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Unbelievable! American Airlines charges $15 for first checked bag

May 21, 2008

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.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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  • ed

    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!

  • IK

    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?

  • Canadian Agent

    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.

  • Kathleen

    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.

  • Anthony

    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.

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  • Jeff

    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.

  • http://worstflightever.com Pat

    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.

  • SirWired

    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

  • Jim

    Quick, stupid question: can they charge you fees that were not disclosed at the time you purchased your ticket?

  • Mike

    @ 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?

  • Neil

    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…

  • Jake Smith

    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!

  • http://www.travelite.org Lani Teshima

    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.

  • Matthew

    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.

  • Jon

    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.

  • Joe Farrell

    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.

  • http://claystorm.livejournal.com Kevin Murray

    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).

  • http://www.WanderlustandLipstick.com Beth Whitman

    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!!!!!!!

  • Chris

    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!

  • http://www.flyerist.com Flyerist

    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.

  • Canadian Agent

    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…….

  • Steve Laffert
  • http://beatofhawaii.com beatofhawaii.com

    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/

  • Shari at Caltrans

    Jake, thanks for the link to my senator. I just emailed. Hopefull others will, too.

  • Chris

    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?

  • Phyllis

    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?

  • Sally Stoehr

    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.

  • jlq

    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!

  • Brad Ford

    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?

  • Tyler Booth

    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!

  • Poley

    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

  • Margaret

    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!!!!!

  • MAM

    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!

  • Jim B

    Bastards.

  • Gloria

    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.

  • Sweetpea

    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!!!

  • Steve Surjaputra

    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.

  • Cindy Loo

    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.

  • Wendy

    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.

  • http://travel-babel.blogspot.com Claire Walter

    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

  • Texas Grumpy

    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.

  • Lee

    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.

  • n

    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.

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  • Joe Farrell

    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.

  • bob-chicago

    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!

  • Ed Olsen

    Wait until you see what happens to tips to baggage handelers at curbside check-in!

  • http://www.theamericanroadside.com Ron

    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….

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