Unbelievable! American Airlines charges $15 for first checked bag
That’s no misprint. It’s a sad footnote to the decline of America’s once-legendary airline industry. American Airlines this morning slapped a $15 fee on the first checked bag, a move the rest of the industry is all but certain to follow.
That’s right. No more free checked luggage.
In a press release, the airline blamed “increasing costs of transporting checked baggage,” adding …
This fee, which is effective for tickets purchased on or after June 15, does not apply to: American’s AAdvantage program members who have achieved AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum and AAdvantage Executive Platinum level; those who have purchased full-fare tickets in the Economy, Business and First Class cabins; and those with international itineraries (except to and from Canada and U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
In other words, the very passengers who can least afford to pay the extra $15 — families with children, budget travelers and working Americans — are being socked with this surcharge. Meanwhile, those who have the money are getting a pass.
My fellow bloggers are not pleased by this policy change. Over at Gadling, Grant Martin predicted chaos this summer as a result of the new fee. Jaunted thinks American is trying to become the next Ryanair. And the ubiquitous Rick Seaney asked, “What are they thinking?”
But wait! There’s more.
American also said today that it has increased its fees for certain other services, ranging from reservation service fees to pet and oversized bag fees. The increases mostly range from $5 to $50 per service. The company estimates that new and increased fees announced this month will generate several hundred million dollars in incremental annual revenue.
“While we understand that these fees affect customers, we also believe that our pricing for the services we provide remains extremely competitive in the industry and continues to offer our customers ample choice and value,” American’s chief executive, Gerard Arpey, said in a prepared statement. “The bottom line is that our revenues, which include ticket sales and fees, must keep pace with our increasing costs.”
Even though I think these fees should be included in the price of a ticket, American certainly has the right to charge them in a free market. But I’d like to see some consistency. As I pointed out in an earlier post, these fees don’t always make sense.
If American and other airlines unbundle the cost of luggage from your ticket, and you’re paying extra for all of your luggage, shouldn’t you get something for the money? At the very least, an immediate refund of the fee if your luggage is lost or “misplaced”? And maybe we should insist on drawing up a separate legal contract for the carriage of our luggage, including more compensation when luggage goes missing.
It’s only a matter of time before airlines begin charging for our carry-on bag.
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88 Responses to “Unbelievable! American Airlines charges $15 for first checked bag”
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American Airlines is doing the same thing as the hotel industry, car rental industry, city, state and national government are doing. All are increasing fees by not having to advertise the price iincease. A car rental company quotes you charge of $13.95 per day rental fee but does not disclose until after the sale that the additional fees make the ACTUAL rental fee $26.95 per day!! Business and government are scaming us and we are taking it. I am a Gold member at American Airlines but I hve already startd using other airlines in place of American. Fly Virgin America. They have lmited desitinations but they don’t have have these scam fees…YET!
A year ago when the university I attend started charging a fuel recovery fee of $92 when I’m the one who has to drive to school, I thought it was ridiculous. Now when I see things like American charging to check any bags my first thought is, “Gee, won’t be long before we see a fee for using the oxygen on the plane to breathe.” Its sad that the more we see these fees stack up, the more densensitized we become to them. How much more is it going to take before the governement actually DOES something instead of passing useless legislation?
Did anyone honestly think that the airline industry wasn’t going to start charging for the first bag if they were already charging for the second (and getting away with it)?
Airlines need to go back to the way airfares were 15 - 20 years ago where you paid a higher fare but got good overall service, meals and entertainment included in your flight and free baggage allowance.
I don’t think the airlines are done nickel and diming the travelling public yet, either.
It’s only a matter of time before airlines begin charging for our carry-on bag.
This makes more sense to me then charging for checked bags. Now passengers will try to stuff those carry-ons with as much as they can, making for longer lines through security, meaning more issues with TSA, longer boarding times (hard to fit those overstuffed bags into the overheads.) So charge me for the carry on.
I’m not so convinced that other airlines will follow American Airlines lead on this. If you stop and think about it, people will choose an airline that actually lets them check 1 bag at no charge over an airline that charges for all checked bags.
Moreover, it’s easy to see the chaos at boarding time, as everyone struggles to put overloaded bags into overhead bins. American will be an ever worse airline to fly.
In short, this kind of arrogance–where American Airlines acts as though customers don’t have choices–will be the undoing of American Airlines. I gave up flying them a long time ago, because of poor treatment I’d received (repeatedly) from them.
The best response isn’t legislation or regulation; the best response is to vote by taking your dollars somewhere else that actually understands how to treat customers properly.
[...] sister blog, Elliott, has details on the fee. (Full disclosure: I’m the author of that [...]
[...] Chris Elliott notes that this fee will affect those who can afford it least because the elite flyers will be exempt. Our site posted a story only a few months ago suggesting that passengers may be charged to fly by weight. That possibility now doesn’t seem so far fetched. [...]
Let’s have a weight limit on passengers + baggage. After all, people are obese cost more to transport than those who don’t. Just get on the scale with your bag, and if the combined total is more than say 250 lbs, then you pay a surcharge.
You are right; there certainly will be more fees.
As the price for a barrel of oil rises ($131.54 currently) and eats away at the profit margin, the carriers will find whatever way possible to pass that cost along to the consumer. From a business perspective it makes financial sense to the bean counters (and the airlines senior executives that see their paycheck potentially shrinking).
But the revolution will come as passengers on their summer vacation fork over the money for all the new fees and then they experience a “flight interruption” blamed on weather or ATC advisements and are left stranded. If you think last summer was horrible, just wait . . . youtube get ready, I suspect there will be some incredible footage recorded at airline service centers this summer.
Charge me for even the first bag? Um, no. Yeah, if it is a business trip, I don’t care, because it isn’t my money, but AA just likely just crossed their sorry butts off my list for personal travel.
Will the geniuses at AA please remind me why they call themselves a “full service” airline? If SouthWest or the now late (unlemented) SkyBus want to charge for every bag, I understand, but now, except for a seat assignment, I get nothing more for my dollar with AA than with a “discount” airline.
SirWired
Quick, stupid question: can they charge you fees that were not disclosed at the time you purchased your ticket?
@ Jim, no. The fee for the first bag takes effect for tickets purchased after June 15. So if you have your tickets before that date, no fee for the first bag.
I think this is a big mistake. I’m a Platinum and won’t pay the fee, but I can only imagine the stuff that will be crammed into the bins soon, especially on the 767 aircraft, where only some of the bins can take a roll-aboard style bag. Pity those in groups 5 and 6…they will be forced to gate-check nearly every flight. Will they have to swipe their credit card to do so?
So what happens if you are buying your ticket on a codeshare that does NOT charge for the first bag? You show up to check in and you’re assessed a fee? Doesn’t seem right…
All,
Now is a great time to write your congressman and senators, and press for a federal law requiring full price disclosure up-front, rather than the ‘fare’ price listed, and then all sorts of fees, taxes, and surcharges slapped on afterwards. Think about it, with this new policy AA’s $200 flight (with a checked bag) is automatically more expensive than another airlines’s $205, yet by using this bait-and-switch tactic AA could get the sale. Write your elected officials and ask them to sponsor and/or support a bill that eliminates this!
US Congress Contact Info:
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
US Senate Contact Info (Find Your Senators in the upper right corner)
http://www.senate.gov/
Once voice will do nothing, but if EVERYONE gets involved together we can make a difference!
I’ve already had media people calling me this morning as well, since I write the Travelite FAQ. It’s been fallow for a while there; I think maybe it’s time to start cranking it back up again with updated info.
Chris, as far as I’m concerned this is just utterly ridiculous, and I’m calling BS on American on this. Many of my readers are travel to the Disney parks and since they are bringing kids it’s very difficult for them to not check ANY luggage at all. I mean, this is just ridiculous.
Honestly, I would not be surprised if there’s a big public uprising about this. If you fly American, donate your miles and fly another airline. They could’ve easily folded the amount into some other fee, but this is just a PR disaster.
In addition to the chaos at boarding, expect to see in more of those combinantion frame and scale machines for checking the specifications of carryons. It’s always amazed me that US airlines allow passengers to flout the carryon specs. AA’s carryon limit is one bag maximum 45 lineal inches, and one personal item. At this stage there appears to be no weight restriction - this too will pass. At Sydney airport, I’ve seen many arriving US passengers arguing with the Qantas gate agents as their huge carryons are consigned to the baggage hold for their connecting domestic flight.
In many countries the weight limit for a carryon is 4kg for domestic and 7kg for international, the checkin bag limit is 1 piece, maximum 20kg (sometimes up to 32 kg) for economy, 2 pieces (maximum 30kg) for business class/domestic first class and 3 pieces (maximum 40kg) for international first class. North & South American routes have used the piece formulation for a long time, whilst most of the rest of the world uses weight. Expect US carriers to change to weight.
I don’t have much of a problem with this. I mean, it sounds bad, but from an economic standpoint I’d rather be able to opt out of it (and I only check bags if absolutely necessary).
But agreed it will be a nightmare for American. Longer boarding times, more people with carry-ons when there’s already not enough room. But let them do what they want, it will only hurt them in the long run.
I will probably look at it like this when choosing a flight:
- if I’m checking luggage: add $15 and compare to other flights
- if I’m not checking luggage: don’t fly them unless it’s much cheaper/convenient/etc.
Maybe one upside will be that they actually start to enforce the size restrictions on carry-on luggage.
Dunno Jake, but AA, like WN, is NEVER usually the least expensive fare.
If you look at the Southwest website - and look at fares, say, between BDL and TPA or MCO, and, in another tab, pull up Expedia, and look at the same dates and times, WN will RARELY have the lowest fare. Rarely. Their intermediate and highest fares are lower than the same advance purchase other ‘regular’ airlines, but except for the top level fares, they are normally undercut by airlines other than WN on the same routes.
It would be so much easier if they would simply raise the durn fares. It costs more to operate, then raise the fare. Of course, competition limits ‘fare’ increases while other airlines welcome the fees since they’ll keep the fees forever. AA in fact usually has the highest fare by $20-30 RT. And they can’t give someone a bag check.
By charging for a bag - they will have higher liability issues surrounding the bag. You pay for something provided for gratis before, people expect a little more.
I am an AAdvantage member (and have been for some time now) and I also have a Citi AAdvantage Platinum credit card and I think this is just utter crap. Right now I have almost enough miles for two round trip tickets and after I reach that point (which will not be long), I have half a mind to just cancel my AA credit card and move over to Southwest and/or Frontier both of whom seem to care about their passengers.
I had no problems when American (and all the other airlines) wanted to start charging for the second bag as I can see logic in that. But to try and charge for the first bag is just crap! Unless American changes their tune on this one, I will just go vote with my dollars and move to another airline. I for one would rather just have the 30 dollar charge (15 dollars each way on a round trip ticket) for my bag included in the cost of my ticket then paying at the airport to check it.
I can also see this back fire in Americans face really fast, and watch them tail-spin into bankruptcy at a rate never before seen. I think this will piss enough people off to the point that they will not fly on American and they will also vote with their hard earned dollars and move to other airlines (like Southwest and Frontier).
I never check baggage when I travel but I can only imagine how stuffed the overhead bins will become with the implementation of fees like this. As an Elite flyer, I’m usually one of the first ones on a flight and never have a problem finding space but I can see air-rage increasing along with these fees.
I’m takin’ the bus!!!!!!!
So, can someone tell me what a “legacy” or “full-service” airline means today? I think its interesting that there are those that still refers to AA, CO, UA, DL, NW, US as “full service” airlines, where as Jet Blue, Southwest, Frontier, etc are lumped into “discount” airlines. The way I see it, these days, the so called “discount” airlines offer more service than the “full-service” airlines. I agree that the other carriers will not match AA’s move. But I find it ironic that WN still offers 2 free checked bags and their meal service (snacks and drinks) are on-par and often superior to AA’s (and the other “full service” airlines. So why fly AA? Oh, its the seat assignment!
Since when does a corporation need to worry about the “affordability” of something? This is permeating though a lot of news stories… gasoline is not affordable, air travel is not affordable… Guess what, many things in life are not “affordable” to some people.
I personally applaud American for trying to rescue their enterprise. And why not just raise fares $15? Because most people buy online and use the “sort by price” selection when viewing fares. A fare that is $15 more than any other might as well be invisible. And, why should the passengers that do not check bags (ie most business travelers) subsidize the family going to Disney World for a week who packs like Diana Ross? Unbundling is done in every other industry, especially service industries. Airlines are just late in the game on this one.
Chris - there is no such thing as a legacy or full service airline anymore in the domestic and transborder market. You are right, the “discount” airlines provide more service than Delta, Northwest, American, United and Continental. WestJet (here in Canada) is a good example of a discount airline that has not forgotten what good customer service is for the air traveller. I can think of a few airlines that could learn some valuable lessons from WestJet…….
How about pay toilets?
http://bakercg.typepad.com/baker/2008/05/american-airlines-installs-pay-toilets-on-all-planes.html
I have a completely different spin on this fee and why it is reasonalbe.
http://beatofhawaii.com/why-aas-15-checked-bag-fee-is-fair/
Jake, thanks for the link to my senator. I just emailed. Hopefull others will, too.
Canadian Agent - As recent as 5 years ago, I was flying 100k+ miles/year on a so called “legacy” carrier. Fortunately, a change in lifestyle and career means that I no longer travel for business, and this is the first year that I am “free agent” when it comes to airline travel. I admit, when I was an “elite” flyer, my judgment and tolerence to mistakes were clouded by my loyalty to the airline. Now, I fly Southwest (WN), whenever I can (if possible). I started to notice a few years ago that Southwest flights offered more “amenities” than the “full service” carriers. Instead of a 2 ounce bag of pretzels, you actually got a larger snack. Once, I got re-routed onto Frontier Airlines, and was impressed by their service and amenities. Yes, I’ve had a bad apple on the so called “discount” carriers, but the main difference is that statistically, the employees for Southwest, etc seem happier and still remember what customer service is (as long as its reasonable).
Look, I’m realistic about airfares. If a barrel of crude has gone from $20 to $40 to $80 to $130, operating and overhead costs will increase. I’m not saying that we should continue to expect unrealistic low fares. If it costs me $200 to drive 500 miles and back, airfares should rise to match the fuel costs. But, like many of the other posters here, I’m absolutely amazed that airlines continue their current pricing models. It simply DOESN’T WORK when someone pays $200 rt and someone else is bilked $2000 rt for the same fare. Why not put the final price, inclusive of all fees/taxes in the computers?
I am a Platinum flyer so I guess I won’t be exempt as I only fly 50,000 miles a year. What American is doing is giving us very loyal customers an excellent reason to move away. I thought the limited food-like substances on the flights was bad enough, but this is ridiculous. Apparently, American thinks their business is just moving planes from place to place, and we passengers are just getting in their way. At least that is the way it feels. If you want to charge for the 2nd bag, I can almost understand that but the 1st?
UGH! I totally agree with everything said here. This is ridiculous! Did anyone at AA think that people would now try to CRAM more than ever into their carry on luggage? When I travel I generally risk a lost bag (and endure the hassle of waiting for my checked luggage) to avoid the CRAZINESS of the mad dash for the overhead bin space. It makes it so much more difficult both in boarding and deplaning as we wait for people to load/unload their luggage from the overhead bin. Also operate on the theory that not everyone can carry on and leave it to those with the most need: families traveling with children, business travelers on tight schedules. Now NO ONE will have that consideration. I agree — I’d much rather pay a higher airfare than these crazy fees. It feels belitting and petty.
Definitley won’t be flying American Airlines… $15 a head for luggage, gas and tolls to the airport, etc… A family of four will spend $150 just to board the plane!! AFTER THE TICKET PRICE!!! CRAZY!!!!!
I agree, they should just raise ticket prices and quit trying to trick people that did not read the fine print close enough, now they are at the airport and have no choice but to fork over $60!! (family of four) EACH WAY??
Be honest, add all the fees upfront! I personally do not want to be nickel and dimed along the way, the whole trip!
Although my fiance and I purchased tickets for our honeymoon months ago, I expect American will try to impose the fees retroactively when we get to the airport. What to bet?
They forgot to mention that they already charge for peanuts on most flights!!! I agree with one of the comments that said they would pay more for better service. Charge me more upfront and don’t nickle and dime me later!
I remember back when US Airways implimented its second bag fee and everyone said none of the other airlines would follow along. Well guess what, It happened. I’m pretty sure this one will stick too
As a travel Agent and a frequent flier — enough is enough. I agree to what I read in your article. Carry on as much as you can and if you can’t do curb side and use a credit card. How is that going to work??? Security lines will be twice as long because everyone’s will be carry on and TSA will have to work more checking more bags. The airline industry is shooting themselves in the foot.
I agree. The airlines rush you to board and buckle in so they can get “on time” departures. Let’s all delay that procedure and see what happens. Of course, like our parents use to say to use — follow the monkey — if someone jumps off the bridge would you follow. The airlines are like monkeys. What next!!!!!!
Pay to use the bathrooms, pay for the glass of soda!!!!!
This a whole lot of garbage and in cahoots with the government since you cannot carry any liquids greater than 3oz per TSA in your carry on luggage. Somebody is making a lot of money or going very dirty!
Bastards.
I travel frequently both domestically and internationally. The sad thing is that American Airlines is put to shame by most carriers from other countries. While American charges for a snack on a 5 hour flight, a Latin American airline will give you a sandwich, dessert, and a drink (alcoholic, if you choose) during a 45-minute flight.
If American’s excuses are fuel charges, baggage time, and other ridiculous justifications, why aren’t other airlines bombarded by these same costs? It makes absolutely no sense. The price of gas is even higher in many other countries, but they are not charging these exorbitant fees.
American Airlines are not what you would necessarily call cheap. Their ticket prices tend to be higher or very comparable with other airlines that provide the same or better service. So, why should this airline get away with these fees?
As someone else mentioned already, many people will choose other airlines that don’t have these fees. I will be one of those. I hope you are, too.
So, say you purchase a ticket that has three flights and they all are operated by different carriers. If all the airlines go to this fee system will you be charged a fee by each airline that handles your luggage? It could end up costing you $45 each way (and that’s only if you check one bag at a $15 fee).
If the airlines provided better service, more leg room, etc then it wouldn’t be so hard to swallow but with the way things are now….NO WAY!!!
I agree with what a lot of people are saying. If the legacy carriers think they’re losing money now, wait till they have the non-elite level flyers flock to the low-cost carriers like jetBlue and Southwest, even though their fares aren’t that low. At least they don’t nickle-and-dime you to death (yet).
I’ve stopped flying American a long time ago when their fares were higher than the rest.
While I normally don’t check bags, I agree with the observations that the boarding process will be a lot longer with more people trying to carry everything on board and try to stuff them in the overhead compartments. I also agree that the security lines will be more of a nightmare.
Wait until the holidays. You better be at the airport six hours before your flight.
The other airlines are following, folks. It’s just a matter of time. I know someone at a major carrier who just told me all other projects have been put on hold to implement this. Said that it would bring in upwards of $70K A DAY in revenue.
I still think it’s BS and it’s actually in direct opposition to the TSA requests of checking your bags for security reasons. That’s why this baffles me so. Thing is, I’d probably still check it, but I know most people won’t and the security lines will get even longer.
It wouldn’t be so bad if this were actually a free market, but it isn’t. I wouldn’t mind taking only carry-on for my trips if I could actually take everything I needed in the bag (toiletries over 2 or 3 oz., perhaps a bottle of vino, etc) but I can’t. The government is imposing one set of rules and AA is using that to gouge the customer. That isn’t fair and should be the point emphasized when writing a letter to your congressman. If we were able to pack what we wanted in carry-on, the bins would be fuller but at least it would be an HONEST choice we were allowed to make.
Re “So what happens if you are buying your ticket on a codeshare that does NOT charge for the first bag?” If the codeshare flight is not operated by American Eagle (or perhaps American), there is no $15 fee. See http://travel-babel.blogspot.com/2008/05/airline-airport-news.html
The total news coming out of the airline world is ever more discouraging for passengers, but all travel is becoming increasingly expensive. I drive a Subaru Outback — stick shift, pretty high mileage — and yesterday spent $58+ to fill the tank. Less than a month ago, we were in Britain. Every price in pounds had to be multiplied by 2 for dollars.
Claire @ http://travel-babel.blogspot.com
What a RIP OFF whats next just bring yourself onto the plane & leave everything else at home. Hell I guess American’s idea is if you can afford the plane ticket you can buy new stuff when you get to where your going,Although you will not get there on time. It would seem that American Airlines wishes to go into bankrupt status lets give them a hand DON’T FLY American. They want to get their business to drop off NOW because contracts for pilots and ground crews are going to expire and they would like to pay them less money what better way to do that than to not have money to give them.
For years the airline industry made enormous profits. Then they cried for deregulation, got it, and then cut their own throats trying to undercut each other on the same routes. Now they pay the price. Too bad for them. AA had MD80’s to excess, the most inefficient fuel burner of late. They have cut their own throat and have no one to blame except their overpaid exec’s.
I recently flew on AirAsia, which just imposed a relatively reasonable (about $1 per bag) fee for each piece of checked luggage. Just based on principle, the fee was enough to make me carry all my luggage on, especially since I didn’t have very much and liquids are allowed in carry-ons on domestic flights.
Clearly, everyone else was doing the same thing. It took forever to board, and the overhead compartments quickly ran out of room, so passengers had to go back and forth down the crowded aisles looking for space that wasn’t there. In the end, they had to take about ten passengers’ luggage to put in cargo.
[...] This is revolutionary, once again American is in the vanguard of squeezing more and more money out of its passengers,” said Sherman Pinkberry, the airline’s [...]
Gerald Arpey talked about a ‘non-sustainable’ business model. What crap. [sorry]
ALL that has happened here is that the cost of providing the service has gone up. Simply put, AA needs to charge more for the service. So -0 RAISE THE PRICE.
The business model works just fine at higher prices.
Common sense [and Econ 101] tells us that when the cost of providing widget A goes up, then the company making it needs to raise the price of the widget or goes out of business.
The reason why the airlines cannot raise fares is their own stupidity, and the fact they have too many seats for sale. They have higher expenses than they need by operating more RJ’s and fewer larger airplane less often. They overschedule creating their own delays - which increase costs.
The ‘business model’ works just fine with higher fares. One gets the SAME results with higher fares. So, just RAISE THE FARE.
People will understand a higher fare in the same environment in which they live where food and fuel are going up.
What happens with unbundling the pieces of the service being provided are that CUSTOMERS start to feel they are being nickeled and dimed for elements which they got before This creates mistrust and anger in the people you need to stay in business. NO ONE is ‘too big’ to fail anymore in this business.
AA has always acted with arrogance with its employee groups and now ALL of the airlines are locked in an us vs. them struggle with their customers.
Guys - just RAISE YOUR FARES. It’s OK. we UNDERSTAND. You are in a fuel intensive business. Stop seeing us as the enemy and just acknowledge reality.
Then change the way you do business and end the RJ’s everywhere - change the schedules, bring back the larger airplanes and have the same number of seats on fewer flights. If it takes me 6 hours to travel 700 miles now, its ok if I leave 45 min later - the total inconvenience if not that much bigger a deal.
I think most passengers would rather have one flight from, LGA-ORD at 6.30 in a 757 with no delay than the choice of flights at 6p and 7p which have 60-90min delays because of air traffic.
This really is not brain surgery. . . it is Econ 101.
This is nuts - how do I expense this thing on my expense account?!?! Hey airlines - just put all the fees up-front - then I have a choice on which airline I fly. It’s simple and if you are the highest - YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! It is marketing PLAIN and SIMPLE. AA -You want to sustain your reputation - then be honest - treat employees and flyers with justice and let’s just get honest! If you want to be known as the elite of the elite airlines - great - but understand your planes my have less people and cater to an affluent” class of people - great - - But with this economy I have to face the truth - I am NOT affluent - I am OK with that - - and I will fly a discount airline - with a smile on my FACE!! Bye bye American Airlines - - anyone with me? Why do I feel like I am doing a scene from Les Miserables!
Wait until you see what happens to tips to baggage handelers at curbside check-in!
Ain’t deregulation great? I tell you, I’m lovin’ it…and I’m sure all those people holding discount tickets, and dragging along three kids and their strollers and bottles and such are digging it, too.
The real question is; where will this all end? Exactly how far down can all the airlines devolve until they simply aren’t worth flying?
The bottom line, for me at least, is that the government needs to step in and find a way to make sure we don’t end up with a third-world transportation system…even though we are teetering on the brink right now….with essentially no national rail system and an Interstate highway system which is increasingly being outsourced to foreign conglomerate….
Everybody keeps saying that we should just quit flying AA and move our business to an airline that doesn’t charge this fee. Wake up, people! As soon as one does, they all will. Why do you think AA announced that this will start 6/15? It’s to give the other airlines a chance to make matching announcements. It’s called price-fixing or collusion, folks - if every airline starts charging this fee, then we have no choice but to pay it or stop flying. I just can’t wait to see what people start trying to bring on as carry-on bags now. It was already ridiculous, especially since no airline had the stones to do any kind of enforcement of the carry-on size limits. Now it will get ludicrous.
But wait, there’s even more! I read this morning that American will charge an extra fee for a second bag checked in…this time charging $35.00 for the second bag! With these prices I imagine many folks will bring lugage on board rather than pay these prices. I believe this is going to get ugly! And, whatever will they do when baggage gets lost? Oooh, this will be ugly!
I sure hope they will have added security/police patrolling the airports once this fiasco takes off. I can see all kinds of rage being taken out between passengers - especially due to long lines at check-in and security because of everyone trying to carry their whole existence onto an airplane.
I can see people going over the edge with this one.
I’m wondering how long it will take for the first class action lawsuit to be filed by those people who paid to have their bag checked and then it not show up or it gets lost.
Either that, or the credit card companies will likely see an uptick in chargebacks with people disputing the charge for something that was not delivered as promised.
A loyal Southwest Airlines rapid rewards member here… thankfully I’ve not had to put up with any of this nonsense (yet) and on extended flights I get a snack pack without having to ante up $5. I’m flying a non-Southwest airline for the first time in more than 5 years (because I had to, not because I wanted to) and imagine my surprise today when I called the airline and heard a recording saying that I could be charged up to $200 for baggage. $200!!
In all seriousness though - what American Airlines has done is the EXACT reason why my family will be DRIVING more than 1,000 miles for my sister’s wedding this fall instead of trying to find a flight. Three tanks of gas in my hybrid, meals and a hotel for one night is going to cost a whole heck of a lot less than 3 airline tickets and both the hidden and non-hidden fees.
They keep on adding on fees and making people pay for services yet their customer service continues to tank. What gives?
Maybe it’s time for Amtrak to figure out how to get their act together. Trip might be longer but at least the scenery would be better.
This is a GOOD thing. Business travelers with costly tickets have to contend with the family brood on the vacation tourist ticket. I look forward to the return of the days where air travel was exceptional: people, including the cabin staff, dressed professionally. These days its slobs spilling their fast food fat pills on people as the climb into their seats too small for their fat bodies, yelled at by their feral kids while kicking the back of seats. American Airlines is the leader. After the cheap bums give up trying to cram 50 lbs of stuff into their carry-ons, tying up security checks and fighting for overhead space, they can then be booted off the cheap airlines when the pilot says the plane exceeds the takeoff weight limit. Air travel will be more enjoyable, less fuel burned–fuel costs decrease–global warming eased, shorter waits at security, less taxes needed for ATC and airport expansion.
Please boycott. Please drive, not fly, on vacations like your parents did. Or pay for your family of four with the fees that add up to less than one ticket price of the business traveler.
Stupid but not unexpected. Obviously costs are going up so prices must rise — but everyone seems to feel that a low base plus a surcharges are the way to go. Company execs aren’t stupid (for the most part) — surchages work better for them or they wouldn’t do it. Personnaly, I’d rather see a “fair” inclusive fare — but it doesn’t seem likely in this climate.
This is gonna get ugly faster than you can believe possible I’m traveling this summer and can’t wait to see how much crap is squeezed into the bins overhead. People are already bringing stuff on board that is way too big, and yet now they just got the green light to bring even more on board. It’s getting to the point where traveling just isn’t fun anymore.
If there are other carriers providing the same service, I think passengers will migrate. It could be a case of “penny wise; pound foolish” for American. The loss of passengers will offset any “savings” they hope to generate. With the state of the economy, I am not sure that companies will be paying for all these extras when their employees could travel at better fares. But ti all really boils down to greed.
Oil prices, commodities, transportation GREED GREED GREED !
You use it you pay for it. I would rather have a fee for something that is a matter of choice than an increase in charges for everyone.
I solved this problem years ago. Now when I travel I send everything by UPS or FedEx. I get a tracking number so I can monitor status along the way. I carry-on a backpack with an extra change of clothing, laptop and some personal items. Travelling has never been easier. I find UPS 3-Day to be the best price vs time option and it also gets better tracking.
I’m just wondering if they charge a fee for your bag, how will this affect it getting lost? It seems to me that if they charge a fee they should have to guarantee that no luggage will be lost and work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen. The past has proven that they aren’t careful enough with luggage and many end up at their destination with no luggage! The $15 would be worth it to me if my luggage was never lost.
Guess what, now Disneyworld will no longer allow resort check in of baggage for AA…you also can no longer check in 2 bags because they have no way of charging for the 1st or 2nd bags. The charges for baggage are going to have such a huge snowball effect. This will slow things down at Disneyworld, the TSA lines, boarding lines, delay flights because of all of the gate checked luggage. Oh the nightmares to come!!! I can’t wait to see what the holidays are like.
Nothing shocks me anymore with any of the airlines. I fly 100k+ every year and this is just par for the course. The overhead bins are already full with people bringing bags that you can tell will not fit into size checker at the gate. peolple are also bringing 2 rollerboards on board and putting them into the overheads. Where does that leave me with my one small laptop bag? I can never find room to put it up. This is only going to get worse with AA’s new policy.
I have no problem with paying this fee, but, if they lose my baggage, they need to compensate me on the spot. Not 2 months later and 10 emails and phone calls later. There also needs to be two “contracts of carrige” now. One for people and one for our luggage!
The airlines know they have us over a barrel (barrel of oil also). I f we need to go long distances, We must fly. they can do what ever they want to us and we all have to bend over and take it up the @#$.
I just flew from IAD-LAX and LAX-IAD, on my trip to Australia, sat in economy and could even get a meal. First class….gets the hot meal and free drinks. Ten dollars for a month old sandwich and a stale bag of chips…all the other airlines still feed you on a trip longer than 3.5 hours. I can’t wait until they start charging us for the toilet and the lousy movies they play!
I FedEx my clothes to my destination when I travel, so the fee won’t effect me. However because of the boarding nightmare this is policy will SURELY create, I won’t even consider an American Airlines flight for the foreseeable future. If I was an AA Platinum customer, I’d be really angry. They won’t have to pay the fee, but will be inconvenienced all the same. Pissing off your frequent fliers is commercial suicide. What is AMR thinking?!
I’m surprised that nobody has really analyzed why AA has started charging for bags. Guess what - it really isn’t about the extra money per bag they will earn!
The main reason why I think AA is doing this is to save fuel. If they start charging for every bag, most people will try to carry on, and you can’t physically bring that much on board with AA’s scooters (MD-80’s). So, AA carries less “cargo” which translates into better mileage by forcing everyone to pack light.
If you take the effect of this charge even further, AA might be looking to cut costs in other ways. Fewer bags checked means fewer baggage handlers, and quicker turnaround of the planes so they won’t be chronically late.
So you see, it really was shrewd management at work on this one!
Matt Davies’ cartoon op ed in today’s Rockland Journal News was of an huge AA plane in front of a gate agent saying that there’s a charge for use of the jetway. I hope he’s not foreseeing the future!
The issue isn’t really BAGS. it’s ‘weight’. So why not go all the way?
As you enter the ticket line, you could pass over a scale (’weigh station’ for you truckers) and you are charged a fee based on your weight plus that of your checked and carry-on bagage. Check or carry-on less, lose weight, and you pay less. This would help to save oil and reduce waist lines.
If they start charging based upon your personal weight, will they give you money back every time you use the lav?
I wonder how long it will take for the first class-action lawsuit to be filed on behalf of those who paid to check their bag but it was then lost or did not arrive.
Either that or the CC companies will see an uptick in chargebacks/disputes from people who were charged the fee on their credit card but did not receive the service they paid for (a bag that arrives on your flight with the passenger).
This could be interesting to watch.
My reactions to this are mixed. Obviously the airlines need more revenue to survive; and baggage does represent a real expense to the airline in terms of fuel and personnel. They could just raise the fares, but if it costs the airline less to fly a passenger without baggage than one with baggage, what’s the harm in charging them differently? There was quite a protest at first when airlines starting charging for meals. People soon learned to eat before boarding, upon deplaning, to bring their own food along, or buy what the airline was selling. Why should the fare include a meal when some people want one and some don’t? Likewise, why should the fare include baggage service if some people use it (at a cost to the airline) and some don’t? Obviously there are alternatives for people who don’t want to pay the fee - travel light, ship the baggage, go to another airline that doesn’t charge (at least for now).
Chris - in your follow up article you write:
quote: In fact, you should carry on the maximum luggage you’re allowed. Take your time boarding, too. If enough passengers do, then it could put this ill-advised fee out of its misery. - quote
Of course if you should lug your luggage with to save money - but I can’t believe you’re actually suggesting that customers purposely stall the boarding process with retaliatory childish tactics.
To expound on your idea: How much time do you recommend we take? Should I stand in the isle and pretend that my bag won’t fit and fake grunt in feigned exhaustion? How do you propose we “take our time boarding?”
I don’t appreciate this idea, and I’m guessing those with tight connections don’t either… I read your articles and blog regularly - but this is just plain bad advice.
james http://www.futuregringo.com
You guys are complaining about paying to check in your bag. Did you hear the other news about American Airlines laying off employees because of the fuel prices. So stop complaining and think of how worse it can be that you can be actually loosing your job! I wish me paying to check my bag was my problem now I have to sit and worry If I am going to be unemployed in the next 3 months.
PS This is not the first time I have been laid off by this company.
To me, it often seems like the popular choice is to criticize the airline industry for one reason or another. While I have often been a frustrated traveller too, I still recognize that the airlines are trying to run a business. The objective is to make money! The decisions may not be popular, but the simple fact is: When a company’s costs increase, they will increase the costs to their customers. There is no other choice if they want to stay in business. When other businesses do this, the decision is met with grudging acceptance. When airlines do it, the criticisms just pile up!
If the airlines had invested in hardening cockpits and in screening passengers, prior to 9/11 there is a good chance they wouldn’t be in this mess now. Yes - I’m saying if they paid up - the way El Al has paid up (in securing its aircraft - and yes I know they don’t have near as many planes)- there could possibly have been no 9/11.. no war in Afghanistan/Iraq - rising fuel prices, etc. etc… it all started with 9/11.
Airlines always complain about new regulations and use their lobbyists to sway congress. Money they are forced to spend on ANYTHING including security, is anethema to them and their bottom line - and lets not forget CEO salaries. Airlines will always say they did everything the FAA told them to do and we’re supposed to believe this gets them off the hook. I blame the airlines for the mess they are in. What is an ounce of prevention worth???
You and I, the taxpayers, paid for their bailout - do you remember that? What good did it do?
Hey, Ronnie - the total weight of the airplane does not change just cause you use the lav - think about it a little.
@FltAttendant - aren’t you a little more senior now? A higher seniority number? You should be less concerned with every passing bid about being laid off. . .
I am more concerned with the lack of bag space as more people bring carryons - for a while there - when ALL liquids were banned - the carryons were empty.
How will they handle paying for Gate Checked luggage? What if the passenger refuses to pay? The passenger can claim that there are oversized items in the overheads that should not be there and if the airline enforced its bag policy there would be room for his/her bag, meaning they would not have to pay the fee. If they waive the fee for gate checked luggage then I’ll just bring everything to the gate.
If they insist you pay do they leave your luggage at the gate, thereby causing an unattended bag and an airport evacuation?
There are all sorts of unintended consequences to this policy that need to be explained to the traveling public clearly and unambiguously. Since, everyone has cell phones with cameras and they can take pictures of the full bins with items that do not pass muster under the carryon policy. . .
First-The fee itself is ridiculous. However, if they are going to charge it, it should be consistent and charged to everyone, including full-fare paying passengers, as part of the price of the ticket. What it is saying is, pay our outrageous full price and we won’t charge you extra to send the clothes you need to cover your butt wherever you are going. If you somehow pay for a sale or discounted fare, you’ll still pay more, so you might as well pay our higher price to start with.
It also says we obviously only want to deal with business class single travelers. Vacationers and families please go elsewhere. But wait, less personal travelers means less $ coming in, so we will have to create another fee to compensate for that too. What a bunch of garbage the airlines have become.
The one big reason for disagreement with the fee is that TSA would not allow some of the shaving products on the carry on luggage and then you have to pay a fee for carrying these items or buy them at full price near the hotel??? Also the companies need to cut cost at the top - who get paid the most. I don’t hear of any layoffs at the vice president or director level…
So long AA it’s been nice knowing you.
“I’ve stopped flying American a long time ago when their fares were higher than the rest.”
“Think about it, with this new policy AA’s $200 flight (with a checked bag) is automatically more expensive than another airlines’s $205, yet by using this bait-and-switch tactic AA could get the sale.”
“if they are going to charge it, it should be consistent and charged to everyone, including full-fare paying passengers, as part of the price of the ticket. What it is saying is, pay our outrageous full price and we won’t charge you extra to send the clothes you need to cover your butt wherever you are going.”
Listen to yourselves, people!
You’ve stopped flying AA altogether because their listed fares are “too high”. You’ll go to another carrier to save $5. You fly the “cheap seats” but you cry “Foul!” when the airline rewards those who who pay their higher fares.
In a perfect world, airlines would simply set and list their fares with no nickel and diming. BUT YOU’LL JUMP AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE A NICKEL OR A DIME! You game the system by crawling the web to get the absolute lowest listed fare. You reward carriers that list the lowest fare. You punish those who try to give you what you say you want - “just put it all up front in the listed fare with no surcharges”. So why are you surprised that as a matter of survival, the airlines have learned to game the system too?
You whine because you’re not getting pre-deregulation service at post-deregulation prices. Sorry, but after 30 years of cut-throat price competition, price-sensitive customers are getting the air transport system they deserve.
Another little-noted part of American’s announcement is that they are grounding some aircraft and cutting schedules. What does this tell us? It means that even with surcharges, AA can’t recover the cost of serving some markets at current levels of frequency. Why? 1. Go back and reread the above. 2. The industry’s Achilles heel all along has been over-capacity. “Too many seats chasing too few fare dollars.” The value of every one of those empty seats is perishable - it goes to zero as soon as they close the door at the jetway - but the cost of providing that seat doesn’t go away. Hence the games-playing at the margins to try to recoup some of the cost of that otherwise empty seat.
I’m well aware that the above comments are a generalization. Not all customers play the pricing game down to the last penny. Some have little or no choice when selecting a ticket, grit their teeth and pony up without whining. Some are willing to pay for what they get. A few are even willing to pay more (or have expense accounts that allow them to pay more) for additional amenities. But airlines can’t survive just on captive and business- and first-class travelers. They need to sell the rest of their seats and that’s where the nickel-and-dime games are played by both sides.
There have been a number of cogent observations here questioning whether charging for the first checked bag is the wisest way to increase needed revenues, and AA undoubtedly will suffer some trade-offs because of it. But the reality is that under the current system, carriers have no choice but to exploit every opportunity to enhance revenues and cut costs.
Oh my goodness. Has it really come to this? I remember commenting during the Super-80/83 crisis that American has slowly been driving me away with things like this, and here they go again. I’m of a valuable demographic, and I know it. The 18-24 year old section, next to the ever valuable Gold/Plat/Exec Plat group are the ones that you really want to keep. If you can get someone hooked on your airline, trusting you fully while they’re in that demographic, you may well have them for the rest of their lives.
Now, as I’ve stated before, I’m not a ranked frequent flier on AA, but I am flying this summer on 50k AAdvantage miles I’ve accrued over the last 3 years; but I’ll make it abundantly clear right now, this trip will be my last on American. I’m more than positive that quite a few other airlines are going to be more than happy to accept my hard earned pay and take me to where I want to go in much more comfort than AA. Anymore, as I’ve read time and time over in the above comments, American has proven itself to be much less a full service airline and barely providing any extras over airlines like Southwest. Now, with throwing this bag fee on, they are WORSE than even the most basic of airlines in my book. Their planes don’t offer audio/video/SNACKS…anything. As to those above that have stated that people going for the cheap seats are what is driving American to this…I’m truthfully inclined to agree, but I’m not one. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I’ve paid upwards of $200 more to fly American, because I believe in loyalty (and earning those miles), but I’ll end on this: JetBlue here I come.
-Sam
“Valued” American Customer
I think they should make everyone go to the bathroom before they get on the plane. Over millions of passengers, the amount of weight saved would be huge!
Seriously, just about all of the airlines have a “fuel surcharge” and this should take care of the fuel prices no matter what they are. In this way, people can see what the fuel surcharge is. Hiding the fuel costs in luggage and other places is not going to help - because when fuel goes up again, which is most certainly will, what are they going to add on next?
Be straightforward to your customers.
Seeing myself quoted, I realized that I did not make my point clear…adding these additional ’surchrages’ or ‘fees’ is really the airline’s way of hiding the true issue; the cost of doing business has gone up due to fuel. Rather than tack on this, that, and the other in order to recover the cost, the airlines should build the cost into the base fare. This would make comparison shopping a breeze for consumers, and quickly put to rest any airline that is in trouble due to it’s own inefficiency and poor customer service (both AA and NWA come to mind from my personal experience, but hey, I’m sure everyone reading this has their own story).
Maybe they’ve convinced themselves this is a ‘temporary’ charge that will be removed when the price of fuel comes down, but if so I’ve got news for them - THAT’S NOT GONNA HAPPEN. At the same time, I realize that the first airline to go the honest route will be penalized by consumers for charging a $300 fare for the same route their competitor charges a $200 fare, but then tacks on $100 in taxes, fees, and surcharges. Hence my call to push the legislature to require full disclosure of all costs in the initial advertisement process - the cream will rise, while the fat (aka the ‘full service’) airlines will sink when forced to actually justify their business model to the consumer upfront (via pricing). Once again:
US Congress Contact Info:
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
US Senate Contact Info (Find Your Senators in the upper right corner)
http://www.senate.gov/
Letter I actually sent:
==============================================
Dear XXXXXXXX,
I’m writing to request that you sponsor or support a bill requiring that any listed airline fare, in print, television ads, radio ads, on websites, or in any other medium, include all associated taxes, fees, and surcharges that are currently added later in the process.
Right now airlines will only list their ‘base’ fare, then tack on security fees, airport fees, fuel surcharges, etc. making it impossible for a consumer to actually compare prices across the board. The main excuse that I’ve heard used is that if any single airline were to list this information up front the price would automatically skyrocket, leaving them at a ‘competitive disadvantage’. Legislating the requirement that all listings include this information eliminates that ‘disadvantage’.
Please note that I agree in a free market they are certainly allowed to charge whatever fees and surcharges whatever they deem necessary; my issue is that they are able to pull their bait and switch routine by not advertising the actual price of their services upfront - many sites I’ve been reading lately even point out that oftentimes the taxes, surcharges and fees exceed the base fare!
Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I am certain that I am not alone in my frustration with the airline industry, and see this as a great first step in allowing the free market to do its work by equipping consumers with the information they need.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX
=======================================
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I think the American public has had enough of this airline nonsense, and with AA finally breaking the camel’s back we can make a difference.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve boycotted American since they lost a bag on a flight to an international destination (under their new fees, shouldn’t that get me increased compensation?), then cancelled (for no reason given, at least 3 gate agents questioned) a return flight, rerouting myself and my fiancee through an additional airport, under construction, with literally no time to make the connection (Miami, terminal A to F, tram out of service, 20 minute connection due to delays - try it sometime, I dare you) they had rerouted us through. Typical surly gate/flight attendants, not their fault, not their problem, no help = no more of my business. So their new fee will not affect me in the slightest; I’d rather pay more on Southwest (which interestingly enough doesn’t happen, they know how to run a business and value customer loyalty over one time fat fares) than fly American.
I am a once-in-a-while airline passenger and I use a great Travel Agent.
I live in Colorado Springs, CO and have a choice of 2 airports - COS and DEN.
I don’t request for a particular airline, rather, I request my airline by where I am going (Destination), the flight connectons, and by the (importantly) the total price including fees, taxes, - and now by luggage.
If the airline companies are trying to SAVE money, why do they spend millions of dollars on misleading advertising on the airwaves. Since I’m going to price-shop anyway and many others with “Frequent Flyer Miles” are going to use their favorite airline as well, what good do the millions of dollars of advertising do for people’s choice? My travel agent finds several choices for me on my requested dates and will hold the reservation for a week before charging me - no obligation.
To be fair on the checked baggage fee issue, I think there should be a fee for carry-on luggage as well. As many have mentioned, there will be a bottle-neck at the boarding gate for awhile. Perhaps the TSA could charge a fee for the number of bags being passing through the carry-on line.
Thanks, David
By the way, I’m not a travel agent.
I just got off of a flight where the attendant told me American was going to disallow carry on bags (just permit one personal item) starting June 12th, but decided to postpone the date. She said charging for all checked baggage was the first step and that eventually passengers would be forced to check bags…
I’m waiting for a response from AA.com’s speedy email department.
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So they get you coming and going. Quite literally.