suze

Hi 29Feb,

I only mean if it's OK to drag on a stuffed to the brim 24" bag, then the rules should say that. Not state that the limit is 21" but continually let everyone bring on larger bags.

So just saying either enforce the rules that exist, or change them to match what is actually allowed on board in actual practice.

dulciusexasperis

I'm often amused at how people seem to see a plane as different from a bus. Take a Greyhound bus and they'll tell you to stow your luggage in the luggage hold. Take a plane on the other hand and suddenly you should be able to take half your worldly possessions on board with you. Hilarious.

Mrwunrfl, charging for baggage has miraculously resulted in people learning to check less baggage. Amazing huh. Of course it has also resulted in more people trying to take as much as possible onboard with them.

The most annoying result to me, is the segregating on board of what can and cannot go in an overhead bin. If you board with one small carry-on say the size of a messenger bag you are likely to be told it is not BIG enough to go in the overhead bin and must be put under the seat. Yup, the savvy traveller who truly travels light will be inconvenienced in favour of the idiot who packs 40 lbs. in a suitcase with wheels.

http://www.independenttraveler.com/t...d-consequences

You can find plenty of other articles if you Google, 'affect of baggage fees'.

What people never seem to realize is that however trite and hackneyed the expression may be, 'the people get what the people want' is always true.

People want low airfares. For an airline to remain in business however they cannot operate at a loss forever. So they must find a way to make money while at the same time bowing to public demand for low airfares. Paying for baggage, meals, drinks, bigger seats, are all the consequences of that. Think back to when seat pitch started to shrink in order to get more seats on a plane. That was the start.

Flying today is cheaper than it has ever been in relative cost terms. Where my Father might have paid the equivalent of an average person's monthly salary to fly to Europe and back, I can do it for an average person's weekly salary.

But my Father would have been treated like a human being (if not a privileged person having been able to afford it), provided with free drinks (was always rubber chicken though even then), had elbow room, was given a pillow and blanket, earphones he was encouraged to keep as a souvenir, etc.

Now, you get treated like cattle and charged for everything and anything they can think of. But if you think about it, that is basically inevitable unless people are willing to pay more to fly.

I happened to witness the same affect happening with hotels some years ago (mid-90s). On a particular Greek island I am familiar with, package tour operators had beaten down the prices on hotels so much that the hotels simply couldn't make any money.

So one bright spark had the idea of starting to charge guests for the use of sunbeds by the pool. Why not, it's done on beaches all the time. By the end of the season, pretty much every hotel on the island was doing the same.

Now who to blame? Well the tourists of course were up in arms, it was outrageous, a rip-off by the hotels, etc. etc. The tour companies couldn't have cared less, it didn't affect their profits.

But the tourists never gave any thought to WHY the hotels were doing it. They needed to make a profit and the tourists by demanding cheaper package tours from the tour companies were making that impossible.

So the point is, it was the tourists' own fault the hotel was charging for sun beds. If they had been willing to pay more for the vacation and not pushed the tour companies for lower prices, the hotels would not have had to find another way to make money. The tour companies of course are not exempt from blame either. They wanted to maximize their profits without regard for whether the hotel could make a profit.

For me though the most blame rest on the tourists themselves. Book direct with the hotel, book a flight directly with an airline, cut out all the middle men who are sucking money out of you and the supplier. That's how to save money and still let the supplier make a reasonable profit.

Airline rules and charges have nowhere to go except up unless the consumer allows them to put airfares up. Wait until the pay-toilet arrives. LOL

dulciusexasperis

Here is a good article on the real cost of flying.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/...oticed/273506/

I don't agree with all the writer's conclusions but the facts are not in doubt.

Eschew

dulciusexasperis

If there is a like button here similar to Facebook, I would have clicked like on your comments. Couldn't agree with you more!

dulciusexasperis

If you want a laugh Eschew go onto Flyertalk forum and look for topics like this one. It is amazing how incensed some people get over stuff like this.

The exact same information posted there has over 1000 responses so far.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ar-2014-a.html

simpsonc510

Yep, flyertalk has a lot of unhappy posters for sure.

mrwunrfl

The evil tour companies are trying maximize their profit while the poor supplier is just trying to make a reasonable profit. Meaning the tour companies were not being reasonable and the supplier was not trying to maximize profit.

About the Atlantic article:
The graphs showing the inflation-adjusted ticket prices since 1980 are amusing. We should all be grateful to the airlines for this and stop complaining. Let's forget the fact that transportation has become more efficient. The inflation-adjusted cost of a pound of apples at the supermarket would probably have a similarly sloping graph since 1980. Clip those graphs to show only 2009 and later and the both look like this: /

I have not yet paid a baggage fee. How much do I benefit from other people paying the fees? Maybe a buck and a half on the price of a ticket.

<i>Why do we hate fees if they keep basic prices low? Because we're Americans, Heimlich said: "It's the American way to want a product approaching first-class for a price approaching zero." But cultural selfishness ...</i>

So, trying to save a buck is "cultural selfishness" and apparently thinks that is a uniquely American way. Ok, fine.

The flip side to that quote is: It's the American airline industry way to want a price approaching first-class for a product approaching zero.

That is not selfishness or greed or an attempt to maximize profits by the airlines. They are being reasonable and giving me a savings. I save, you save, everybody saves $1.50. WHOOP! Meanwhile a baggage handler loses his job or retires and is not replaced and the ones left have more to do.

dulciusexasperis

As I wrote regarding the linked article mrwunrfl, "I don't agree with all the writer's conclusions."

Here are my conclusions.

The consumer wants to pay nothing.
The airline wants to provide nothing.
Neither can get what they want. So instead, they both cry about each other's unreasonableness.

Your comments are from YOUR perspective aren't they. I rest my case.

Queenie

I flew SFO - ORD yesterday and this was being enforced.
Most folks had to put their bags in the sizer. There were 2 United attendants manning the sizer as well as TSA (double checking ID's) to help move the process along.

I was amazed at how angry people were!

One of the big issues was the depth of the bag; many were stuffed and too fat. Tho the 'fatness' of the bag doesn't seem to cause as much problem as oversized length.

We started boarding about 15 minutes early as this whole process took forever.

simpsonc510

I have been on several flights since this went into practice, and I have yet to see anyone enforcing it. We'll see again on Wednesday, flying out of ORD.

Kathie

On my flight to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago, they suggested people use the sizer and if it didn't fit to bring their bag to be gate checked. I saw quite a few people gate-checking their bags. So the process wasn't as much enforcement as per Queenie's account as it was "re-education."

Queenie

This was enforcement. 100% of folks with carry on had to get an OK nod or put it in the sizer before they were allowed on the jet bridge.

I thought that poor sizer would break the way folks were shoving their carryon (AND their personal item) into the thing.

If they did not fit, per the attendants discretion, they were checked (but no charge). And there was of course, arguing.

I fly about 4x per month and have never seen this.
My issue is this has to somehow be streamlined. The process takes about an extra 30 minutes.

eroz

We rarely check bags but did so recently , 21" suitcase on Alaska Air, 25" on JetBlue. Both arrived damaged and unusable and we were told handles, zippers, pockets and wheels are not the airlines responsibility so we were stuck buying 2 new bags. Won't check again if anyway around it.