you want a punishing one-day drive of over 900 miles. Good nonstop MD80 flights at convenient times. Just booked today.
Southwest has little if any legacy costs compared to the other airlines.
The airline industry is a broken business model which in general we can’t allow to fail.
The answer is higher fares and costs to the passengers. My wife and I will be flying roundtrip to Seattle or about 4200 miles nonstop a person for $770 which I don’t consider bad.
I don’t fly.
I used to work at Lambert Airport, and what I saw there in terms of the employees and equipment convinced me that I would never fly.
And that was before there even was a TSA.
I heard today that USAir is going to charge $2 for a soft drink.
Also, as a woman of norman weight, I object to being charged to check a bag. I know I have set next to people who have extra baggage on their body that weighs more than my suitcase. Why shouldn’t they be charged an extra fee for their spillage onto my seating area that I paid for?
So Southwest is “the only U.S. airline that’s actually doing well financially”? Southwest (LUV) stock carries a 2.4 Zack’s rating (not too swift) and a 4.55 PEG ratio (way overpriced vs. anticipated growth). I don’t want any.
DJ’s comment has merit. It’s not unusual for companies in financial trouble to start marking questionable OK’s on preventive maintenance checklists. I’m not hot on the idea of airlines cutting back fuel loads to improve mileage either. Jet aircraft don’t glide well with the power off.
“$15 for exit-row seats”
Isn’t that kind of like putting a price on safety (or a person’s life), since people who request these seats feel they are safer and will get out quicker in the event of emergency?
Fifteen bucks and they will still lose them.
Southwest is great if you like your airplanes serviced in Tijuana Mexico. They do this to keep their costs down and they dont fly out of the country.