Americans could stand to travel with less luggage but still, this is a move in the wrong direction. So many of these extra fees were slapped together when the cost of fuel went through the roof and as expected, now that fuel prices are lower the fees are not going away. If anything, there are now more of them. The airlines want to nickle and dime customers to death and the routine is getting old. It's also encouraging more people to drag even more into the cabin which is going to make for even longer (and more miserable) boarding.
Squeezing more out of fewer customers is now the approach by the consultants in this industry but hopefully someone out there will eventually tap into customer anger and think about winning over customers again instead of kicking them. Finding a pricey business consultant that has an ounce of common sense might be asking for too much though.
Fees to check bags on international flights are creeping in and may be here to stay. In the past three months, all the big U.S. carriers have added $50 fees to check a second bag on flights to Europe. Delta and Continental are charging second-bag fees for flights to Latin America, too.
We've flown this route before, with domestic bag fees. United Airlines started with a fee to check a second bag last year, and other carriers followed. The wave of international bag fees got started July 1 when Delta began charging to check a second bag between the U.S. and Europe.
