Crandall hasn’t run an airline for 8 years. He should be ignored.

Southwest Airlines has figured out very well how to run an airline and make money. Had the government not subsidized much of the industry – through post-9/11 loans and assumption of pension plans – the industry would be more right-sized than it is today. Not only Southwest but also Alaska, JetBlue, and Continental would be making money. I don’t think any of them are asking for reregulation.

I don’t mind charging for the bags, especially a 2nd bag. I didn’t like the 1st bag charge just cuz so many of us could see some yocals trying to bring too much onto the plane. That cost needs to be built into the ticket. Maybe they can lower the weight limit on it to 30 – 40 lbs to help raise some cash.

When I flew how last Christmas I shipped things back by UPS. Same with a bunch of the stuff I got for Christmas. It’s cheaper and in many ways easier. I didn’t have to carry it from baggage claim to the bus to the lot to the car and then into my place. It was already there waiting for me inside.

I can see why Crandall and others have called for “re-regulation” of the airlines. The old boys are scrambling to figure out how to run their business let alone how to make money doing it.

That’s exciting: I’ve noticed multiple times that people who do actual work, do experientally understand the law of diminishing marginal utility very well, and it’s implications in incentives and disincentives. It’s only the intellectuals who keep denying it. (For example, in this case: some people value the discomfort caused by carrying the bag on board at $1000, $500, $120, $100, $80, $3, $10, $5, $1. Those who value it less than $15 will carry them on board.)

Your typical business traveler travels often enough that they make use of frequent-flyer programs, and thus actually has brand loyalty (is willing to spend a few extra bucks to travel on his preferred airline if he has to pay out-of-pocket, and many employers are willing to drop a few extra bucks to keep those employees happy). Which, of course, is why all the airlines announcing these fees are explicitly stating that preferred (elite, etc) frequent flyers are exempt from these fees– even though most of us could expense them from our employer anyway.

There are a lot of things wrong with the airline industry, but in this case they’ve determined that the added seats sold by trying to shave a few dollars off the price of a ticket sold online is worth the traveler aggravation and disloyalty that will result from charging for bags. They may or may not be correct, but I understand what they’re basing these policies on. It’s a very price-driven market, and much more heavily based on the price of the ticket than the total cost of all the nickel-and-dime fees.

If I could ship the blasted car seats ahead, I would really be thrilled.

Call the airline. I think a carseat may be an exempted item from the charge. When I called American & United for a trip in June, they don’t count the carseat as an added bag (at least not for a child younger than 2 years, like my son). Obviously, different airlines may have different procedures, and for all I know AA and UA have changed theirs since June, so call them yourself, but it might be worth trying.

In the end, due to travel plans for my wife and I last time, we ended up renting a car and renting the car seat with it. It’s easier than carrying that big heavy sucker through the airport, finding a plastic bag to protect it, etc!

I’d rather not pay that but it’s also not the end of the world. $15 bucks is the cost of dinner for one in a nice place – that’s piddly. Also worth it not to schelp my bags all the way down the terminal.

I work in the airline catering industry, and I was told that they would be charging $2.00 for a can of soda and $2.00 for a bottle of water, to go into effect on Aug. 1st.

We are awaiting new diagrams from US Airways for the assembling of the beverage carts to reflect this change.

My wife is a flight attendant, and the very first thing she said when hearing about charging for checked bags was, “Oh great! Now we’re going to have to deal with too many carry-ons.” LOL

everyone is hauling all of their bags to the gate and either bringing them on the plane or checking them at the gate for free

Can the executives at US Airways be so stupid that they did not predict this response? Or perhaps they short-sold their stock options.

Anyone with more than 4 connected neurons could figure out that this policy would drive nearly all passengers into carrying-on as much luggage as possible.

This policy makes sense only if US Airways has a severe shortage of baggage handlers.