AA to charge for FIRST checked bag to offset fuel costs

[Initech]

American to charge $15 for first checked bag, slash flights, work force to offset fuel costs

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off possibly thousands of workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices.

American plans to cut domestic flight capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter, after the peak summer season is over. That's more than double American's previous plans to cut flying by 4.6 percent in late 2008.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080521/american_airlines_reductions.html

Say goodbye to the airline industry folks. The oil industry can go to fucking hell. :grr:

[JCMach1]

1. FU AA

[Initech]

3. Yeah, AA blows but that doesnt mean the other airlines wont start doing this.

[AlCzervik]

5. United started charging $50 for a second checked bag.

[kestrel91316]

6. I just booked a United flight yesterday (for July) and their website

says $25 (not $50) for second bag.

[AlCzervik]

7. they must have lowered the price due to complaints, when it was announced in Feb.

they said it would be $50.

[pitohui]

9. if the bag goes both ways, it is $30/$50

the charge is for EACH way and assuming that one day you and your bag will go home, it's pretty fake to say it's $15 or $25 when it reality it adds $35 or $50 to the cost of each round trip ticket

do what i do and just wear all your clothes and don't check anything, call it the layered look!

[AlCzervik]

15. i don't ever check more than one bag, even when i went to Europe in March i had one bag

checked. When i fly domestically i take a carry on only.

[pitohui]

18. when i travel alone i'm carry on only, domestic or international

life is too short to wait around for bags if you ask me, unfortunately my traveling companions do not always agree

the only positive i see from this nuisance fee is that my traveling companions will FINALLY cut back on bags, thus saving not just the nuisance fee at the check-in but also all kinds of tips that arise when you go place and people insist on helping you with your bag (they can't be so pushy when you have only one small carry-on type bag that you can firmly control!), plus you're lighter and more mobile and more free to take public transport, many many advantages to traveling light

still it should be MY choice not the airline's choice

[shain from kane]

2. That's an unamerican activity. The first bag most definitely has to go with the ticket.

If you showed up without luggage, you would be held to the fire, and scutinized as a suspected terrorist.
This is outright gigging.

[pitohui]

11. i show up w.out luggage all the time and this post is completely untrue

you are not scrutinized as a suspected terrorist for traveling with no luggage/carry-on only, rather you are assumed to be a business traveler

[TomInTib]

4. Next, "Kiss your miles good-bye".

Bastards.

They already screwed me out of 400,00 of them by a policy change. The notification of said change was neatly tucked away inside some of their typical junk-mail.

[pitohui]

12. miles have been substantially devalued

i absolutely agree, if you have any left, schedule the travel now, there are so many new fees coming around that your free travel could end up costing you as much as a paid ticket

a big problem is that there are only a few awards available, compared to the number of miles out there, i have a couple hundred thousand miles i have not yet been able to use -- NO availability even with completely flexible destinations and dates

there is a joke going around that continental's one pass program should be called "none pass" because it would be so rare to actually be able to spend your miles

[TomInTib]

19. Yeah, they're slapping premiums on everything.

I have a ton of AA miles, and I can't find a 25K trip to save my life.

[Nay]

8. Well, Mr Nay and I have regularly flown each yr to our vacation destinations,

but guess what? Between these idiotic charges, gas prices, and security hassles, we aren't going ANYWHERE this year. And we probably won't be going anywhere next year, either. See how all these goddamn airlines like having NO passengers.

[pitohui]

10. i'm not holding my breath

the trouble is, the planes are full, they are loaded with pax, when is the last time you were on an empty flight where you could spread out? say around 1985?

people keep saying they'll quit flying but they're flying more than ever, so we're basically screwed, everyone is waiting for everyone else to stop flying, meanwhile we keep getting nickle and dimed...

[Nay]

21. You are prob right, but I find myself dropping out of all sorts of shit

in this society, as I am disgusted right up to my eyeballs with lots of stuff. I am always on the cutting edge, tho, so I can always hope that others will follow, albeit years after me.

[mach2]

13. Not to defend the airlines but they're paying even more for fuel than we are for cars.

It isn't logical to expect them to operate at a loss forever.

[pitohui]

16. the airline industry can't make a profit, proven over many years

this isn't a new thing that airlines don't make a profit selling seats to pax, they haven't been able to turn a profit in many years, it is nothing new related to recent fuel increases, it's business as usual for that industry

even southwest does not make a profit by actually selling seats, its profits stem from hedging on fuel contracts (high stakes gambling)

maybe the thing to do is face reality and stop trying to run an industry for profit which can't, won't, hasn't made a profit and let it be taxpayer/government operated, then fair reasonable prices could be set, without excess millions of dollars being skimmed off by CEOs and CFOs who have done ZILCH to make this industry profitable or service oriented, at this time we sort of have the worst of both worlds -- an industry where planes are not always properly serviced, where no one is making money (except executives voting themselves bonuses for doing nothing), and the workers have had their pensions and benefits looted

i would be surprised if AA makes significant income from this nuisance fee, when you factor in that people will simply start putting everything in a carry-on, which leads to people struggling for limited carry-on space, delayed take-offs, and increased costs related to the delayed take-offs

it will certainly make more work for gate agents and flight attendants, as people try to sneak on bigger carry-ons and then if the bag don't fit, are the FAs and GAs going to be collecting these fees right there on the spot?

[Bluebear]

14. The "goddamn airlines" really aren't trying to make you miserable.

The fuel charges are causing them to operate at a loss, and the security hassles certainly are not of their doing. Just a thought.

[pitohui]

17. they were operating at a loss before the fuel charges, just a thought EOM

.

[Bluebear]

20. There are profitable airlines.

At least one that I know of has posted a profit in every quarter since their founding. Nevertheless, I don't see how security hassles are the fault of the airline companies.

[Nay]

22. Security hassles are partially the airlines' fault, in that they did not want

the cost of fortifying flight cabins so pilots could not be subject to hijacking. This was proposed many years before 9/11 (in the 70's during Cuban hijackings) and the whining about the cost -- you'd have thought they were going to go broke over $400 a plane. The airlines preferred the taxpayers pay for the WHOLE TSA clusterfuck rather than take the rational step of protecting their pilots. I guess I have a real problem with shortsightedness over what amounts to a miniscule amt of money, and I have an even worse problem when the airlines think it's OK for the taxpayers to pay billions for TSA, and also get nickeled-and-dimed over bags, peanuts, seat assignments, etc. It's just disgusting.