OK, even I can't defend this ...

You know, actually, I kind of like the bag fees, because that makes fares a little lower for people like me who never check a bag. I stay off Southwest most times because they simply build the bag fees into their fares on a lot of flights I take. Charging for something everyone uses is wrong, but when it's optional like that, I don't mind.

 

You should be charged for carry-ons, not checked bags.

 

interesting how they don't offer you a refund when they lose your luggage.

 

What kind of a refund?

If you want a refund for the value of the items lost, I'm pretty sure you get that. It may be a hassle, and you may have to come up with an itemized list of its contents, but you are due compensation for whayever is lost.

If you want a refund for the flight, that's nuts. A bag going from New York to Moscow is not more valuable than that same bag going from New York to Buffalo.

 

I'm guessing he meant a refund of the one way bag fee.

 

In that case, it's probably just something no one thinks to pursue.

Most of your effort --- and the airlines' effort --- is pointed toward finding the bag and, failing that, figuring out what compensation is due if the bag is indeed lost.

But since the "bag fee" has already been paid, it's pretty much up to the passenger to press the issue and ask for it. Can't believe a refund would not be granted if it was asked for.

 

We had that problem a few years ago. Our exchange student was flying back to Thailand and her bag was way overweight. When we asked if we could take a few items out, we were told if the bag was opened, we'd have to go through security again, the line she had just spent an hour in. We paid the $300 or so and sent her on her way.

 

Wait, who goes through security BEFORE checking bags? is that an international thing?

 

Could have been customs, I suppose

 

OK, at what point is it worth it to stop off at the UPS store and ship your luggage? Might be easier just to fill out an Fedex/UPS slip, tip some hotel dude $10, and have your stuff show up at your home or next hotel.

 

The following is a quote for a 55-pound bag (most ticket counter agents will allow you to fudge on overweight up to four pounds, as long as you're not a dick) to ship from my house (Middle Georgia) to my brother-in-law's house in Port Orchard, Wash.

So, coming home, if you're willing to be without your belongings for a week, then it's cheaper to send that 55-pound bag via FedEx. I think they go up if it weighs more.

But to get it to your house or your destination within even a smidgen as fast as an airline can do it, it's $325.

So, it still doesn't make sense to try and do it that way.

I just found out, though, they are imposing these fees on non-revs as well, which is just crazy. Employees and their pass riders still get two free bags (and these are free, well, because the employee isn't paying for the flight, either) but if it's over 50 pounds, they have to pay, too.

 

This is the key point. I really marvel at how USAirways, which I fly all the time, can't get this right. It has gotten so the flight attendants start warning the first people who board the plane about limited space, and every subsequent group gets an increasingly shrill haranguing about having "chosen to bring aboard a carry-on bag." (I love that wording, by the way. Like I was standing in the councourse near my gate and thought, "Auntie Anne's Pretzels? No -- I'm going to procure a rollaboard and bring it with me instead!")
Clearly, overuse of carry-ons creates huge problems, especially in Airbuses, which have smaller bins than 737s. So they exacerbate the problems by charging people for checking luggage. Wow.
Furthering my incentive for carrying on, is anybody gonna know if my bin-sized carryon weighs 51 pounds? I don't think so.
Incredibly stupid.