Just a word of caution-- by November, the second bag fee will be second nature to the ticket agents. When you check in, they’ll probably try to charge it to you anyway. Make sure you point out that you booked your travel before May 12, so you’re grandfathered into having 2 free bags. Shouldn’t be a hassle, but the “date booked” isn’t generally something that pops up on the agent’s screen when you’re checking in.
I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I should print out a copy of my email confirmation, which shows the date of issue, just in case I do end up wanting to check a second bag.
I’d suggest also printing the page that you found that said that. Because ticket agents probably won’t know about the rule, either.
It’s just the start. There is one airline that won’t allow you to bring on drinks or food. You have to buy anything to eat or drink from them. Airtran now charges me if I want to make a seat assignment at the time of booking. If not I have to wait until the day of the flight and just take my chances on what seat I get. Northwest charges $7 for the crappiest little box of crap food I’ve ever had.
I also heard rumor while standing in the TSA line a week ago that some airlines were going to start charging for a second carry-on.
And I agree with the other dopers that posted. This policy will just mean more people with those rolling bags that are designed to be 1mm smaller than the guidelines for carry-ons. They irritate me now, I can’t imagine that more people having them will make the flying experience more pleasant.
That one, Skybus, went bankrupt and stopped all operation a few weeks ago.
Ed
This isn’t a cost-saving measure. It’s just a silly justification for nailing us with another unreasonable charge instead of building it into the price of the ticket.
If it was cost-based, it would depend on the weight of the bags. My wife has a CPAP machine in its own protective case, and a small suitcase. If she were to get a huge suitcase and put the CPAP in it along with her clothes, it would weigh the same (no fuel impact for the airline), become bulky and difficult to handle, and remove the protection from the machine.
Why should she get billed extra for that?
It won’t. There is absolutely no chance that they’ll lower your ticket price, because this is about generating extra money for the airline, and if they lowered your price, it wouldn’t generate extra money.
The day they move the seats farther apart so there’s room for my legs, my feet, and a bag under the seat, then I’ll put a bag there. Until then, it goes in the overhead.
(Yes, I use the space under the seat in front of me when I’m in first class or an exit row)
What’s unreasonable about it? Why should I pay the same price when bringing my one bag as someone who decides to bring two or three bags?
What I haven’t yet seen is the cost to the airline of carrying an extra bag. Say a bag is about 1/6 of a person in weight . Does it really cost 10% of a $250 fare to carry on the plane, or 20% for the $50 charge? Are they excluding money-making cargo because of the bags? Maybe the bags are getting the food down there?
No, they’re doing it using the excuse of fuel charges to make money. I bet a good bit of the $25 goes to the overhead of charging you the $25.
Who cares? It’s nonzero and 25 bucks is pretty cheap, IMO (50 would be pushing it a bit, though, I’ll admit). If the airlines want to make some extra money to make up for the rising cost of fuel, I’d rather they did it this way than raise ticket prices across the board. If I felt the need to bring an extra bag, I’d be fine with paying the additional fee.
Because her two small bags weigh the same as one large bag. The cargo hold is always the same size–they can’t make it smaller if they get fewer bags. It’s only when the total payload is lighter that they can save fuel.
And to apply reductio ad absurdum to your question, why should I pay the same as the businessman in the next seat when I’m only wearing shirt, socks, pants, underwear, shoes, and he’s also wearing a coat and tie (should my ticket be cheaper if I skip the underwear today?)? Should women pay more because they have purses? And that backgammon set those guys were carrying–charge 'em for it, right?
Commercial airlines exist to move two things: passengers and freight. As long as I’m carrying the basic requirements for a one-week trip, it should be included in the price.
I’m as capitalist as they come, but I think deregulating the airlines has proven to be a massive mistake.
Not necessarily. They’re (presumably) applying a fee based on the average weight of a bag. Same goes for passengers, so your reductio ad absurdum is, well, absurd. Average passengers, average bags. Seems the only fair way to do it, short of weighing each passenger and bag–which would also admittedly be absurd. Yeah, some people are going to pay more then they should and some will pay more. That’s the nature of averages.
Or, life ain’t fair; deal with it. 
Their next step is a scale and you have to weigh in. They take the weight and charge a fuel surcharge for your current weight.
This is, alas, one of those situations where there will never be a consensus on what constitutes “fair.”
I would like to know that it costs $X to travel from point A to point B. My personal definition of unfair includes charging extra because I’m not staying over Saturday night, charging extra because my wife’s medical equipment requires a separate padded case, and charging two people on the same plane dramatically different amounts because of seemingly-random factors.
Your definition of unfair seemingly includes fixed or averaged prices, leaning instead toward setting a low base and charging for extras.
Oh, didn’t think there IS any “fair.” I’m not even really convinced such a concept exists outside of our own fevered imaginings. About the best one can hope for is to balance out the needs of the airlines with the wants and needs of the passengers and try to annoy as few people as possible in the bargain. But, you’re never going to please everyone; there’s no point in even trying.
On the subject of charging for weight:
One time I was flying with my largest suitcase. I also had my CPAP, a shoulder bag, and a tote bag. When I put my suitcase on the scale, it was over the allowable limit and I was told that I would have to pay a fee for the excess weight. However, I was allowed to remove items from my suitcase and place them in my shoulder bag and tote (which were not full) until the suitcase was under the limit. The plane was still going to be carrying the same weight, but since the suitcase I was checking was now under the limit I wasn’t charged for the excess weight. :eyeroll:
And I agree with Invisible Wombat*‘s observation about the legroom situation. I’m only 5’ 6" so I usually don’t have much of a problem with it…unless my knee is acting up, and not being able to fully extend my leg for two-plus hours causes it to lock up. Which is why when I fly Southwest I usually try to get one of the exit rows. For some reason whenever I make reservations on American those seats are already taken.
Part of the checked luggage weight issue is the people working on loading both within the airport and on the plane. Flinging 75 pound bags is not easy, so the airlines have decided to try to get us to drop the weight of our bags. I got a feel for that once when I checked two 73 pound bags and watched the poor woman try to get them onto the conveyor belt (I stepped over and gave her a hand).
[QUOTE=Voyager]
Second, one is going to charge extra for window and aisle seats.
[QUOTE]
This isn’t new. I’ve been running into it for a while now, and it’s a pain. The way I’ve seen it done is, if you book an aisle, window or exit row seat ahead of time, they charge you an extra $5. If not enough people are willing to pony up the $5, then the airlines will assign those seats to people, at the gate. Kind of a mini-standby system. So now large percentages of passengers are showing up at the gates with no seat assignment. Do the airlines send agents to the gates earlier to take care of this added work? Not that I can tell.
Flying in a group? Some of you are going to have to pay extra to sit together. Get assigned seperate seats and hope that someone will trade seats to let you sit with your kid? Probably less likely, since I paid extra for this aisle seat.
Back to the second checked bag scenario. I also frequently pack in 2 smaller bags, rather then one huge bag. Each one is well below half the allowed weight. Guess that’s going to stop.
My bet? All the legacy airlines are going to jump on this bandwagon. Then in a couple of years, a new start up airlines will come along and start advertising “Remember the good old days, when you could sit on the aisle, have a pillow and check to bags? At Common-Sense Airlines we treat you the way you deserve to be treated.” Lo and behold, they will discover that the weight of the luggage doesn’t double. And happy travelers will flock to them.
If you’re referring to a CPAP, you shouldn’t be charged extra for it. In fact, a CPAP does not count toward your “one carry-on and a personal item” allowance.
Travelers With Disabilities and Medical Conditions:Before You Go
I try to avoid doing it because of the personal inconvenience of walking through the terminal with three bags slung over my shoulders, but I have on occasion boarded with my CPAP, a shoulder bag, and a laptop case without being questioned about it. I carry a printout of the TSA info quoted above with me just in case I’m challenged.
BTW, this rule doesn’t apply to elite flyers and folks flying in BE or first class. They’re allowed 3 bags for free.
I carry a similar printout in my knitting bag.