American Airlines just announced that they will begin charging $15 for the first piece of checked luggage starting June 15, 2008. The blogs and traveler forums are humming about this development. Now that American Airlines has opened the door, the other legacy airlines will surely follow.
Chris Elliott notes that this fee will affect those who can afford it least because the elite flyers will be exempt. Our site posted a story only a few months ago suggesting that passengers may be charged to fly by weight. That possibility now doesn’t seem so far fetched.
I predicted way back in 2006 that something like this may happen, but this move by American Airlines goes beyond what I thought the industry would propose or what passengers could stomach.
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Unbelievable.
I have friends who stopped flying American years ago because of poor customer service, but this is too bad.
We can only hope that one or more will wait and that people will reward that by flying with them
over here (holland) a “green” tax of 45 euro (on long flights) was added this year (the “” are because the money going directly into the budget no green purpose )
the result is that airports just across the border are laughing al the way to the bank
Why does AA online information screen say that the fee is each way, but none of that is mentioned. All the news releases say $15.
From their website:
Customers who purchase domestic economy class tickets on or after June 15, 2008 will be charged $15 each way for the first checked bag and $25 each way for the second checked bag.
Will this change the contract that airlines have with passengers with respect to care of the passengers luggage? Free luggage transportation might allow the airlines to handle baggage with less care than paid luggage transportation. We probably need a lawyer to answer this.