Anyone upset with airline baggage fees?

So true,Full Service airlines should not charge for baggage or atleast have some free baggage allowance,like aa and continental should not charge.

When you look at what the major carriers are reporting as revenue from these new fees.. in the billions.. that's B for Billions.. I doubt that you'll see them go away anytime soon.. That said, I suspect that in the end, as the consumer, you'll end up paying for the product in one or more different revenue streams..

There is some legitimacy to the argument that the ticket price paid should better reflect the true cost of transporting the passenger-- further that carrying a passenger with baggage is in fact higher (how much higher is subject to debate) than carrying a similar passenger without baggage.. Therefore, the current pricing model does in fact better align with this theory.

The other concept that is a reality, but albeit not pleasant, is that in the eyes of the airline, not every passenger is of equal commercial value.. It's been a slow but continual progression that the airlines are more willing to cater to and devote a larger percentage of their customer impacting assets towards the so-called "business" passenger or premium cabin flier.. Knowing that business fares can be 300% or more of a typical discounted economy ticket, to a point, the airline is simply focusing more 'attention' to the side of their toast that is buttered.

Will these fees go away? I think in time, if and when, fares rise and airlines become profitable again you'll see some of them go away, but given that there is some level of uniformity in the application of the fee among the big carriers, there is limited impetus or fiscal motivation for any one airline to take the risk and cut the fee--

The magical question would be... Can the airline who first cuts the fee recoup more in additional passenger ticket revenue than they now loose from the elimination of the bag fee?

One thing working against this ideas is that as a whole the group that currently pays the fee tends to be the lower yielding passenger. So, the carrier who first cuts the bag fees would have to gain a fairly large number of lower yielding passengers in order to recoup the fee loss.. a difficult task.

While paying any fee for things that were before included is not pleasant, but I don't think that this is any one manager's justification for existence..

An airline, or any business, cannot continue existing if the company keeps on losing money. Even a government has to have a surplus in the long run, somehow there has to be money to pay for everything. If an airline loses money, it has to recoup losses one way or another. Charging baggage fee is in fact a fair way of charging passengers. If you don't have extra baggage to check, you pay LESS than the person who has checked bags. For passengers, they are only paying for services they use. This is better than raising ticket prices, if everyone pays the same price for a ticket, those without checked bags are subsidizing those who have. Another pro is this way passengers tend to bring less baggage, as a result less fuel is required when the aircraft weighs less.

The two answers above are correct.

But do not forget the fees are only for economy tickets. Business and First class, baggage are still included in the fare.

Errrr NO!!! You do know you "baggage charges" are no appearing as an added extra, they are included in the normal ticket price. There for even if you chose to travel with no baggage, you are paying for it.

I would much rather have the option to just pay for the services I use, rather than subsidising other passengers luggage.

i agree with everything you said - but we aren't the people who need to hear it. write/email American. write/email your local newspaper. start a campaign on Twitter.