The airlines are free to charge whatever they want but the public is also free to not fly them and the airlines are certainly free to go out of business. However there’s nothing wrong with questioning stupid business practices put into place by overpaid execs. For instance, I’ve always questioned the whole penalty model they have set up for baggage. Maybe someone who works for an airline can tell me this, but is a typical baggage compartment packed to the gills? I’ve never had luggage rejected or put on a later flight on account of the plane being too full, so I have to believe space is usually available. Thus when you bring in some oversized and overweight suitcase in addition to your free checked bag, the only cost for the airline is the fuel to carry the bag, the cost of the handlers to load it up, and the time spent waiting at the gate as they load up that one large bag (I’ve never waited at the gate on account of baggage though). The fee for such a bag is now hundreds of dollars. Does anybody believe it costs anything close to that to transport that particular bag? Heck, it costs more than the ticket itself. If they were to price extra luggage reasonably, then more people would check it, the airline would fill the cargo hold with paying bags, and they’d probably make more money that way.

The other thing I don’t like about all these dumb fees is from the standpoint of a business traveler, they are just one more little thing to keep track of for my expense report. That and they make it more difficult to comparison shop airlines, which I guess is what they want, but frequent fliers will see past that.

You obviously have no understanding of how the airlines work. Fuel is more expensive, but there are a number of reasons why most airlines are not able to make a profit. First, they all run a highly inefficient system based on hubs and spokes and service communities that they have no business (in the business sense) serving. You can’t have 100% airport coverage and be profitable; it doesn’t work that way. Look at Southwest — they don’t serve a large amount of airports because they limit themselves to profitable routes that they know they will be able to fill seats. An American Airlines turboprop to Bottom Hole, Idaho is just not going to be profitable. These fees are not going to go away because they will never give up a new revenue stream. Give me a break! Are YOU new to this industry?

Based on what? You’ve provided zero evidence that is the case. And this?

“No, none of these fees are going to go away.”

Do airlines no longer compete with each other? The instant fuel goes down and one carrier lowers fares/drops fees/surcharges etc., others will match. And if they don’t, they’ll likely see their traffic vote with their feet. Are you new to this industry?

To fly from New York to Miami Florida and to bring two bags under the new pricing scheme I will have to pay an additional $25-35 for the 1,000 mile trip.

If I fly to Shanghai, China (a distance of close to 12,000 miles) on the same airline they don’t charge a baggage surcharge.

With fuel costing around $4.00 per gallon, and jet fuel costing more than that we assume that I’m being charged for around 6 gallons of fuel for my two bags on my flight to Florida. That would mean it would require around 72 gallons of fuel to get my bags to China. This would require a fuel surcharge of around $150-$200 for international flights from New York to Asia.

However the airlines are aware that if they told every person flying to Asia to spend another couple of hundred dollars for their bags that they would have no customers at all. Everyone would fly Cathay Pacific, Korean Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Singapore Airlines and every other company that is not owned my an American company.

It’s funny, people will balk at paying fees for airlines but yet my cell phone bill has over 30% in tacked on “fees”. I honestly think the airlines would love to provide free bags, food, soft drinks, etc. but the honest to God truth is they are losing their shirts in this environment.

To the guy that mentioned the airline model with “good customer service and no fees”, you are completely wrong. When the buck stops the airlines that have done what you suggest have gone out of business. One of the last ones is Midwest, they just asked their unions for a 50% paycut. They also foresee ceasing operations in the near future should they not raise any capital. Frontier, also a company with great customer service, has filed for Chapter 11 and most likely won’t make it through the winter. Actually, if this environment continues, there may be 1 or 2 network carriers left (my guess is American and Delta) followed by 3 or 4 LCC’s (SWA, Airtran, jetBlue), and that will be it. Air travel will become expensive and flying your family to Disney World will become a thing of the past. On the plus side delays will probably go down significantly.