Airlines and new baggage fees

[MysteryGirl]

Has anyone out there experienced the new fee structure with the airlines? USAirways is charging excessive fees for luggage and even more if they go over their weight limits. My carryon bag weighs more than the allocated amount. By the time you've paid for your checked luggage - that fee now exceeds the actual ticket price.

Unless you fly First Class. I try as often as possible - by using my air miles to bump up, but at times it's simply impossible because of overbooking.

Any ideas out there? It looks like I may be shipping everything to my destinations.

As long as we're talking about flying and fees - USAir is now charging for WATER! No more free pop/soda's in coach. A can of Coke is now $3???

[Diver Kat]

Originally Posted by MysteryGirl

Has anyone out there experienced the new fee structure with the airlines? USAirways is charging excessive fees for luggage and even more if they go over their weight limits. My carryon bag weighs more than the allocated amount. By the time you've paid for your checked luggage - that fee now exceeds the actual ticket price.

We've been lucky and last few trips were booked before the airlines went fee crazy. Our December trip is on Southwest Airlines - and they don't charge till you hit checked bag #3. Our March trip to Cozumel on Continental will be our first 'baggage fee' flight, so we trying to see if we can get everything into 3 checked bags (1 each, and 1 shared), and only have to pay for the 1 extra. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by MysteryGirl

As long as we're talking about flying and fees - USAir is now charging for WATER! No more free pop/soda's in coach. A can of Coke is now $3???

I can deal with the sodas, but charging for water is just wrong. You do your best to stay hydrated when traveling, and now you can't even get water?? Just wait till someone gets dehydrated, passes out and then sues the crap out of them ....

[Bigg_Budd]

My gosh woman, what are you packing? A third grader? I've never heard of any weight restrictions for carry-ons, just size requirements. Looking at their site:

Carry-on baggage
You are allowed one carry-on bag and one personal item. Personal items include a purse, briefcase, laptop or diaper bag. Carry-on baggage must be stowed in carry-on compartments of the aircraft, under a seat, or in an overhead compartment.

Size requirements
Up to 51 in/129 cm (11 x 14 x 26 in or 28 x 35 x 66 cm)

As for checked bags, their prices seem fair. $15 for the first and $25 for the second. That's $40 to check 100 lbs. worth of luggage...

[PaulThomas]

Carry-ons are weight limited, but I've never seen them being weighted. The overhead bins can only support a certain amount of weight and while you probably think that 15lb extra won't break anything but it's not that simple. If many passengers do it, that 15lb grows very quickly into a serious amount of weight but the risks would still be fairly low. The read danger is if you encounter turbulence or if the pilot has to make an evasive maneuver that puts G's on the airplane. That extra weight 15lb would now weight 30lb at 2G and 60lb at 4G and the bins would likely fail.

[rawalker]

I got back from Cancun a few weeks ago. My wife and I flew USAirways. Carry on items haven't changed just the checked baggage.
They charged $15 for the first checked bag up to 50#. Second will cost $25 and so will overweight 51-70# bags.

I agree with Diver Kat the water charge is going too far!
Airport security won't let you take water from home through and then if you purchase water after passing through security you still aren't allowed to take it on the plane.

I think it's time to get some more regulation in commercial air travel...

My thinking is a customer bill of rights!

There should be minimal required services on all flights.

Providing water should be one of those.

Not making people wait inside a plane that is on the ground should be another right. Whether it is a delay for mechanical reasons, take off or space at the gate related, accomidations should be made after an appropriately short time to remove passengers.

If weight/space on the plane is such a factor give us the option to pay by the pound/sqft that way we small skinny people can get their moneys worth by bringing more luggage and large people will need the cough up for the space they actually occupy. leave your bags at home and get a bigger personal space allowance.

[Moxie]

One of the many reasons I try to fly WestJet whenever I can. No fuel surcharge, no baggage fees unless you take 3+ bags.

How many airlines have reduced their surcharges now that oil has dropped so dramatically?

[Bigg_Budd]

Originally Posted by PaulThomas

Carry-ons are weight limited, but I've never seen them being weighted. The overhead bins can only support a certain amount of weight and while you probably think that 15lb extra won't break anything but it's not that simple. If many passengers do it, that 15lb grows very quickly into a serious amount of weight but the risks would still be fairly low. The read danger is if you encounter turbulence or if the pilot has to make an evasive maneuver that puts G's on the airplane. That extra weight 15lb would now weight 30lb at 2G and 60lb at 4G and the bins would likely fail.

Well, yeah. The OP said her carry-on exceeded the weight limit. Of course added weight will test the integrity of the overhead bins. My point was more that no carrier (that I know of) even weighs carry-ons. So I guess it's not that big of a concern...

[Diver Kat]

Originally Posted by rawalker

They charged $15 for the first checked bag up to 50#. Second will cost $25 and so will overweight 51-70# bags.

Of course that's each way ... right? So we're talking $80 added to your ticket price.

Originally Posted by rawalker

Airport security won't let you take water from home through and then if you purchase water after passing through security you still aren't allowed to take it on the plane.

I have managed to bring a sports bottle I filled up in the airport on to a plane without a problem, but I might have just gotten lucky.

Originally Posted by rawalker

Not making people wait inside a plane that is on the ground should be another right. Whether it is a delay for mechanical reasons, take off or space at the gate related, accommodation's should be made after an appropriately short time to remove passengers.

I'm with you on this one ... I've sat on the tarmac at DFW for nearly a couple hours once - after landing - waiting for a gate to open. Since there was a storm, no planes were departing. I think they should have moved an unboarded plane to let us off. Another time we sat at the gate in Houston, but stuck on the plane for well over an hour, waiting for a storm to pass, so we could take off. But we had to stay on the plane. I can't even imagine how people who have been on those planes stuck for 6-8 hours must of felt!

[kong]

It is crazy these days.

I had a flight out of LAX in August. My bag was 51 pounds (weight limit was 50) and the guy told me it would be $75 unless I could drop some weight. I told him he was out of his damn mind if he thought I was paying $75 for a pound so I took a pair of shoes out of my bag and stuck them in my friends bag that only weighted 30 pounds. Now we were both under the weight limit and I asked him what the big deal was since the same amount of weight was still going on the plane and he just stared at me.

[namabiru]

Originally Posted by kong

It is crazy these days.

I had a flight out of LAX in August. My bag was 51 pounds (weight limit was 50) and the guy told me it would be $75 unless I could drop some weight. I told him he was out of his damn mind if he thought I was paying $75 for a pound so I took a pair of shoes out of my bag and stuck them in my friends bag that only weighted 30 pounds. Now we were both under the weight limit and I asked him what the big deal was since the same amount of weight was still going on the plane and he just stared at me.

If the idiot didn't throw a wobbly because you, *gasp*, opened your bag in the airport, then, yes, Idiot is out of his damn mind. Or Idiot is the product of the Bush No Child Left Behind education system, but got left behind in math.

Idiot is still probably trying to figure out what you meant.

The US is just getting more mental by the day. *shakes head*