Mad about your bag? You might have luggage rage

Bag fees are big business. Here's how to beat airlines at their own game.

Sep 29, 2024

If you've ever struggled to squeeze your carry-on luggage into a ridiculously tiny overhead bin, or had to repack your bag because it was too heavy, or just lost your luggage, then you may already know luggage rage.

The rest of you, pay attention: Airlines have entered a new phase of greed, and they've zeroed in on your luggage. This year, domestic airlines increased the price of a checked bag, citing "higher costs." They also began cracking down on carry-ons.

The result: More airline passengers are furious because they're forced to downsize or pay extra for their baggage.

It's called luggage rage.

"Consumer frustration with airline baggage has increased," says Jonathan Marsico, CEO of now Ship&Play, a luggage delivery service. He points to a troubling increase in airline lost luggage rates and a surge in demand for luggage shipping.

In 2023, IT services provider SITA reported a sharp increase in the mishandled baggage rate by the airline industry — up almost 75 percent to 7.6 bags per thousand passengers from the previous year. Marsicao also says demand for luggage delivery increases by about 40 percent every year.

It's worse than that. There are widespread reports of passengers having luggage tantrums, and although the cause is easy to pinpoint, the solution remains elusive. After all, even the most devout minimalists have to carry some luggage.

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"People were angry"

Kelly Hayes-Raitt recalls an incident of luggage rage on a recent discount airline flying from Paris to Los Angeles via Reykjavik. She said her carry-on fit into the overhead compartment on the first leg of her flight on the same airline, which was on a smaller aircraft.

"But once we were in Reykjavik, the gate crew wanted 60 euros from me to carry the same suitcase on the larger, trans-Atlantic plane," she recalls. "People were angry. But they had no choice, so they paid."

One young woman refused. She had clearly chosen the low-fare airline to save a little money, and the 60 euro fee would be a hardship. She was frantically, and angrily unpacking her bag and indiscriminately tossing her personal belongings into the trash.

Hayes-Raitt, an author based in Lisbon, also consolidated her baggage into a smaller carry-on rather than agree to what she called a "shakedown."

Have you ever had luggage rage?

Please share your baggage horror stories in our comments section.

Why do passengers have luggage rage?

Luggage rage is happening for several reasons. New government rules, which force airlines to disclose all of their fees in an initial price quote, are focusing their revenue-generating efforts on cabin luggage. That translates into higher fees for both checked and carry-on bags and stricter enforcement. With planes flying at capacity this year, passengers are already on edge — wedged into ever-smaller spaces and given minimal food and beverages.

"The aircraft cabin is a stressful and vulnerable place to be and pushes people to angry outbursts more often than is the case in other places," says Jay Ternavan, founder of Jayway Travel.

Thomas Plante, a psychologist from Santa Clara, Calif., recalls arriving in San Francisco from Dublin. The luggage was delayed because of a staffing problem at SFO airport.

"It was very frustrating," he says. "People were losing their cool."

And why wouldn't they have a meltdown? After an 11-hour flight and having spent $30 for each piece of luggage, they now had to wait another hour and a half.

The worst experiences happen internationally, where discount airlines have adopted absurd size and weight requirements, obviously to squeeze more money from their customers. I have heard of passengers mutilating their luggage to make it fit — ripping wheels off their rollaboard or cutting handles or straps off their backpacks.

And none of this is done quietly, either. The angry passengers ritually disfigure their bags in front of the other boarding passengers, as if somehow their sacrifice will convince the airline of the error of its ways. It does not.

How to avoid luggage rage

Don't become a statistic on your next flight. Here's how you can avoid luggage rage:

Know the rules. They vary between airlines. Some regions, such as Southeast Asia and Australia, are extra strict. I remember the ticket agent at a discount Australian airline who wanted an extra $80 because I was over by less than a pound. I repacked, of course. You can find all the regulations on your airline's website. And remember, most of the rest of the world uses the metric system, so don't forget to do your conversion.

Pack light — really light. Embrace minimalism. Don't give the airline a chance to charge you for your personal belongings, experts say. Ideally, you should fit all of your luggage into a small, regulation-size carry-on. But don't push your luck. "Look, if you haven’t figured out by now that your oversized carry-on isn’t going to fit over your seat, I don’t know where you’ve been for the last decade," says travel advisor Kimberly Davis.

Avoid the worst offenders. Who is likely to ding you for your luggage? In the airline biz, they're called "ancillary revenue champs" — the airlines that truly excel at extracting every last penny from customers. I'll make it easy for you: Any airline known as an "ultra low fare" or "discount" carrier is likely to leave you with a bad case of luggage rage. You may be better off flying a more established legacy carrier that has a more reasonable policy. There are even airlines that include a checked bag in their fares.

Plante, the California psychologist, says the easiest way to avoid a meltdown is to change your mindset. "Lower your expectations," he says.

Luggage rage may get worse

Here's the problem: Airlines have almost exhausted the possibilities when it comes to squeezing extra revenue from passengers. The latest trend seems to be selling duty-free items more aggressively and pushing you to apply for one of their revenue-generating credit cards — both of which are likely to fall flat.

That means the only way they can keep the money flowing is to raise luggage fees and further restrict cabin baggage. And that will result in more tantrums, meltdowns and infuriated passengers dumping the contents of their carry-ons into the trash at the airport. If you travel with lots of luggage, they're probably gonna getcha.

No question about it, in the battle against luggage rage, the real winners are those who've mastered the art of traveling light.

What do you think?

Have you ever suffered from luggage rage? (I know I have.) The comments are open.

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