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Add to FavoritesShould the airlines be charging passengers for checking baggage? This is the new creative approach some aviation corporations are taking in order to capture new revenues and overcome their financial woes.
American airlines has announced their plan to charge $15.00 fee for the first piece of checked baggage. The are already receiving a $25.00 surcharge for a second bag and the fee mounts per number of pieces. Third, fourth and fifth items will check in at $100.00 apiece and oversized items could run as high as $150.00.
Many other airline carriers are following suit, stating increasing fuel prices as the reason for the new policy. According to the International Air Transport Association, fuel prices are up 91.5% from this time last year. The airlines have responded to the exorbitant increase by passing it on to the flying public in the form of fees and surcharges.
According to airlines spokespersons interviewed on the news, their companies are finding opportunities to pursue new revenue while still continuing to offer competitive fares. They are attempting to discern what services customers value and what they are willing to pay for those services.
This appears to be a deceiving and unfair way to attempt to "fool" travelers into believing they are flying at a cost effective rate. Would it not be more open and direct to simply raise the price of tickets?
There is also an element of bias and discrimination in this new plan as some passengers are exempt. Premium members of frequent flyer clubs, passengers who pay full fare and business/first class/overseas travelers will not incur the additional expense.
As happens so often, those least able to afford the fees will be the ones targeted to pay. Budget travelers and families with multiple children will suffer the financial brunt the hardest.
It does not make sense to pass the cost of fuel on to a select few when all passengers are receiving the same benefit of being transported to their destination. If airlines simply raise the price per ticket across the board the cost would be more fairly distributed.
Another downside to this new policy is the fact that an already unwieldy problem in the cabin area will be exacerbated. Passengers currently jockeying for space in the overhead storage will increase in numbers; more and larger items will be carried on and attempts to cram them into an already cramped space is bound to create even more havoc. We can look forward to more rude and thoughtless passengers blocking the aisles and monopolizing overhead space, with saving money as their motivation.
The airline industry is already in dire financial straits, as witnessed with nightly news reports of flight delays and cancellations, personnel cutbacks and bankruptcies. Long ago ammenities were discarded on domestic flights. We can accept the downsizing and no frills components as part of the rising cost of living endured in every segment of society today.
The irony is that the airlines are not as impacted with the fuel price increase as they purport since they receive goverment subsidies to compensate for increased fuel tax. Ordinary motorists pay fuel tax; one has to wonder why aviation is exempt?
While the price of fuel is skyrocketing out of control for the average citizen, the airlines are receiving government discounts and continuing to invent ways to pass the cost of their poor management skills on to the consumer.
One obvious indication of poor management is currying favor by offering monetary exemptions to one type of passenger while penalizing another group with additional costs.
Enticing travelers with "budget fares" and then gouging them with excessive fees and surcharges is a deceitful, if not outright unethical practice. Raising fares across the board so that all travelers share the burden of higher costs is the fair approach.
Accustomed as we are to annual cost of living increases in every area of consumerism, we realistically won't protest an increase in fares. We will protest unfairness.
Learn more about this author, Carol Gioia.
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Yes
I am a frequent business flyer: averaging three roundtrip flights per month, twelve months a year. Add in vacations and visits to family and friends over seas and I am in the air a lot! This is not new, I have been doing it for years, and the truth is I like to fly.
I don't however like to wait. Wait at the counters as other passengers check 54 bags for their weekend trip. Wait in the security line as other passengers hold up the line getting their five carry-on bags and their lap top and their diaper bag and their purse or briefcase up and through the x-ray machine. Wait to get to my seat as the other passengers hold up the line trying to cram those five carry-on bags into the already over packed over head bins. Wait while those same passengers try to cram their lap top and their diaper bag and their purse or briefcases under the seat in front of them and then under my seat because there is no more room! Oh and if they happen to catch an awake ticket taker, wait while the passenger with the five carry-on bags is forced to fill out and attach tags once they are told they must be checked! Yep, I've waited for them all - over and over and over again!
Charging For Checked Baggage
Airlines are being hit in their fuel tanks, right along with the rest of us. In order for them to fly more cost efficiently, they need to reduce their weight. What better place to do this than with the large amount of luggage transported on each flight? If four passengers take the same flight and one of them doesn't check any bags, one check a bag, and the other two check 3 bags each. The last two passengers are the ones adding the most weight and therefore, they should be the ones to pay. The higher price to fly that flight has to be made up somewhere and it is only fair it is made up by those adding the most weight.
Airlines have charged for overweight bags for sometime now but people will often get around that. For example, the other day I needed to make a change on my ticket and was stuck inline behind a family who had packed 9 suitcases for the five of them. Seriously, the child told me they were going to Disneyland for a week and somehow that meant they needed nine suitcases between them. And I'm not talking about the car seat and stroller as they were separate! Anyway they had two suitcases that were over weight and they literally rearranged them at the counter while the rest of us waited. When they were still heavy on one, the Mom took out 2 coats (for Florida?) and carried them. But, the thing to remember is the weight didn't change; only the distribution did! They all had carry-on bags and of course the car seat was packed and the stroller carried on.
If the airline had been charging for luggage, I am 100% sure that family could have (and probably would have) left more than half those bags at home. I have traveled around the world and have always been able to either buy something I left behind or wash out something I got dirty. Even with five kids, we manage without checking bags. We use the "you bring, you carry it" policy and they have been able to travel Europe for 3 weeks with just one backpack. And if it meant being charged for luggage, more passengers would pack less.
Following Carry-On Rules
While charging for luggage is a start, other things need to happen as well. I am concerned that the already disregarded carry-on rules will be even more so if the airlines start carrying for checked baggage. Right now you can have one carry-on bag and other bag such as a purse, laptop bag or briefcase. There are always those with too many and/or too large of bags that try to slip through.
I have done it myself when traveling with the family we all have our bag and one item but we have also carried on the stroller (which is taken and stored upon boarding) and other kid paraphernalia. Any parent would give up a small bag to keep that stroller if they have a long wait between flights or connections! But, it is more than the regulated carry-on allotment.
My concern is that once passengers know they will be charged for checking bags, they will try to get as many as possible on by carry them on. I cringe at the thought of what type of wait this will cause the rest of the passengers as airline employees are forced to not only check the extra bags but somehow collect the fee before allow the passenger to board. Will they be sent back out to the front ticket counter where they must wait in line, check the bag, pay and then go through security again? Or will they set up a system where the fee can be collected at the gate? Either way, I see some longer wait times ahead for us all!
The airlines are a business and they are going to recoup the extra expenses one way or another. They have already hiked on a fuel surcharge for all passengers. Isn't it only fair that those passengers, who want to add extra weight, be charged for it?
Learn more about this author, Jerry Young.
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