Time for some decent re-regulation. We've bailed out the airlines with millions of dollars, and they're now making millions of dollars in profits again. And they keep insisting on their junk fees?
What gets me is that it seems that after you have bought a ticket and chose your seats on major airlines like Delta or United then they change their flights to use some regional carrier then have to pay extra for seats on these regional carriers. But you arent told that upfront when you buy the ticket. For example I recently bought tickets to fly to Quebec in July on United. Several flights were then changed a few weeks later and I ended up buying seats on 4 flights subbed out to regional carriers. I really got upset when my last flight home was originally to arrive home at 3:15pm then was changed to arrive at 12:05AM; and I called United because there was a flight they could have changed me to arriving at 2:05 PM but they wanted to charge me more for the flight when I tried to modify it online. Of course I had to wait an hour or so to speak with someone but she changed it for free, but because it was yet another regional carrier I had to go in and pick my seats and ended up paying another $14/seat. Its not all that much but its annoyingly ridiculous.
Weigh your packed bag BEFORE you leave the house. Make adjustments necessary to be a bit UNDER the weight limit - gives you wiggle room if your scale and theirs do not match. We do not know what their scale is set at for tare (might it already read a pound or two with nothing on the scale?).
This will continue until our government bans all these absurd charges and refuses any foreign carrier with such fees access to the U.S. Write Transportation Secretary Pete and protest.
If someone takes a bag that is 40 lb overweight they should expect to pay a hefty fee. They could have spilt the load between two bags. Someone else has to lift their bag putting their back at risk. It's not a new fee, it's been around for at least 20 years.
I'm wondering when they're going to get around to charging more for extremely overweight passengers. For those who are so big they take up the space of most of two economy/coach seats, it isn't reasonable that the unfortunate person unknowingly seated next to them must put up with that for any length of time (or, heaven forbid, *between* two of that size), nor is it reasonable for the airline to lose the revenue on that seat. And since airlines are trending towards ever-narrower seats, with space around the seat having been inextricably coupled with the price of that seat/class, the obvious fix (wider seats) will never happen without a government mandate (which will IMO never happen in the US due to the strong airline lobby). Still, talk about a hot button issue. I'm sure no airline or government wants to take a firm stance on that issue or put themselves in the position to enforce it.
Several years ago on a Chilean airline - checked bags were free, charge for carryon overhead bags, even Santiago to Easter Island. No shoving, no aisle clogs, no one trying to shove a massive "carryon" into overhead lockers. No big bucks for the airline but made for a nice flight.
The other side of the coin; people with three or more carry on bags. And then at the gate with UA or AS, they announce that the flight is full and please check your bags for FREE. I carry a small backpack that can fit under the seat because of this. I also use my airline credit card to check my bag. Jet Blue is the only one to say, that bag/duffel/backpack won’t fit and you have to check it. And charge for checking. Once on the plane the Jet Blue stewards watch as people try to put more than one bag in the overhead, and the stewards say “one bag has to go under the seat in front of you!”
To speed up loading, TSA could help at security by saying “one carry on that fits the template, and a purse or briefcase.
Overweight fees are reasonable in concept, but can be exploited by making the fee far beyond what could be called reasonable. I avoid them by using the bathroom scale to weigh the packed bag, modifying my packing if required. If I fly home with the same bag and contents, I know I'll be ok unless my souvenirs are heavy.
If you buy a ticket through a third party rather than directly from the airline, pay attention to small details about what your fare includes. I was in Colombia in Dec 2022 and my travel partner found out he had to pay for his carry on bag when we checked into the flight. He booked through Expedia and didn't realize he'd purchased a fare that did not include carry on bags. I was in the Philippines last month on a photography tour and the group was charged over $1,000 in overweight baggage fees because the tour company that purchased our domestic tickets bought the cheapest economy tickets that came with only 10kg of checked baggage, even though the 20kg economy ticket was only a few dollars more. We were able to change our return tickets, but finding out when we checked in meant we had to pay the overage or miss our flight. This is also why I avoid buying airline tickets through third parties.
Time for some decent re-regulation. We've bailed out the airlines with millions of dollars, and they're now making millions of dollars in profits again. And they keep insisting on their junk fees?
What's wrong with this picture?
What gets me is that it seems that after you have bought a ticket and chose your seats on major airlines like Delta or United then they change their flights to use some regional carrier then have to pay extra for seats on these regional carriers. But you arent told that upfront when you buy the ticket. For example I recently bought tickets to fly to Quebec in July on United. Several flights were then changed a few weeks later and I ended up buying seats on 4 flights subbed out to regional carriers. I really got upset when my last flight home was originally to arrive home at 3:15pm then was changed to arrive at 12:05AM; and I called United because there was a flight they could have changed me to arriving at 2:05 PM but they wanted to charge me more for the flight when I tried to modify it online. Of course I had to wait an hour or so to speak with someone but she changed it for free, but because it was yet another regional carrier I had to go in and pick my seats and ended up paying another $14/seat. Its not all that much but its annoyingly ridiculous.
Weigh your packed bag BEFORE you leave the house. Make adjustments necessary to be a bit UNDER the weight limit - gives you wiggle room if your scale and theirs do not match. We do not know what their scale is set at for tare (might it already read a pound or two with nothing on the scale?).
This will continue until our government bans all these absurd charges and refuses any foreign carrier with such fees access to the U.S. Write Transportation Secretary Pete and protest.
If someone takes a bag that is 40 lb overweight they should expect to pay a hefty fee. They could have spilt the load between two bags. Someone else has to lift their bag putting their back at risk. It's not a new fee, it's been around for at least 20 years.
I'm wondering when they're going to get around to charging more for extremely overweight passengers. For those who are so big they take up the space of most of two economy/coach seats, it isn't reasonable that the unfortunate person unknowingly seated next to them must put up with that for any length of time (or, heaven forbid, *between* two of that size), nor is it reasonable for the airline to lose the revenue on that seat. And since airlines are trending towards ever-narrower seats, with space around the seat having been inextricably coupled with the price of that seat/class, the obvious fix (wider seats) will never happen without a government mandate (which will IMO never happen in the US due to the strong airline lobby). Still, talk about a hot button issue. I'm sure no airline or government wants to take a firm stance on that issue or put themselves in the position to enforce it.
Several years ago on a Chilean airline - checked bags were free, charge for carryon overhead bags, even Santiago to Easter Island. No shoving, no aisle clogs, no one trying to shove a massive "carryon" into overhead lockers. No big bucks for the airline but made for a nice flight.
The other side of the coin; people with three or more carry on bags. And then at the gate with UA or AS, they announce that the flight is full and please check your bags for FREE. I carry a small backpack that can fit under the seat because of this. I also use my airline credit card to check my bag. Jet Blue is the only one to say, that bag/duffel/backpack won’t fit and you have to check it. And charge for checking. Once on the plane the Jet Blue stewards watch as people try to put more than one bag in the overhead, and the stewards say “one bag has to go under the seat in front of you!”
To speed up loading, TSA could help at security by saying “one carry on that fits the template, and a purse or briefcase.
Overweight fees are reasonable in concept, but can be exploited by making the fee far beyond what could be called reasonable. I avoid them by using the bathroom scale to weigh the packed bag, modifying my packing if required. If I fly home with the same bag and contents, I know I'll be ok unless my souvenirs are heavy.
The airlines remain consistent in their greed and disregard for their customers.
If you buy a ticket through a third party rather than directly from the airline, pay attention to small details about what your fare includes. I was in Colombia in Dec 2022 and my travel partner found out he had to pay for his carry on bag when we checked into the flight. He booked through Expedia and didn't realize he'd purchased a fare that did not include carry on bags. I was in the Philippines last month on a photography tour and the group was charged over $1,000 in overweight baggage fees because the tour company that purchased our domestic tickets bought the cheapest economy tickets that came with only 10kg of checked baggage, even though the 20kg economy ticket was only a few dollars more. We were able to change our return tickets, but finding out when we checked in meant we had to pay the overage or miss our flight. This is also why I avoid buying airline tickets through third parties.
I've seen more airlines weighing carry on bags that otherwise fit the size dimensions.