Now $15 for First Checked Bag
 

Just heard that the airlines are going to charge $15 for first checked bag..and additional charges for many other items..

This was just on CNN

"the airlines"

Which airlines - it can't be Ryanair as they charge a minimum of £8 (€10) for the first checked

It was American Airlines that announced this. It's for US domestic flights ticketed on or after June 15, with various exceptions (full fare, elite status, etc.).

Yes, it is American Airlines. Are you sure it's for domestic flights only?

I'm sure others will soon follow. It is just sickening. The whole experience is so aversive and I really have no other choices since all of my family lives 1000+ miles away from me. Grrrrrr.

Yep - it is AA. So far just domestic and only on discounted tickets. Full fare or w/ status and there is no fee.

Sorry, yes AA is the first. As we know, they all follow suit. If it begins domestic, it will soon follow with International..on and on and on....

I find all this incredibly deceptive. Just booked with Ryanair and the cost of the flight is cheap but wait till you see all the add-ons! There is only one transaction but you have to pay 4 times for a credit card fee (2 of us, return flight). It's ridiculous. It's the total price you are paying that is important, that is what the airlines should be made to show you upfront, instead of this garbage about 10 pound flights. It's plus, plus, plus....
Kay

Oh - while it is just AA now - either the other US "legacy" airlines will soon follow, or they won't and AA will retreat.

That is the game they all play. Try a fare increase or new fee - if the others go along then it is permanent. If the others don't cooperate, the new fees are withdrawn.

I guess the over-head bins will be full now for sure. I already have trouble finding room for my carry-on bag.

I am waiting for the airlines to start charging for seatbelts.

Ilana, that will be the next project - after they install pay toilets.

People wanted cheap cheap cheap air travel. They search the internet looking for the lowest price. So, take the low price and pay for the extras. The airlines need to make a profit. I don't check bags, so I don't mind NOT paying for something I don't want or won't use. It's transportation, not a vacation.

Wish I could go carry-on! For a month, that would be hard to do. I do only have one bag, but the next size up from carry-on.....

I take less and less every time..

I look at it like placing a $10 bet at a casino: You give the airline your baggage money, then you eager anticipate the very good chance that they'll lose or destroy your bag. Then they pay you $300 reimbursement. Maybe not even a gamble. More like an investment. I think I'll deliberatly hang an old faded bag tag on my oldest suitcase.

time to start shipping your bags to your destination. AA has either lost my luggage or it has arrived late on 3 occasions.

How does the cost of shipping a bag compare with the $15.00 charge that AA is asking? Also, what shipping company?

Based on experience I think it is more than fair. Have you ever looked at what passenger take on trips? Some travel with two or three bags plus golf bags, strollers and camping equipment. Perhaps this small fee will make people think twice before loading up the plane with so much stuff.

Here's one luggage shipping company. I haven't used them, but it's starting to look like a better idea:

http://www.luggagefree.com/

gracejoan: re not being able to do carry-on-only because your trip is a month: It really should not make a bit of difference whether a trip is 5 days, 5 weeks or 5 months. You do not need bigger luggage for a longer trip - honest.

If worse comes to worse, you can do laundry once or twice. I teach a packing class to hundreds of folks every year and, using mix/match/layer-able garments, get more than 30 (and often nearly 45) outfits into a 21 inch rollaboard. I personally usually travel w/ a 19", but use a 21" for my class.

And no, I'm not a overhead bin hog. One 19 or 21 inch roallaboard and a medium/small handbag is all I take -- no extra day pack, backpack or duffel

Wow, Janis, if I lived in your town, I would take that class!

Johanna

Janis wrote "You do not need bigger luggage for a longer trip - honest."
Maybe you do but others can pack more sensibley. No need to over pack. EVER!

By the way, Janis, I am in agreement with you! Remember though, to each his own!

janisj..

I never use larger than a 21"..so I don't take a larger bag for longer stays!

It is just the one checked bag and my laptop carry-on.....

My concern is the ripple effect this will have... like longer lines going through security and more people with carry-ons trying to find overhead space.

While those of us who carry on (to which I'm only about 50/50 in my traveling), think it won't effect us, once more people carry on, what happens when there is no more overhead space? Are you just out of luck?!

Will the next thing be pay $10 for early boarding so you can find room for your carry on?!

...and $25.00 for the 2nd checked bag....

It's just the beginning.

re: <<I don't check bags, so I don't mind NOT paying for something I don't want or won't use.>

Where are you going to put that carry-on bag when everyone else stops checking?

Where will I put the bag? I'll check it for $15!!!!!!!!! Hope I don't go bankrupt.

Perhaps someone can explain to me how to pack one bag for when I take my family skiing.

Karens,

You can do it with one 21" per person! Only 1 ski outfit. Other mix and match. Wear on plane any bulky items. You are the only one who will get tired of the few items. No one else will even notice!

Enjoy....

Yes, for clothing, but how about skis, helmets, boots, etc.

Karens..

Somehow I thought you were going to ask that!!

All the many years we skiied, we also lugged all our equipment. Before the days of all the charging for every little thing..and losing your luggage!

Have rentals of all this stuff improved enough that you do not have to take a lot of it with you? I'm not up on current equipment.

Joan

I can very easily pack for 5 days or 5 weeks in a carryon bag. But that's completely irrelevant to why I choose NOT to travel with just a carryon. It's not what I bring over, it's what I take back.

I'm heading off to Brussels for a week-end (via Eurostar) and even though it's just a short trip, I'm taking a 24" bag. I intend to bring back lots of things I can't get here in our neck of the UK.

My suitcase is always light as a feather going out and heavy as lead coming back.

Most planes simply don't have enough overhead storage for EVERYONE to bring a typical wheelie carry-on bag. I expect the new rules will cause some severe outbreaks of carryon rage. And what happens to people who are forced to gate check their carryons because there's no room left in overhead?

Re skiing, I am perfectly happy to rent skis, poles, sometimes even helmets. But for downhill skiing, I want my own boots. And a pair of ski boots will easily fill up a carryon, esp. if you wear a European size 45 boot like DH.

I think the most interesting comment about all this is that if you have a liquid medicine you must take, a prescription salve or lotion, or even a brand of special toothpaste, thanks to the carry on/liquids regulations, you MUST now pay $30 to transport that one article round trip!

Also assuming you are checking a decent suitcase, you will definitely be paying not $15, but $30 assuming you want to bring that suitcase home with you.

Guess not too many people remember the 50s 60s 70s and into the 80s where most regular folks couldn't even afford to fly at all, and the idea of "family flying" was totally out of the question. Flying now is a great deal!

If you are taking a laptop, that pretty well takes care of the carry-on..at least for a woman..or an "older" woman.

Last fall I did the laptop, with my purse stuck inside, and a 17" carry-on. That was pure h---, for me! In April I checked the 21" and did the laptop carry-on. That is what I plan to do in Sept. As long as I am checking one, I might as well take the 21". This gives me room for some purchases.

My prescriptions have always been all pills counted out an put in one single sandwich size ziplok and put in my purse. I have made a copy of the printed prescriptions and put in the bag. No one has ever been the least interested!

NP: &quot;<i> . . . . . liquid medicine you must take, a prescription salve or lotion, or even a brand of special toothpaste, thanks to the carry on/liquids regulations, you MUST now pay $30 to transport that one article round trip!</i>&quot;

Absolutely not true. Prescription liquid/gel meds and even some OTC products are not included in the 3-1-1 rule. Yes - they will be screened separately - but they <u>do not</u> have to fit in the same 1 qt zip lok baggie w/ the rest of your toiletries/liquids.

Sure I remember traveling in the 60s and 70s. I flew between New York and Chicago for $23 student standby. I'd just take a bus to the airport, walk up to the counter and buy a ticket for a flight that would be leaving within a half hour, walk to the gate and get on the plane. Full price was $46. There were footrests and mostly I'd have a row to myself. I could stand up between the rows. If I checked my luggage, it always got there, and it did not take long to wait for it. Just my experience.

I remember making $58.00 a week in 1970, so that would have been an expensive stand-by for me!!!!