This story is on the Aviation Blog of the Dallas Morning News.  In short, Delta has decided to charge $50 for the 2nd checked bag on their flights starting shortly.  Many airlines are now charging fees for the first checked bag as well.

This is just bad, bad form.  While I certainly agree that an airline can, and perhaps should, charge fees for various services, those fees should be charged on amenities not basic services.  Carrying baggage on a flight is, in the US, a basic service.  This just makes them more vulnerable to LCC superstars such as Southwest Airlines.  Southwest has been using a great “No Fees” ad campaign in their strong markets with great success and I suspect that these fees for basic services will be the issues that drive fliers away from their chosen legacy carriers. 

Let’s see . . . my choice is to fly AA and pay fees for a checked bag and enjoy a high probability of a delayed flight or I can fly SWA and expect reasonable comfort (often on the same type of airplane), 2 bags checked for free, generally lower prices and friendly service.   Yeah, hard choice isn’t it?

Starting this year, I made a decision that I would no longer buy air travel using frequent flier miles as a decision point.  It’s too hard to redeem the points and now legacy airlines are charging ever increasing fees to redeem them.   Why bother?  I think you now get more value by shopping for the low price and schedule that fits.

Filed under: Airline Service by ajax