fireman0174

Fee fallout: Will legacy customers defect to low-cost rivals?
(USA Today In The Sky)

Half of the nation's six big traditional hub-and-spoke carriers now are charging for all checked luggage. American led the way last month by announcing a $15 fee for a first checked bag, and the USA's biggest carrier was joined yesterday by United and US Airways after those airlines also added a $15 fee. The airlines say they need the extra revenue from the fees to help offset skyrocketing fuel costs, but some travel experts warn that the moves could create a new set of problems –- both for airlines and for their customers.

Joe Brancatelli, publisher of the Joe Sent Me newsletter aimed at business travelers, predicts the fees will result in a spike in the number of bags that must be gate checked. He also fears the fees will result in overcrowded overhead storage bins as fliers try to carry-on their bags instead of paying to check them. "It will lead to more delayed flights, more missed connections and the loss of checked bags," he says to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Airline analyst Henry Harteveldt of Forrester Research echoes that sentiment, telling the Chronicle "it will lead to chaos." But there could be a more worrisome downside to the airlines, Harteveldt says. He suggests the fees –- and the possible disruption they may cause –- could push passengers' frustrations with the big carriers to a breaking point, causing some to defect to "niche airlines" like JetBlue, Virgin America or Alaska Airlines. Harteveldt singles out United as one example, saying the nation's No. 2 carrier "has a tired product. There's no innovation at United. Domestically they have an inferior product. Now United, with the baggage fee, has just handed a gift to Virgin America."

jamin35008

The baggage check fee is something I dont understand, if the extra money is needed then why dont they just add it to the ticket price like normal. As a ticket/gate agent that is going to be required to collect this money its going to be a great hassle to....1. collect this money if its cash b/c we dont have cash drawers at out ticket counter and to make change we will have to walk 5 mins to Subway and 5mins back to give change wasting 10mins of every cash paying customer. 2. once your flight has been cancelled or delayed and the passenger is at the gate and we have to transfer you to another airline then I have no way of giving you 15 cash back unless you want to go back thru security and get your cash. 3. How are the bag charges going to work if there is a gate to gate transfer of a passenger and they have two bags? Should I deny the pax if they dont want to pay 15 for one of 40 for two bags? Did the CEO idiots think of how much more crap the employees have to go thru? I might care about all these fees if I saw just a small portion of each charge, even if its like 10 cents a bag, for all the headaches its going to cause us. I wish just for once they thought about the little guys that make these crappy airlines run!

WhizWheel

Next thing you know you'll be charged for even mentioning the name of (insert airline name here) at the airport.

skidmark

Did yall see the full page ad Southwest put out today in USA Today? "What are these Airlines Smoking?"

Spaceman Spliff

The advent of the credit and/or debit card should alleviate some of your workload.

Heck, folks can swipe their cards at the check-in kiosks where they indicate how many bags they're checking, right?

cbire880

Despite popular belief, there are still people without credit cards. I also doubt that the company will spend the cash to update their systems to accept them at the gates. What happens if your bag is too big to fit in the overhead? They aren't going to charge you 5 minutes prior to push. Also, they aren't going to equip the FA's with those devices to process $2 a pop. They'll lose a big chunk to the credit card processor. I'm willing to bet that they will spend most, if not all of the additional revenue on processing overhead. I think this is all part of a long term plan to convince passengers that fares need to be higher. After a year of a-la-carte nickel and diming, passengers will beg to raise fares by $30 to alleviate the headaches. By then, all of this will go away and they will try to compete on service instead of price again.

Spanky189

Charging $2 for water/soda and $7 for a drink is going to make alot of people mad. Keep it up so my job will be secure flying your ex-customers around.

People have become accustomed to buying a ticket with certain expectations. Getting 'jacked' at 35,000 feet won't sit well with travelers.

Thank your managements mismanagement but I'm sure they have their 'Golden Parachute'.

(Trully hope the best for everyone, just frustrated with the parachute thing that leaves everyone else hanging.)

B

clearandcold

Does anybody think pax's will start bringing less baggage on trips and maybe not check any luggage at all?

aa73

It's been going on in Europe for years (charging for extras.) It will become the norm here in the US, and eventually after the first few uproars pax will get used to it. Simple, folks still have to fly. I don't agree with it, but it is the trend in this new economy.

328dude

People are so smart. Guess a lot more people have been bringing their bag down the jetway and gate checking it at the doorstep. Guess they can't charge you once you've made it that far.

Just what I heard, but makes sense.