Easyjet and Ryanair will charge you, and their at-the-gate charges are higher than if you pre-book.
On a recent flight from MSP to ATL they made a pre-board announcement that if you had a rollerboard, they’d check them now for free. Assumably this was to avoid the craziness that’s boarding now because everyone has a rollerboard and the bins aren’t made for that.
The airlines did this to themselves by not allowing a free checked bag (or one free if flying internationally).
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
Keep in mind for every passenger who’s complaining about oversized baggage, there’s at least one passenger who owns that oversized baggage. The airline, as a business, has to weigh the consequences of how it treats its customers. If they start enforcing the baggage rules more strictly, the first passenger, who gets a little more space on the plane, might be somewhat happier - but the second passenger, who has his baggage rejected, will be significantly unhappier. And even some of those passengers who are complaining about other passengers’ baggage are probably just mad because there isn’t room for their own baggage - and they’d be unhappy if the strict rules they’re calling for were enforced on them. So overall, the airlines apparently find the benefits of flexibility on baggage outweigh the costs.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I don’t think the airlines give a crap all that much about complaints. Very few people pay extra money to avoid an airline, no matter how horrible their policies. The sheer continued presence of Ryan Air is proof of that.
Moreover, the frequent flyers of specific airlines get perks and rewards that include better zone boarding which allows them to avoid the hoi polloi hysteria when everyone is allowed to board. My bf has the highest level with Delta and I have the lowest, but I board when he does and it’s so much more civilized. Of course, we also are able to check bags for free and are professional level packers who don’t ridiculously overpack as if they’re moving to the destination.
$10-$15 per bag, and I’d usually carry on just a smallish backpack.
I know that airlines are trying to maximix their non-ticket price income, while minimizing their online ticket pricies. I wonder, if they were to drop checked bag fees to $15 and become more strict about not allowing oversized bags as carry onwould they see a 2/3 increase in the number of checked bags? It would probably be close, and the planes would have to spend less time at the gate, loading and unloading people.
One a recent flight, I watched a woman cram a obviously oversized bag into an overhead bin. I heard the bin creak as she shoved the bag in. She then reallized she wanted something for the flight, out of the bag. She had to unpack most of the side and front pockets, before the bag would come out of the bin. Meanwhile, people were stacking up in the aisle, and a flight attendant was standing there watching it all go on.
The only really important dimension of the bag is it’s length and width, not thickness. As long as you can lay it down and slide it in the over head wheels or handle first, lengthwise, it’s all good. No one is going to be able to stack 2 regulation size bags on top of each other in any overhead bin. Best case is coats and purses can go on top of the roll aboards.
The dickfaces that have rollers that are too long to stick in lengthwise are the ones that fuck it up for everyone because then they need to put it in sideways thereby keeping 2 other people from putting their stuff in the overhead.
Checked bags FREE, carry-on $25 (except purse/briefcase).
No more delays boarding.