Airlines Weighing Fee For Oversize Carry-Ons

[Lakelad]

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Airlines Weighing Fee for Oversize Carry-Ons

June 05, 2012 - New York Times

By Joe Sharkey

HERE’S something that the big airlines really wish we wouldn’t discuss right now, with planes flying full, fares rising, fuel prices stabilizing and customers generally resigned to the air travel system:

Some domestic airlines are weighing the idea of discouraging passengers from lugging oversize carry-on bags onto planes by imposing a $25 charge, at the gate, on bags that exceed the posted size limits. Alaska Airlines, the No. 7 carrier in domestic market share, is already quietly doing just that, in fact.

Spirit Airlines initiated a major new approach to carry-on bags almost two years ago when it began charging passengers $45 to stash carry-ons in overhead bins. Spirit plans to raise that fee at the gate this fall to $100 per bag. But Spirit’s success in discouraging carry-ons has evidently resonated with the bigger airlines, at least on the subject of passengers who now gate-check oversize bags free.

“Everybody who flies knows that it’s just a mess boarding at the gate,” as passengers wait while carry-ons are stored on the plane, said Jay Sorensen, the president of IdeaWorks, which specializes in airline fee revenue strategies. Because of fees for checked bags, “airlines have conditioned many travelers to just take a bag to the gate and let the gate agent or the flight attendant on board the airplane sort it out,” he said, adding, “It’s a horrible system.”

Seldom do passengers, gate agents, flight attendants and airline management all agree on anything — but all agree that the current system is awful. Along with the unpleasant airport security checkpoint drill, the glum ritual of boarding a crowded plane and hoping to find space in a crammed overhead bin is one of the two high-anxiety choke points in air travel. Many flight attendants tell me that the bin-storage problem is the part of their job that they dislike the most.

Airlines created the overhead bin problems in 2008 when they started aggressively imposing charges on checked bags. Airline revenue from checked bag fees has jumped, to $3.36 billion last year from a mere $464.3 million in 2007.

Adding a new fee for gate-checking some bags isn’t something an airline will approach lightly. I could practically see airline spokesmen cringe when I called to ask about tentative plans for charging for oversize carry-on bags at the gate.

"But anyone who gets on a plane, or works on one, knows that bags the size of Winnebagos and the people who break rules by hauling them on board are a continuing nuisance."

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[Don Hudson]

Some observations...

People carry things on board because they either need them for in-flight work, the convenience of not waiting for luggage on arrival or are afraid that their important possessions will be stolen or damaged.

The first reason is easier to deal with because most carry-on's are laptops, personal sound/video systems, books/papers and don't occupy the kind of space we're seeing used up especially in the overhead.

The second reason isn't a very good one these days because baggage delivery is a primary concern for airlines and they've improved dramatically.

The third reason likely isn't realistic but it is the greatest fear, especially if the object is proprietary, critical to functions at one's destination (especially if one is changing flights), perishable, irreplaceable or confidential. The user's solution to this fear is to be in control of one's possessions at all time, so the luggage gets carried on board instead of checked.

Such fears are difficult to respond to. Statistics regarding the chief concerns, (lost, damaged, stolen) are meaningless if one has experienced such an event. Yet the fears are likely unfounded, overall.

There are a few cases where appropriate shipping gear is required for specialized objects such as musical instruments, photographic/video equipment and other items which the passenger needs right away at desination and can't be carried in the cabin. There is the perception (others here can speak to the reality...no offence is intended because I'm speaking about perception) that "due care" is not always provided for valuable, fragile objects such as violins/guitars (due to extremely low humidity, not low temps as the bulk holds are heated to 10C or more), electronic test gear and so on.

Animals are no longer permitted on board at AC I understand. Not sure at WJ.

[spreadsheet]

Some observations...

People carry things on board because they either need them for in-flight work, the convenience of not waiting for luggage on arrival or are afraid that their important possessions will be stolen or damaged.

The first reason is easier to deal with because most carry-on's are laptops, personal sound/video systems, books/papers and don't occupy the kind of space we're seeing used up especially in the overhead.

The second reason isn't a very good one these days because baggage delivery is a primary concern for airlines and they've improved dramatically.

The third reason likely isn't realistic but it is the greatest fear, especially if the object is proprietary, critical to functions at one's destination (especially if one is changing flights), perishable, irreplaceable or confidential. The user's solution to this fear is to be in control of one's possessions at all time, so the luggage gets carried on board instead of checked.

Such fears are difficult to respond to. Statistics regarding the chief concerns, (lost, damaged, stolen) are meaningless if one has experienced such an event. Yet the fears are likely unfounded, overall.

There are a few cases where appropriate shipping gear is required for specialized objects such as musical instruments, photographic/video equipment and other items which the passenger needs right away at desination and can't be carried in the cabin. There is the perception (others here can speak to the reality...no offence is intended because I'm speaking about perception) that "due care" is not always provided for valuable, fragile objects such as violins/guitars (due to extremely low humidity, not low temps as the bulk holds are heated to 10C or more), electronic test gear and so on.

Animals are no longer permitted on board at AC I understand. Not sure at WJ.

I'd suspect the biggest reason now is to avoid the checked bag fees.

[chockalicious]

Re the possible new fees...... They will = long departure delays due processing the bags and the payments. Far smarter to do what we did for the Rome departures ex YYZ in the 60s. Have an agent at the entrance to the boarding area (means you would need to build barriers) to screen the baggage and at that point collect the charges. Along with this of course you would need to increase your min. cutoff times. Revenue earned might just be less than the additonal costs / impact of collection.

Maybe far better to reinstate the 2 bag checked limits or reduce the cost for the extra checked bags

Somewhat disagree with this.

Agent at the boarding area does not work because the facilities are not set up that way, no airport authority is going to build barriers to facilitate. In terms of delayong flights it is probably a matter of pick your poison. Would the potential delay to collect some extra revenue outweigh the delay that happens when a bunch of oversize carry on has to be taken down the stairs to the belly or the extra time needed to shuffle and reshuffle the overhead bins.

[J.O.]

The problem with planning to charge for carry-ons is that people quickly get wise to it, go to the check-in with a small carry-on, then go back to the car and get the real carry-on. Security isn't going to police it for you so you're left with policing it at the gate or on board. Either way it adds delays and or frustrations including unruly passengers who will inevitably argue with the unfortunate staff who get to administer it.

I have a novel idea and I'm pretty sure it's never been thought of before - charge enough on the ticket to cover the cost of providing the service.

Naww, that'd never work.

[chockalicious]

Airlines build these barriers every day (posts and rope) to herd their passengers through the checkin area, real simple to do the same post security at the actual gate. But of course there would need to be a desire..... again best solution would be to go back to full service fares.

I can almost guarantee that the first time an airline put up stantions at a gate there would be an army of Airport Authority types down there asking that they be removed. No easy solution on this one but Spirit mnay have the right idea, basically escalating charges on where you check in your carry on.