spirit airlines to begin charging for carryon bags

Why don't airlines just take the overhead bins out of the airplanes?

 

Maybe people wouldn't bring so much stuff onto planes if they were guaranteed that their bags will arrive once they hand them over at the check-in counter.

I don't fly much, but I'd be nervous as hell if I were going on vacation for a week and didn't have an assurance that my suitcase would arrive at the same time and place as me.

 

This is another step toward the logical split between business travelers and tourists.

Let the business fliers pay a couple dollars more per flight, but get a carry-on bag allowance and a bigger seat and a few more niceties. All tourists, vacationers, visitors to grandma pay rock bottom fares for nothing but the seat. Everything else is a la carte. Everything checked. No carry-ons.

 

Exactly.

That said, when I fly I usually check my bag. But then I stuff a change of clothes into my laptop bag just in case.

 

Do you realize that 99.2 percent of the time there are no problems with bags? NONE. It happens occasionally yes but we will get them too you usually within 24 hours or less. You can pack a change of clothes in that fucking huge ass purse you're carrying. And ijag yes it should cost 400 to fly CT to Ky. Its not a high demand market. We have to MAKE money. Its not a utility or a right to fly. Its a business.

And believe me yf. I have talked to numerous pilots that tell me WN gets a lot of special treatment in the air. Priority routing better vectors all sorts of stuff.

 

I give it a month before they back paddle on this.

 

The same thing was said when we started charging for checked bags. If they can find a way to minimize delays and increase revenue through this it will be around. Don't be so sure.

 

If the delivery rate is that good, maybe the airlines should make a financial guarantee to its customers - if the bag doesn't arrive when and where it should, then the airline should pay a decent-sized refund to the passenger.

 

Really? You think that if a bag is mishandled somehow you're entitled to a huge cash award? Un fucking believable.

You have protection under the waraw treaty. We will deliver the bag, provide reimbursement that's reasonable for every day that you have to wait and we will pay you a settlement if we completely lose it. Oh and yeah if you ask we will refund the checked bag fee too

But no you want a fucking guarantee too? Do you realize that even with the purchase of a ticket you're not guaranteed to travel? It one of the first lines of the terms of transportation.

You get pissed when people get mad that a storys not in the paper because of deadline and you can't explain it to them cause they wouldn't understand. Same thing here. Purchasing a ticket doesn't give you the right to demand anything especially at the rates most of you pay.

Put the average price in the fare? Maybe for a savvy traveler who would understand that but the new generation of travelers, the bus riders, won't get it. They search kayak and priceline and take the lowest fare. Be damned if you don't have to transfer from dca to iad in Washington. And then wonder why were not paying for a shuttle between the two? You paid less than 200 for that ticket! Fuck you! You're acting as your own travel agent. Of course no one TOLD you about it, you're the one who's booking the goddamn thing. You pay attention.

If anything the Wright amendment bolstered southwests model. Made them who they are now

Sorry about the rant but its crazy you hear and read this stuff all the time. It is a business.

 

Take a look at the carry on bags people bring that are "airline approved" to fit in the bins.

Those won't fit under the seats, or barely might fit under if you kick and stomp the top. Backpacks will fit under as will computer bags or other small bags.

But the roll-a-board type bags won't. Airlines know this.

I blame the gate agents for not checking, though. They see these bags at ticketing and allow people to take them to be gate-checked, thus avoiding the charge. Now they're going to charge everyone.

 

Then fucking run it like one.

 

Twice in 40 years of flying my bags were misplaced, and each time delivered to my hotel within 24 hours. I'd say that's a pretty good record.
People can add. I have to assume most folks factor in baggage charges when they're considering making reservations.