Are You Kidding? Airline plans to charge $45.00 -for 'Carry-on' Luggage..

CBS47 ^ | 4-6-10 | cakid1

[cakid1]

First, airlines started to charge for checked bags.

Now, one airline (Spirit Airlines) plans to start

charging you for your 'carry-on' luggage.

And it looks like the new plan will kick-in when a lot

of folks will be flying.

[cakid1]

I wonder how long before other airlines follow suit.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

http://www.Southwest.com

[freedumb2003]

I think no-frills will call for strapping your @ss to the wing with duct tape.

[WellyP]

Screw Spirit!

[Luke21]

Between the Gestapo, the full body scans, the stinky planes, and the escalating costs, I would rather have another surgery than fly anywhere.

[MissyMack66]

It looks like the airline of drug smugglers, check out the flight routes.
http://www.spiritair.com/RouteMaps.aspx

[Chet 99]

I can’t wait until they charge to use the bathrooms. This will continue until people become willing to pay for service and not the cheapest ticket possible.

[freedumb2003]

>>Between the Gestapo, the full body scans, the stinky planes, and the escalating costs, I would rather have another surgery than fly anywhere.<<

I go cross-country weekly. You can get used to anything. I have female TSA officers who hug me when they see me. I keep asking them to do a body cavity search but so far no luck.

I think I hit 2 million miles this summer.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Not bothered, as I don’t fly from FL to Central America....

[WellyP]

Watch for the BASTARDS at United and Delta to be the next airlines to try and pick your pockets!

[gogogodzilla]

Luggage is usually clothing.

So does that mean that everyone is now charged an extra $45, for the ‘luggage’ on their backs?

[libh8er]

Whats the baggage fee on taxpayer funded ObamAir ?

[Pure Country]

Our kids flew Southwest the last couple of weeks—Southwest lost their luggage coming and going. I would think that they would compensate them somehow. You pay for something and it doesn’t happen...You should get your money back.

[mlocher]

As a once very frequent flier, I got sick of people who would bring on two carry ons, their pc and maybe a purse. Not only did many exceed their personal storage space, but it seemed to take forever to get everything stored, and yes, the planes would often times leave the gate late.

I would fly any airline that charges for carry-ons as opposed to charging for stowed luggage.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

What if you check in wearing seven changes of clothes?

[Tennessee Nana]

The duct tape will cost you $45...

If you bring your own from Walmart you will have to throw it out...

cant take through security...

[NavyCanDo]

I can understand airlines charging more for tickets to offset rising fuel cost, but to charge for incidentals like carry-on is a stupid move. Ticket prices can come down as gas prices drop, but that baggage charge is their to stay.

[rman04554]

Express mail your carry on to your destination for about $30

[J Edgar]

OK what’s next - you show up to board the splendidly engineered airliner, and you get charged an extra $100.00 for boarding said wondrous machine under your own power! LOL

[advertising guy]

duct tape now has serial numbers dispensed from Homeland Security........get the memo ?

[max americana]

United and Delta? Crap. They have routes to BC when I visit family and friends. As long as Alaska wont follow this nonsense, I’m good.

[xp38]

hmmm....show up with no luggage and I wonder what reception one would get?

[ltc8k6]

Yes. This is clearly designed to discourage carry ons, which is a great idea.

I like it.

[ArmyTeach]

Years ago I took a cross-country train trip with my Aunt (she refused to fly). It was a great trip, great scenery, leisurely and comfortable with a viewing car. Took about three days, but compared with air flight, the train trip was memorable. Think I’ll try it again... to heck with planes.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Yes. This is clearly designed to discourage carry ons, which is a great idea.

It's clearly designed to squeeze more money from passengers, and Spirit deserves to lose a ton of business because of it.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Fly Airstream and you can carry on as many extra bags as you like with no fee.

[BooBoo1000]

Now why did you have to bring that up? They might not have thought of it. Sheeeeees/

[Grams A]

Recommend you NOT go thru Atlanta with no luggage. Flying with a friend, I was going to be delayed so he took my bag with his on an earlier fight to save me from schlepping mine. Spent almost an hour with security trying to explain why I, a female, was going to be gone a week to three different cities and had no luggage. They literally dumped everything out of my purse onto a table, made me turn my laptop on, and take off all my jewelry which they examined very closely. Not one soul believed me and the flight attendant kept checking on me throughout the flight. Used up 5 years worth of biting my tongue to keep from being sent to the pokey.

[Gator113]

LOL.... I just bought an Airstream last week. A 25’ Classic Limited and I LOVE it.

[taxcontrol]

From an airlines point of view, it is far more expensive to allow carry on than to put the baggage into the cargo hold. This has to do with the delay of boarding passengers and their often too large and too many bags for the overhead space.

[VeniVidiVici]

Pretty soon the airlines will sell you a super-cheap ticket but then charge you $45.00 to board the aircraft.

[I still care]

I understand your frustration, but as someone who has had luggage lost AND trashed, why would I let anything valuable out of my hands?

The last time I traveled, I had a metal laptop stand which I packed in my checked luggage. It was extremely sturdy. When I got to my destination, it was twisted into a pretzel figure 8.

My family and I stood around trying to figure out how in heck they managed that. I couldn’t have done it with pliers and hammers. Now I know why the extra camera I packed on the previous visit in the checked luggage never worked again.

[Kozak]

The airlines are idiots. I’ve had the exact same experience with the carryon’s. Once there was a near riot on board because of the situation.

An airline with brains would increase the fare 20 bucks and allow you one free check bag. They would still make money, and improve customer satisfaction.

[Kozak]

I’ve flown with duct tape for years, always have a roll in my carryon as it’s the single most useful thing you can have in an emergency, never had a problem till Monday when an idiot guard in Italy wouldn’t let me take it.

[Sherman Logan]

A while back several airlines started charging for all drinks, even water.

I believe they all dropped the practice quickly due to highly negative customer reaction. If enough people are ticked off by this, it will be dropped, too.

Private company. It should be able do something stupid if it wants to.

BTW, I hate the charging for all checked bags. It just means everybody tries to carry their stuff on, and there isn’t enough space to stow it now.

[Tzfat]

An airline with brains would increase the fare 20 bucks and allow you one free check bag. They would still make money, and improve customer satisfaction.

Airlines have the most advanced yeild management software every designed. Ticket prices are computed to within cents. FreeRepublic is disheartening at times because one would think that folks here would understand supply and demand. The fact is, the US airline pricing system is as close to pure supply and demand system as has ever been seen on the planet.

Bottom line, any airline that unilaterally increased their ticket prices by $20 would be loosing millions a day. Instantly. It is a fact.

[Kozak]

Nonsense, not if they advertised the crap out of the fact that unlike their brain dead competitors you didn’t have to pay 25 to 30 for the first checked bag, each way.

[ltc8k6]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Spirit-Airlines-Announces-bw-1858262563.html?x=0&.v=1

MIRAMAR, Fla.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Ultra low cost leader Spirit Airlines is lowering fares even further. Spirit today introduced PENNY PLUS fares¹ and reduced its checked bag fees exclusively for its $9 Fare Club members. The airline reduced its lowest fare by over $40 each way on average in this unprecedented move. Members of Spirit’s $9 Fare Club now pay as low as a penny plus fuel, taxes and fees for their reservation.

“Our new PENNY PLUS fares¹ are the best value in travel, and with over one million seats available, they are not hard to find!” says Barry Biffle, Spirit’s Chief Marketing Officer.

In order to continue reducing fares even further and offering customers the option of paying only for the services they want and use rather than subsidizing the choices of others, the low fare industry innovator is also progressing to the next phase of unbundling with the introduction of a charge to carry on a bag and be boarded first onto the airplane.

Members of Spirit’s $9 Fare Club who pre-reserve their carry-on bag in advance online receive a $10 discount compared to non-members and pay only $20 for their carry-on. In addition, checked bag fees for $9 Fare Club members have been reduced to $15 for domestic flights and $20 for international flights, both a $10 savings compared to non-members. The baggage discounts will be available for purchase by July 1, 2010, for travel August 1, 2010 and beyond.

“In addition to lowering fares even further, this will reduce the number of carry-on bags, which will improve inflight safety and efficiency by speeding up the boarding and deplaning process, all of which ultimately improve the overall customer experience,” says Spirit’s Chief Operating Officer Ken McKenzie. “Bring less; pay less. It’s simple.”
...

[Tzfat]

Nonsense, not if they advertised the crap out of the fact that unlike their brain dead competitors you didn’t have to pay 25 to 30 for the first checked bag, each way.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I am in management at a major US airline.

[CharlesWayneCT]

So what? You are paying for it now, it’s part of the ticket price.

When you buy a ticket, just make sure to compare ALL the charges, and decide which is best.

If you need to travel somewhere and don’t need ANY baggage at all, this airline might be the cheapest way to go now.

[CharlesWayneCT]

If you’ve ever watched them load luggage into a plane, you wouldn’t put anything breakable into your checked baggage.

[Tennessee Nana]

LOL

and I was only kidding...

or at least I thought I was...

[Kozak]

You have no idea what you are talking about. I am in management at a major US airline.

That's like bragging about being a pimp at a whorehouse.

[Kozak]

You have no idea what you are talking about. I am in management at a major US airline.

Funny. Southwest is running nonestop add's about how they don't charge for bags. How they doing? Yeah. If they flew in my area I wouldn't fly another airline.

[Tzfat]

Funny. Southwest is running nonestop add's about how they don't charge for bags. How they doing? Yeah. If they flew in my area I wouldn't fly another airline.

Yeah, I will tell you a little insider secret. They are loosing out on 400 million per anum because of it. They are doing it anyway because it is becoming the only way they can maintain a niche. They have lost their pricing edge now that we all match their prices.

If my airline did not charge for checked bags, we would have lost over 450 million MORE than we lost last year. It is the only thing that saved us when fuel spiked 200% last year. The same is true for all the top 5 airlines.

[Tzfat]

That's like bragging about being a pimp at a whorehouse.

Wow. What are you doing at FR? Are all your views socialist, or only with regard to airlines?

[Kozak]

Wow. What are you doing at FR? Are all your views socialist, or only with regard to airlines?

Funny. Non sequitur. How much public money did we toss on the airlines to bail them out? And you call me socialist? When you guys stop having the worst customer service of ANY industry including cable TV and used cars, get back to me.

[Kozak]

It is the only thing that saved us when fuel spiked 200% last year. The same is true for all the top 5 airlines.

Really? oil dropped from 150 to under 40 dollars a barrel in 09 and your fuel costs spikes 200%? Amazing! Oh wait, you guys rolled in the baggage charge when oil was 3 times what it was last year, then never dropped the extra charge. You know what I wouldn't even mind that much paying for the bags if you idiots could get your sh#t together.

Let me demonstrate with a recent outing on Delta. Wife and I were flying out of Miami. We did web check in, had one bag to check got to the airport 3 hours before our flight. All we had to do was check the bag. The check in line was very long, only 2 people checking in passengers. One dedicated to business and first class. So we waited, and waited and waited with almost no progress in the line. Whenever anyone was waiting in the first class line, the OTHER clerk would take them and make the hoi polloi wait. THEN they started taking people in front of us because their flight was leaving sooner. So WE got pushed further and further back to our flight time. When the first class line had no one waiting the agent REFUSED to take any other passengers. They did send a "flack catcher" around to "listen to our concerns". Wonderful. When I asked him what they were doing to remedy the problem he just smiled and shrugged. Finally a supervisor wandered by. We asked her what the hell was going on. Her response " it's Monday, maybe some people called in sick". She also pointed out we could have dropped the bag at curbside ( bullsh#t because they were closed when we got in that line) implying it was all our fault. We finally made it to the front of the line, where they wanted to charge us a 50 dollar overweight charge for the bag (which weighed in at 45 pounds, one bag for 2 passengers which US Airways had charged just the basic bag fee. We then rushed through security, ran to our gate barely made the flight, no time for a coffee or a sh#t, sweaty frazzled and angry. Only to wait on the ground for passengers still being processed who had a connection to Tokyo. So we of course missed our connecting flight.

Now, Delta knew within 10 or 15 people MAX. HOW MANY passengers were going to show up that morning for their morning flights. KNEW. Yet they were woefully understaffed. Maybe they should spend some of the cash on their wonderful software to maximize their profits to figure out how many agents they need to process a couple A- 320 loads of passengers.

This is only one of DOZENS of wonderful interactions I've had in the last decade with your pathetic industry.

[SUSSA]

Your story is typical of the airlines. They don’t care about you or what you think or your comfort.

I stopped flying except for emergencies or when I have to cross an ocean. I’d like to see all of the big airlines go under. In a truly free market they would have been gone long ago, replaced by people who understand customer service.

[Tzfat]

How much public money did we toss on the airlines to bail them out? And you call me socialist?

Hint: None. Airlines haven't been "bailed out." After 9/11, government-backed loans were given to 3 airlines. They all paid it back WITH INTEREST by 2004.

But it appears that you aren't as economically ignorant as I at first thought - you apparently DO know something about supply and demand. You see, you have a choice: You can walk, drive, or fly. I suggest you drive.

The American public votes with their wallets. Last year was a record year in load factors for the American airline industry. The industry sold over 85% of its capacity. Very few industries do that well. Apparently people think that they are getting their money's worth, considering that the real dollar price of a ticket is half what it was 20 years ago.