Spirit Air Charges for Carry On Luggage

[JoelUpchurch]

Spirit is Charging $30 for any bag that doesn't fit under your seat. $45 if you check the bag at the gate.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/107445/spirit_airlines_charging_for_carryon

Since very few people fly with no luggage, this strikes as a thinly hidden price increase. It seems to me, that most travel sites will need to add a drop down box with the number of bags you are going to carry when it calculates the ticket price, so you can figure out the real ticket price.

[DiosaBellissima]

Spirit literally has $1 flights. Not all of them, of course, but they regularly sell flights for under $10. So, if I'm paying $1 for my flight, I can man up and pay $35 if my bag is too big to fit under my seat.

[SeaDragonTattoo]

The amount of crap people carry on these days makes me crazy. I have had a checked bag get lost (and delivered the next day) once since I started flying in 1978. Whether it's fear of losing a checked bag or not wanting to wait at the luggage carousel, I think neither is much of a reason. The last time I checked a bag (last year) I waited all of 10 minutes once I got to the carousel. I don't have to worry about what to pack in a checked bag, so I just pack what I want and check the damn thing.

[Markxxx]

I agree people try to cram way too much on flight. I get by with one suit case that fits in the overhead and a laptop case which goes on my lap.

I just don't want to wait to check in luggage, I would if I had a lot.

How much does it cost to ship something overnight? I wonder if it'd be cheaper.

I guess the nickel and diming by the airline industry continues huh? It's like on eBay before they cracked down. You'd get that penny CD with the $9.99 shipping and handling charge :)

[Folly]

While traveling for business, I would love this. I wouldn't have to pay the 35 bucks personally and no waiting around for people stuffing their two oversized carry ons sideways into the overhead bins.




How much does it cost to ship something overnight? I wonder if it'd be cheaper.


Ha! no way.

[mhendo]

This is reasonably old news. Spirit announced this policy back in April, although it only actually went into effect on August 1, so it's only now that people are starting to actually feel the hit.

On the one hand, all the nickel-and-diming by the airlines makes air travel seem like more and more of an ordeal. On the other hand, people constantly clamor for the cheapest flights possible, so a sort of a la carte system where you pay for what you use doesn't seem too unreasonable.

Unless i'm just making a two or three day trip (quite rare), i always check a bag and, like SeaDragonTattoo, i think it's the way to go. I'd much prefer to check the bag and just carry a small shoulder satchel onto the plane than deal with dragging around a rolling suitcase.

The wait for checked luggage is not usually very long, and i've only had my bag delayed twice in the last ten years. One delay was for two hours, and that was because i got upgraded to business class on a different plane at the last minute. No way i was going to complain about that. The other delay was after an awful trip from London to Baltimore via Philadelphia, where i got stuck at Philly airport for seven hours. Even then, the bag was couriered to my house by the airline the next morning.

If a carry-on fee caused all the douchebags who drag oversized rolling cases onto the plane to think twice and check their bags instead, i'd actually be pretty happy.

Of course, airlines themselves are to blame for not following their own carry-on size restrictions. Too, often, people are allowed to board with bags well over the size limit. All this adds up to delays, as some of these fucking numbskulls also take forever and a day to stow their luggage and get into their seats.

I have watched people wrestle with their cases for literally four or five minutes, while the line of people behind them stretches out of the plane and back up the gangway. They push and shove, they turn the case back and forth, they bash on the door of the luggage bin. Then, in some cases, it turns out that, although they crammed their bag into the luggage bin above row 5, their seats are actually in row 23. They just didn't want to drag their big case all the way to the back of the plane. The people in row 5 get shafted for luggage space because of a selfish lazy asshole.

Almost every airline encourages people with rolling cases to put them into the bins wheels first, but heaps of people ignore this, presumably thinking that they should get to use the whole of the space for themselves. I think the airlines should police this more closely, and if a case won't fit in wheels-first, then it shouldn't stay in the cabin.

[Hari Seldon]

Another reason to hate flying. One airline (I forgot who it was) was actually talking about charging for using the john. Wouldn't bother me, I would just pee in the aisle. I'm tempted to do that anyway when I see ten people lined up to use it.

[mhendo]

Another reason to hate flying. One airline (I forgot who it was) was actually talking about charging for using the john. Wouldn't bother me, I would just pee in the aisle. I'm tempted to do that anyway when I see ten people lined up to use it.RyanAir (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1263905/Ryanair-toilet-charges-phased-in.html).

Their plan is to remove all but one toilet, making room for 5-6 more seats, and charge people to use the last remaining toilet.

Except on long-haul flights, i can hardly remember the last time i used the toilet on an aircraft. I always go just before boarding, and if the flight is about four hours or less, i'm usually fine until we land.

[Zsofia]

Check your bags and walk onto the plane and sit down - everybody wins. Take up all the room in the overhead bins and fuck around with it for five minutes while I wait behind you and then you hit me in the face with the wheel, you win and the rest of us hate your guts. Your choice - social compact or meanest rat wins?

[Ferret Herder]

Yeah, I'm not stupid enough to check my laptop; if it wasn't smashed to bits it'd conveniently disappear. Then again, I'm also not the type to drag a wheelie-bag onto an airplane. I check my suitcase, and carry on a slim laptop briefcase (overhead bin) and small shoulder duffel (fits easily under the seat).

[Chronos]

The amount of crap people carry on these days makes me crazy. I have had a checked bag get lost (and delivered the next day) once since I started flying in 1978. Whether it's fear of losing a checked bag or not wanting to wait at the luggage carousel, I think neither is much of a reason.The main reason folks carry on so much nowadays is that almost all airlines are now charging for checked luggage. Or at least, for checked luggage that uses all of the airport infrastructure designed to make things easier on the airline: You can still hassle the airline with a gate-check for free. It's a classic example of having the wrong incentives.

Myself, I often end up checking luggage because of the silly rules about what you aren't allowed to have in a carry-on. If I'm going on vacation for two weeks, there's no way I'm doing without my pocketknives for that long.

[mhendo]

The main reason folks carry on so much nowadays is that almost all airlines are now charging for checked luggage. Or at least, for checked luggage that uses all of the airport infrastructure designed to make things easier on the airline: You can still hassle the airline with a gate-check for free. It's a classic example of having the wrong incentives.I'm willing to believe that the amount of carry-on, and the number of large carry-on bags, has increased a bit since the airlines instituted checked baggage fees. But while the problem might have grown a little bit, it is far from new.

For example, people still do exactly the same thing on Southwest even though this particular airline is about the last US holdout against fees for checked baggage. Also, we discussed this issue on these very boards a few years back, before the trend of checked baggage fees began, and people were complaining about exactly the same sorts of selfish asshole behavior back then. Here's a post from Doper RickJay, who is a very frequent business traveler, and had, by his own estimate, flown about 200 times over the previous three years:Happened again last night (I was actually in the airport when I wrote my post.) It took 45 minutes to board a medium-sized airplane because of all the retards dragging huge suitcases onto the plane, and of course there wasn't enough room for it all. I'm starting to wonder if some people actually are unaware that the airline will take your bags for you for free.
You're right, Chronos, that the airline policies are not exactly providing incentive for people to be reasonable with their carry-on bags, but the airlines themselves could also fix this problem by actually enforcing their own carry-on rules properly. If your bag doesn't fit in one of those guideline frames that they have at the airport, you don't get to carry it on. Period. That sort of policy would certainly reduce congestion in the cabin, and would reserve cabin space for people who really can pack light.Myself, I often end up checking luggage because of the silly rules about what you aren't allowed to have in a carry-on. If I'm going on vacation for two weeks, there's no way I'm doing without my pocketknives for that long.Well, TSA policies are something of a separate discussion from airline baggage policies. I happen to agree that most TSA rules about things like liquids, pocket knives, etc. are ridiculous, and are just there to reassure us that Something Is Being Done About Safety.

ETA:

By the way, here's another rant (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=179204) by a frequent flier, from 7 years ago, about inconsiderate douches with massive cabin bags.Weight aside, if your bag is roughly the size of a chest of drawers check it in the hold, you inconsiderate shite. The rest of us have bags too, and finding a whole locker taken up by your comedy sized bag will not amuse your fellow passengers. Drive us to violence yes, amuse no. You're going to be locked in a small space with us for some time, and I doubt you want a mile high version of murder on the orient express - especially one where the detective at the end concludes "the fucker had it coming, justified homicide if ever I saw it".

And unless you really are looking to earn a bonus kicking, trying to fit it into the overhead bins by crushing my already packed laptop case is not a good idea. Whichever way you look at it, your 3 foot by 2 foot bag will not fit in the bin, but my size 11 boot will fit up your arse if I really try hard.The problem is definitely not just a result of checked luggage fees.

[Zsofia]

If anything they ought to make the carryon guidelines a hell of a lot smaller (permitting most people, say, something the size of a laptop bag or a child's suitcase plus a personal item) and enforcing them, and checking bags for free. Then they wouldn't have some of those delays that are going to cost them all that money, for one thing.

[DiosaBellissima]

The main reason folks carry on so much nowadays is that almost all airlines are now charging for checked luggage.

Oh, for crying out loud: the last few times I've flown, it's been $15-$20 depending on the airline to check my bag if I want to. It's not like they are charging $100 a bag.

[DiosaBellissima]

If anything they ought to make the carryon guidelines a hell of a lot smaller (permitting most people, say, something the size of a laptop bag or a child's suitcase plus a personal item) and enforcing them, and checking bags for free. Then they wouldn't have some of those delays that are going to cost them all that money, for one thing.

That's how big the carry on requirement currently is for most airlines, it just isn't enforced. Don't you see those big dummy things by the checkins at the airport for you to check if your carryon is the right size? Most airlines have them. I'd describe the size as something akin to a small-medium briefcase.

When I went to Peru, I tuck a whole pillow (like, a regular bed pillow), my big ass purse, and some other stuff in my carry on. I was 100% sure I was going to get yelled at, but I didn't. When I came back from Peru, I had that same stuff, as well as a giant ass picture frame. Still didn't stop me. Though, I did feel like I was that asshole, taking up all the space in the cabin. Never again!

[Ferret Herder]

Oh, for crying out loud: the last few times I've flown, it's been $15-$20 depending on the airline to check my bag if I want to. It's not like they are charging $100 a bag.
It can be. My husband once checked a heavy, huge duffel bag on a wheeled frame and it was just a couple pounds shy of being 50 lbs, which would have earned him an extra $100 fee, via United. Any oversized checked item - longer than 62" - is also $100. Want to check a third bag? $100.

United's regular (non-overweight, non-oversized) checked bag fees have gone up to $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second.

[mhendo]

It can be. My husband once checked a heavy, huge duffel bag on a wheeled frame and it was just a couple pounds shy of being 50 lbs, which would have earned him an extra $100 fee, via United. Any oversized checked item - longer than 62" - is also $100. Want to check a third bag? $100.What's the airline supposed to do?

Space, even on something as big as a 747, is at a premium, and every pound they add to the plane involves using more fuel. Planes have maximum takeoff weights, too, and they need to balance the load of passengers and cargo in such a way that they are within regulation limits.

Should everyone be allowed to bring 70lb bags, or three large suitcases with them? If you can't get where you're going with fewer than three suitcases per person you really need to look into your packing skills. And if you need to move that much stuff, and don't want to pay airline baggage fees, then look into freight services like UPS, Fed-Ex, or even the Postal Service.

I've been critical of the airlines in the past, and sometimes they give shitty service and treat their customers like cattle. But some customers also seem to have the attitude that their $139 round-trip ticket to Portland entitles them to bring half of their worldly belongings at no extra cost.

[Ferret Herder]

No, I'm just saying that the fees aren't necessarily super-cheap.

And frankly, I think airlines should enforce those carryon size limits and slap the big checked bag fees on oversized carryons that are required to be last-minute checked by the gate staff.

[flodnak]

The amount of crap people carry on these days makes me crazy. I have had a checked bag get lost (and delivered the next day) once since I started flying in 1978.We just got back from a trip to Rome. We took three suitcases. On the way down, one suitcase didn't make the transfer, and that was the one our youngest son and I were sharing, so two of us were without luggage. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and finally got our suitcase Tuesday morning. On the way back, two suitcases didn't make it. That flight got us in late Thursday night; one bag showed up Saturday afternoon, the other Tuesday evening. (The one that didn't show up until yesterday didn't even make the plane out of Rome because, we were told, the tag fell off.)

At Christmas 2004, flying internationally, all our luggage got lost in transfer, and arrived five days later.

You've been lucky, not everyone else has.

So yeah, we continue to check most of our luggage, but we also continue to pack a full change of clothes and other first night/first morning necessities in our carry-ons. I don't trust my luck. I'm not talking about a rolling suitcase here, just a student-sized backpack for each of us, but it won't always fit under the seat, particularly when half the space under the seat is taken up with the inflight entertainment system.

[smee goan]

Imagine the golf bags at Akron, Ohio airport this weekend for Bridgestone Pro Tourney.

[Nava]

I think airlines should enforce those carryon size limits and slap the big checked bag fees on oversized carryons that are required to be last-minute checked by the gate staff.

Yeah, they really should not allow those to be carried on, period. If you've checked in at the airport, you may have gotten additional bags between check-in and boarding, but the bag you had won't suddenly have grown; I'm pretty tired of seeing people get on board with suitcases twice the size of my computer case. If you've checked in from home as "carryon only" and have a baby elephant, the baby elephant gets checked at the gate. I'm perfectly happy with having elephant owners pay a fee for that, too.

It would be nice if individual airlines let you know in advance where are you supposed to be able to stow your luggage, too. I've been in flights where I had to take my case from under the seat and take it to the end of the plane; the overhead bins were full to bursting. Pointing out to the stewardess that the documents I had, including the safety sheets in the plane itself, stated that you could place your carryons "under the seat in front of yours" resulted in her getting agressive - I wasn't interested in getting taken off the plane.

[madmonk28]

People trying to get large bags on the plane as carry on should be identified at the gate and pulled aside for processing (I'd also support 're-education' camps). Those of us in compliance should be allowed to continue to board while the inconsiderate pay exra fees and have to board at the end.

[Lare]

Remember when your ticket price included checking luggage, an in-flight snack or meal, an expectation that you could use the bathroom, etc?

The airlines say that all the extra changes are so that they can give us a lower price . Further, that an airline doesn't dare charge what they feel is a fair cost to fly us because people will shop based only on ticket price and they will lose business to a competitor who is willing to nickle and dime the customer who paid a low "ticket price."

If it were up to me (and when I rule the world it will be) I would mandate that a stated airfare includes the ability to carry on or check one piece for free, the carry-on size limits would be enforced* and the lavs would remain free. Start with that and charge a fair fee for the transport. Level the playing field on the side of the consumer instead of infuriating people over the add ons.

*= And for the sake of entertainment, all carry ons would be checked in that little box thing at the gate area by a gate attendant who is allowed to make sure the bag fits by the judicious use of a chainsaw.

ETA: Oh, and another thing, the airlines would have to standardize the overhead compartments. I have a bag that fits 99% of the flights I take but every once in a while I get on a regional jet that has just a little less room. "But it fits in the tester!" "Too bad, gate check!"

[mhendo]

Oh, and another thing, the airlines would have to standardize the overhead compartments. I have a bag that fits 99% of the flights I take but every once in a while I get on a regional jet that has just a little less room. "But it fits in the tester!" "Too bad, gate check!"Yeah, that's gonna work.

Tell me, Mr. Engineer, how are you going to standardize the overhead compartments between, say, an Embraer Regional Jet, an Airbus A320, and a Boeing 777? Do you think they can just tack on some extra space on the fuselage of the aircraft?

The only way to make them all the same would be to make the compartments on all planes the same size as the compartment on the smallest plane.

[Lare]

"Standardize" was too broad a term, sorry. But if they can't make it so that my ATA-approved luggage will fit, then at the very least they should let me know at the gate before I tromp to the plane in all good faith only to find out while standing in the aisle that it won't fit.

FTR I am not one of those people who tries to cram my refridgerator into an overhead. I travel a lot on business and am used to packing light and small. I don't even use that zipper that expands my carry on to a slightly-larger size!