Something Special in the Air?
American Airlines has announced that they are going to charge $15 for the first checked bag and other airlines are expected to follow this practice. Boy does this have me upset. Its not the $15, as I have a high enough FF status on the Airlines that I fly to avoid this, its the ramifications of this decision. It will result in:
1. Longer security lines as many people who used to check a bag will now "carry-on" that bag. This means more bags through security and more delays. This will make clearing security through an already over burdened system even worse. I expect that lines at BWI will not routinely take more than an hour.
2. The bins on the flight are already "full". Bins have never been designed to hold a suitcase for every flyer. And with everyone not checking the demand will rise even further. POD has already been on flights where, even though POD boarded early (and checked his bag so all he had was a computer bag), and put his bag in the overhead bin, the flight attendant has removed POD's bag because is was small, and insisted that POD put it under the seat in front of him. Now POD will regularly expect that he will be forced to put a bag in front of him.
3. The new policy will compromise safety. All of these extra bags in the cabin will create a situation where an emergency evacuation will be adversely affected. Because the US airlines cannot figure out how to properly price their flights, my safety is being put at risk.
The good news is that we do have a solution. A return to the re-regulation of the industry. The Federal Government needs to step in and tell the airlines, as a matter of cabin safety, that they must check the first bag for all passengers free of charge. The Federal Government must tell the passengers that the size of carry-ons must be reduced to speed clearance through security. And the Federal Government must hold the airlines to a baggage handling standard in order to ensure that baggage is quickly delivered to the passengers in order to remove the disincentive to check bags caused by the delays in handling. (POD had a flight from ORD to IAD within the past two months in which the plane arrived on time and the luggage, for all passengers, took well over an hour to be delivered to the baggage collection point. For at least 30 minutes the airline could not even tell any of the passengers where the baggage was located. And this was during a slow part of the day at IAD).
Of course POD has made a choice. He has decided to abandon the airline that was "Something Special in the Air" even if the other airlines of "force" (being hubbed at O'Hare POD has few choices) impose the charge as well. The Geniuses of that airline came up with the idea, and I hope that they go bankrupt and the airline goes out of business. (No, POD's not vindictive...not at all).
1. Longer security lines as many people who used to check a bag will now "carry-on" that bag. This means more bags through security and more delays. This will make clearing security through an already over burdened system even worse. I expect that lines at BWI will not routinely take more than an hour.
2. The bins on the flight are already "full". Bins have never been designed to hold a suitcase for every flyer. And with everyone not checking the demand will rise even further. POD has already been on flights where, even though POD boarded early (and checked his bag so all he had was a computer bag), and put his bag in the overhead bin, the flight attendant has removed POD's bag because is was small, and insisted that POD put it under the seat in front of him. Now POD will regularly expect that he will be forced to put a bag in front of him.
3. The new policy will compromise safety. All of these extra bags in the cabin will create a situation where an emergency evacuation will be adversely affected. Because the US airlines cannot figure out how to properly price their flights, my safety is being put at risk.
The good news is that we do have a solution. A return to the re-regulation of the industry. The Federal Government needs to step in and tell the airlines, as a matter of cabin safety, that they must check the first bag for all passengers free of charge. The Federal Government must tell the passengers that the size of carry-ons must be reduced to speed clearance through security. And the Federal Government must hold the airlines to a baggage handling standard in order to ensure that baggage is quickly delivered to the passengers in order to remove the disincentive to check bags caused by the delays in handling. (POD had a flight from ORD to IAD within the past two months in which the plane arrived on time and the luggage, for all passengers, took well over an hour to be delivered to the baggage collection point. For at least 30 minutes the airline could not even tell any of the passengers where the baggage was located. And this was during a slow part of the day at IAD).
Of course POD has made a choice. He has decided to abandon the airline that was "Something Special in the Air" even if the other airlines of "force" (being hubbed at O'Hare POD has few choices) impose the charge as well. The Geniuses of that airline came up with the idea, and I hope that they go bankrupt and the airline goes out of business. (No, POD's not vindictive...not at all).
posted by prophet of doom | 12:20 PM
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