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American Airlines Hits Turbulence Over New Fee For Checked Bags

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2008

Scathing reviews have followed an announcement by American Airlines that starting June 15, it will charge passengers $15 to check a bag.

The traveling public hates the idea because it will make flying even more unpleasant. The executives who thought of this gimmick must have been spending too much time at altitude without their oxygen. Flight attendants could have told them that there hasn't been space to spare in the overhead bins since the first Bush administration.

The airline plans to waive the fee if, after you board the plane, you can't find a spot anywhere to cram your bag. That translates into more delays for everyone. And check-in will take longer as passengers have to get out their credit cards or cash to pay the fee.

Under the new arrangement, passengers have an incentive to be the first on board to find storage room, so the airline will be tempted to charge extra to be at the head of the line.

The baggage fee is sure to result in more people bringing more stuff into the passenger compartment. The security screening will go slower and bags under seats will reduce foot room.

What passengers would like to see is a reward for anyone willing to check even smaller bags, not a penalty for sending them down to the baggage compartment where they belong.

Everyone understands that all airlines have to find a way to make up for the rising cost of fuel. American's new fee is expected to raise about $320 million, or only about 10 percent of the increase in the airline's fuel bill just this year.

Considering that only half the passengers check bags anyway, round-trip ticket prices would only need to be raised by $15 to equal the maximum revenue from the $30-per-round-trip baggage penalty.

Petty fees such as this, and the exorbitant prices some airlines charge for a beer or sandwich, make passengers feel uneasy. You don't want to think of an airline as barely making ends meet; you don't want to see a tip jar outside the cockpit.

Airlines already have put passengers in a bad mood by bewildering them with ticket pricing. You're encouraged to book your own flights through a reservation system more mysterious than the federal tax code. Prices are constantly readjusted to either make sure the plane is full or, if only a few seats are left open, to find out how much the last few travelers are willing to pay.

You can't budget for a trip until you actually select a date and flight. The price for a cross-country trip can vary by hundreds of dollars from one day to the next.

It all seems arbitrary, like the baggage fee: same price for a light bag, same price to go to Atlanta or Seattle. And how did they come up with the distance between seats? It wasn't by measuring legs. As the average height and weight of Americans has increased, leg room on planes has been shrinking.

While airports have improved, adding brand-name food, good coffee and interesting shops, the experience in the air has become less agreeable. Second class is beginning to feel like third class, as though everyone is riding in stowage.

It's almost enough to make you take the train. Amtrak allows a traveler to check three bags and carry two.

The trouble is, you can't get there from here.

To go to Atlanta from Tampa, you have to take the Silver Star all the way to Raleigh, then take the Carolinian to Greensboro, and the Crescent back to Atlanta. It takes two days.

If fuel costs stay high, flying is going to become less affordable as airlines cut flights, add fees and raise ticket prices. The nation needs a more efficient, more reliable way to move more people, and their bags, between major and minor cities.

Cheap flights and empty stretches of interstate highways combined to make Amtrak seem obsolete. Now, jammed highways and baggage fees make it look more like the future.

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