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By the end of the year, he told shareholders, American would be slashing its seat capacity by more than 10 percent, grounding as many as 75 of its aging and fuel-guzzling aircraft, and next month begin charging most fliers $15 to check a bag.--Seat 2B
In case you're not clear on what that means, that's 15 dollars to check ANY bag, not your second bag full of stuff you picked up while traveling. That's your basics, the things you can't carry on because the TSA still sees more than three ounces of toothpaste as a threat. Your second bag? That's an additional 25$.
Chris Elliot asks some very good questions about the new luggage fees.
If American and other airlines unbundle the cost of luggage from your ticket, and you’re paying extra for all of your luggage, shouldn’t you get something for the money? At the very least, an immediate refund of the fee if your luggage is lost or “misplaced”? And maybe we should insist on drawing up a separate legal contract for the carriage of our luggage, including more compensation when luggage goes missing.--Elliot
And Susan at Wicked Good Travel Tips has a message for American Airlines.
If you need to raise prices to make up for high fuel costs - do it, have some b…s. We understand your industry is feeling the pinch in a big way - tell it like it is. I would rather pay $100 more for a ticket and be treated with some courtesy and respect, and offered something to eat on a 6 hour flight. If you want to be a budget airline with pay-as-you go services, ask Ryan Air to buy you out. Instead of trying to lure us to fly with inexpensive flights, you are encouraging me to opt out of the whole flying experience - it’s not worth the hassle.--Wicked Good Travel Tips
Gadling anticipates how this is going to affect our travel experience and surprise, it's not good.
Now, since nobody wants to pay an extra 15$, everyone is going to want to bring their luggage aboard, overhead compartments are going to jam up, people with giant luggage are going to clog up space and passengers are going to get testy. Of course the new rule doesn't apply to elites, but as several people on the underground pointed out, it really affects everyone on the aircraft. If the overhead compartments are full and the flight spends an extra 15 minutes on the ground sorting out luggage issues and appeasing passengers, the entire plane is late, right?--Gadling
There's plenty more snark to be found directed at American's new fees. Our overseas budget airlines travelers are less sympathetic - they've been shelling out baggage fees since Ryan Air decided it was okay to nickel and dime their passengers for every little things. But given that the the fees are here and that they only likely to increase, what's a traveler to do?
In many cases, it may not be practical to travel carry on only. Then, you'll just have to shell out. There's no getting around it. But there are plenty of circumstances in which a single carry on bag is plenty - and I'm here to tell you, it's totally doable.
Since it's getting to be that time again and I know lots of you are planning your long weekends in San Francisco for BlogHer, I'm going to take the liberty (and vanity) of reminding you that last year, I went to BlogHer with One Carry On Bag. That included my laptop and more clothes than I needed for the three days I was in Chicago. BlogHer Fashion editor Susan Wagner has repeatedly posted terrific travel packing tips, check out her posts for advice from someone way more fashion conscious than I.
For the record, we tend to leave the house extremely light and come home a bit heavier, and that's not just from eating exotic treats. We have learned that there's nothing we need that we can't get at our destination (excepting meds, those should always be carried on), that we can do without whatever we've forgotten for longer than we think, and that we can pick always up an extra bag for cheap to check the additional stuff we've picked up on our adventures.
Also I think the fees are ridiculous. Charging customers to check one
