Last week, I read a story on SmartMoney.com stating that American Airlines was planning to charge $15 per checked bag. Here’s my response, also posted on the SmartMoney web site;
Have they really thought this through? This change in policy will have an ‘unintended consequence’ that will quickly become apparent.
As a frequent flier on American, I’ve noticed that when a flight is pretty full there’s a good chance that right as the last passengers are boarding, they realize there’s no room for their bags, the overheads are full. Now, it won’t take much to tip things to be even worse. If even 10% of the fliers decide that the $15 for the checked bag is not worth it, the overheads will fill on a more regular basis. That last few minutes of scrambling will become even longer, and flights will be delayed as those bags need to leave the cabin to get loaded into the belly of the plane. When I first heard there was talk of charging for bags, I thought they would charge for the carry ons, not checked luggage. Too bad.
Joe