tmh

Those curbside people are not AA employees.

Several years ago, AA outsourced this activity as another means to keep our fares low. Vendors bid on the rights to provide service which AA paid for to the tune of $10+M/yr systemwide. It was based on hours of the staff plus a margin.

AA paid time and materials for a group they didn't manage. Service and hours were not theirs to control so they followed the lead of Alaska Airlines who started this fee structure after 9/11.

Alaska had the 3rd party charge a standard fee. The money the 3rd party made from this would be their source of income - not the charges to the airline. The 3rd party then had to manage their overhead, level of service and staffing to ensure they retained the business.

This fee should be transparent to those who were tipping.

clevelandbrown

What is so strange about the idea that people who use a service should pay for it?

And how will the charge have an impact on tipping? If anything, I would think it would put some cash in the hand of the customer, standing by the tip jar, which would facilitate tipping. A free service does not always lead to tipping; we have always been able to get the same service, free, by schlepping our bags to the counter, and I have never seen any tipping at the counter.

And the whining about security and toileting is unrelated to the airline. The airline employees check you into the security lines, and from then on you are at the mercy of TSA and the airport, until you get to the boarding gate.

soccr

OK Cleveland, you're disposed to be contrary to any of this and obviously prefer to pay anything asked and accept any inconvenience -- a compliant consumer, bless you, or perhaps someone who doesn't feel the pinch personally?

People who use a service should pay for it? All services or just some? Kiosk check-in? Baggage checking? In-person ticketing? On-line ticketing? Issuing boarding pass? Using roads into an airport? Water fountains? Entrance to food courts?

And as to the tipping vs. service fee issue. Let's try the analogy with an attended public restroom: if entry is free, most people will assume the attendant should be tipped; but if there's a charge for entrance, many will consider that enough for the whole trip. If some are still inclined to tip, it's likely to be at a much reduced rate. Same service, two different ideas of who gets the fee and why.

As for "whining" about not having restrooms inside security (I challenge you to say that's reasonable, esp. if there are possible delays): Just because it's a flaw in the arrangements between airport and TSA doesn't mean the tenant airline doesn't have a reason/obligation/right to challenge them -- they, too, are paying consumers of what the airport offers, after all. Or are vendors the only ones allowed to voice complaints?

clevelandbrown

Soccr:

Thank you for the free half-baked analysis of me; if I want a well done one, I will gladly pay for it.

Frankly, I cannot understand why you think you should get an extra level of service (curb-side luggage check) without an extra payment. Do you think you should also be able to sit in business class with a tourist ticket, because...?

I don't intend to get into a debate with you, as I realize that some people just don't have the capacity to analyze.