<p>American Airlines just announced that they will start charging $15 for the first checked bag on domestic flights starting June 15. Can you imagine what the carry-ons are going to look like?!</p>
<p>Wow! When I heard they were charging a fee for checked bags, I imagined $5 or so. $15 is ridiculous. And yes, I can imagine people trying to stuff everything into a carry-on now. Fun.</p>
<p>Hm, maybe people will start packing lighter.</p>
<p>Geez. It’s already a minefield trying to get on and off without being clobbered by people’s socalled carry-ons, not to mention the delay produced by them all trying to get them all carried off.</p>
<p>I hope they accompany this with stricter enforcement of the carry on rules, or else it’s going to be chaotic.</p>
<p>Great. That is just the topper to my already terrible day.</p>
<p>I agree. It’s about time they cracked down on carry-on size enforcement. It’s irritating to follow the rules only to find no room for your small tote and then get clobbered by someone else’s big bag on the way out. But come on! $15 for a checked bag? They would get a lot less flack for simply raising their fares than they will for this. All the other airlines will have to follow. I predict a large collective howl. Check-in time is going to go way up for a while due to fee collection and loud disagreements.</p>
<p>Ridiculous. All the airlines are providing a TRAVEL service. This means that passengers will have bags. And since they already limit carryon (which I completely understand), they should be honoring their part of the ticket purchase contract to allow passengers one checked bag as part of that “contract” price. </p>
<p>I understand the 2nd bag charge. But I WILL purposely avoid airlines who attempt to enforce this fee.</p>
<p>The people who travel for business carry less and they pay larger fares than those who travel for pleasure. Of course the airlines want to charge for baggage!</p>
<p>There’s business and business. Some people’s business involves taking along heavy and cumbersome luggage.</p>
<p>Many of those people who push the limits on carry-on are business travellers. Full pay customers will not be charged the fee, however.</p>
<p>I pretty much never check a bag, just carry-on, but I don’t carry on one of those huge suit bags, I’m just very efficient on what I pack. </p>
<p>I wonder what’ll happen now when the flight attendants tell those who can’t fit their carry on in the overhead bin or under the seat that it’ll need to be checked? Will the person get charged $15 in this case? I can see a lot of arguments ensuing.</p>
<p>I was on an American flight to Miami last week. The family of 5 sitting near from us (2adults and 3 small children) had 5 carry-on suitcases, 5 backpacks, 2 diaper bags, 3 full size car seats, a double running stroller and (wait for it) a Maclaren baby buggy. The crew took the “vehicles”. Upon arrival, we had to wait while they gathered up their stuff and their kids, and wait some more at the door while someone went to find their “vehicles” and wait some more as they HAD to reassemble the “vehicles” before they would move out of the way. Hubby and I checked one suitcase between us and carried on NOTHING except for a neck pouch that I travel with in lieu of a purse. Now under American’s new policy, they would pay $0 and we would pay $15.</p>
<p>The jet burns the same amount of fuel carrying live meat as it does dead meat. Obviously it is to everyone’s advantage to ship live meat. Don’t forget to pee before boarding. :)</p>
<p>I could never figure out why M packed 5 sets of jeans for S, when I only had 3 sets at most why I was in college. And at least 3 sets have been transcontinentally shipped, by air, at least 10 times.</p>
<p>Re post #12:</p>
<p>If the family of five paid for five seats, they were entitled to their five carry-on suitcases, 5 backpacks and so on.</p>
<p>The weight carried by a jet affects how much fuel is burned and how much it costs the airline to operate the flight. American also reduced its capacity by 12 percent. Given how much money airlines have been losing over the years, this is a good move. Hopefully other carriers will follow. It does not make sense to charge passengers without bags the same as passengers with bags. Passengers with bags cost more to transport.</p>
<p>Realistically, I’d like the airlines to be profitable. When a company is in the red they start pinching pennies everywhere they can find them and with an aircraft I don’t want some bean counter trying to collect pennies in the area of aircraft maintenance or flight crew. I’d much rather the airlines just increase the price of the tickets to actually cover their costs and make a reasonable profit.</p>
<p>Unless airlines are more strict about carryon bag sizes, it is going to be chaotic boarding with people trying to stuff the overhead bins.</p>
<p>I am going to avoid AA.</p>
<p>I agree with post #16. Flying has become really unpleasant. Seats have become narrow, there’s less legroom; service has been reduced. It’s not easy juggling a laptop, carry-on luggage and purse as well as a takeaway meal, but the sandwiches served on board are stale and unappetizing.</p>
<p>I hope they don’t start charging an aggregate weight for passenger plus suitcase. </p>
<p>I"ll remove extra sweaters and books from my suitcase, but personal pounds are harder to shed at the last minute. </p>
<p>(South Beach Diet: lose 40 pounds before your next flight to Miami…)</p>
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<p>I think it is a wonderful idea. Everyone gets a quota, weight plus suitcase. Perhaps I can make some extra bucks selling my “unfilled” quota since I weigh less than 100 lbs.</p>