spirit airlines to begin charging for carryon bags

Here's the Times story on it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/business/07bags.html?hp

O'Leary is brash and funny. He founded the airline and won fans because he took on the established national carrier, brought down fares, and opened up new non-stop routes.

You also never got the feeling that O'Leary had disdain for you. He was doing everything he could to bring you a low fair.

Ben Baldanza has none of O'Leary's humor or charm. He didn't start the airline. He's a guy that's fallen upward his whole career.

And you always feel like he views the customer as the enemy. See the link I posted above and this quote from the Times article:

As if this a decent comparison.

You're nuts if you fly Spirit anyway. They don't have enough service or enough equipment (i.e. airplanes). They often only have one flight a day between cities.

If they have a service issue or get hit with bad weather, it could be days before you get home. And Ben won't give a shit.

 

It comes down to this: Either pay more for the ticket, a lot more, or get used to the ala carte pricing.

It's that simple. I saw a fare on US from BUF to FLL the other day that was less that $200 r/t. You can't DRIVE that cheap. Shouldn't it cost significantly more to fly? You pay more for milk in the convienence store don't you? You're paying a mark up to make it easier and save you time. The same should apply to airfare. but it doesn't. Mainly because you have carriers like spirit and airtran and southwest that CAN charge less and do, forcing us to match prices or loss market share. this had to eventually catch up with everyone and it will catch up with WN and they will have to charge for bags at some point, too. they have a solid business model and hedge well on fuel but that will run out. so will their bribes with the FAA.

 

He who has the lowest costs wins. The SWA hedge has run out IIRC and they are still doing the best of all the US carriers with the exception of Allegiant which is stricly a leisure airline.

I don't think SWA will charge for bags any time soon. Unfortunately for the leagacy carriers they can't get their cost structure to the levels of SWA or Air Tran and it is probably only a matter of time until there is more consolidation in the industry.

 

Costs don't determine price, supply and demand do.

And while milk expires too, an airline seat expires the moment the door closes, so $200, might not be much, but if it gets someone to pull the trigger and buy a seat, it's better than $0.00.

What's your conspiracy theory regarding Southwest and the FAA?

Southwest has been hampered by AA and the Wright Amendment for years, a situation that's only begun to improve in recent years.

 

SWA has made the Wright Amendment work for them and IMO they are in no hurry to see it go.

I have flown Spirit a couple times with no problems but as you said I am not sure of their ability to recover from an IROP.

 

For $70 I will ship my bags by FedEx or UPS days in advance and have enough to buy an overpriced airport lounge beer.

Bastards. Flying isn't fun anymore.

I flew home last week and the guy two seats over from me peppered the guy beside me with every question possible.

"Where are you from? Where have you been? Why? You're originally from there? Where do you live? Oh, I know that area? What do you do for a living?"

WTF are you? Barnaby Jones? STFU!

 

People were sleeping on the floor at LGA for days last year.

 

It was never supposed to be.

It gets you from Point A to Point B quicker and more safely than the alternatives, which is all it's supposed to do. And as BD pointed out, it sometimes even does it more cheaply. That

Last June my wife and I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Knoxville for . . . $182 total. Non-stop flight. Two seats. Round trip. For less than $200. Ridiculous.

 

But carrion bags, they're still free as long as the carcass fits under the seat, right?

 

F**k this stupid ass airline and f**k anyone who thinks that customers should be nickel and dimed every time they want to adjust their ass cheeks simply for the "privilege" of flying.

 

Airlines must eliminate all carry on baggage that is not a "personal" item ... woman's purse, briefcase or laptop bag, backpack etc. Something you carry when you walk down the street every day.

The rest gets checked.. for free.

If fares go up a few bucks, so be it.

Figure out what it costs you per mile for an average cab ride in a major city then figure out what it costs per mile to fly from New York to LA.
Then quit bitching.

 

Which is fine. But it's cheaper for me to drive 15 hours home than it is to fly, by a factor of about 3, and with layovers and parking costs at the airport and checking bags and everything else, I'm only losing about 6 hours, which is worth it to me.

Not everyone flies from NY to LA. Sometimes you fly from CT to KY and it shouldn't be $400 for that.