Checked-Bag Fees: Flight Attendants Speak Out

It's about time someone stood up and said that enough is enough with extra charges for baggage. Many airlines now charge for checked-bags to save money. Do these airlines really feel that they're saving anything? Charging checked-bag fees will likely cost them more in the long run because some flight attendants are claiming injuries due to helping passengers with carry-on luggage, according to usatoday.com.

How can this be? Carry-on luggage is supposed to be small luggage, right? Wrong! According to usatoday.com, individual airlines set their own standards for size limits. The big question is whether or not "size limit" does anything to regulate the carry-on luggage business. It doesn't, not really. To save money, passengers will cram their entire house into carry-on luggage if they have to do so.

Rather than learning to pack smartly for an extended trip, passengers buy luggage with lots of pockets, wheels, and a handle. These passengers then stuff everything they can in this luggage, often making the luggage so heavy that they can't even lift it to put it in the overhead bin. This means that the flight attendants have to help in order to get everyone on the plane quickly.

It doesn't stop here. Sometimes, they have to smash the luggage into the overhead bin just to get the door to shut, meaning that it could pop open and luggage could come out during the flight, possibly hurting another passenger. So, how does this save money? It doesn't, at least not in the long run because a passenger gets to file a claim against the airline if a passenger gets hurt on the airplane. The luggage owner walks away.

If this isn't enough, what about toes? Yes, toes! Some passengers stuff their luggage so full that they cannot even maneuver the luggage when rolling it around, and they can't carry the luggage because it's too heavy. So, this means that if you don't stay several feet back from any person who is rolling luggage, you'll likely get your toes run over, and don't expect an apology. The passenger likely never knows he/she did this.

So, besides hurt backs, smashed toes, sprung locks on overhead bins, and backed-up lines on the airplane, nothing is wrong with overstuffed luggage. Still, the airlines think they're saving money, but they're not. They're endangering the health of their flight attendants, inconveniencing other passengers, and frustrating all involved. The airlines that charge for checked bags also fail to have pre-boarding for those who don't have lots of baggage, so this means that if you carry on little/no baggage, you lose!

Resource

usatoday.com, March 22, 2010, "Flight Attendants: We don't like checked-bag fees, either"