US Airways Raising Baggage Fees (again)

[6rugrats]

Are you out of your tree? Charge passengers who paid anything up to 30 times the economy fare and then nickel and dime them for $15 to check their bags.

 

Passengers in the front cabin have more important things to worry about....like what year the Krug will be ;)

 

 

 

Agree, people in F or C have already "paid" many times over, either with money or BIS miles for their "free" baggage allowance.

[jaybird from SC]

The rumblings I've heard about carryons ... some airlines are assessing their free gate-checking policy for carryons when a passenger shows up at the gate and tries to board with pieces that exceed the airline's policy in quantity (yes, I've seen people schlepp 4 pieces as carryon), weight (what in the world is in that bag, 60 pounds of bricks), or size (many are just too damn big for the overhead without that one piece taking up 2/3 of one bin). Makes no sense for those bins to be crammed to capacity after only 2/3 of passengers have boarded.

 

So, yes, I envision more enforcement of the carryon policy but, likely, no additional fees for passengers in keeping with the airlines's carryon policy.

I totally agree. If you are a first time flyer and you look at the overhead bins, Wouldn't you "assume" the bin over your seat was "yours" to store your carryons in? How many times have you gotten on the plane and there's nowhere to put your stuff because like you said, people have hogged all the bins for oversized/overpacked luggage.

[6rugrats]

I totally agree. If you are a first time flyer and you look at the overhead bins, Wouldn't you "assume" the bin over your seat was "yours" to store your carryons in? How many times have you gotten on the plane and there's nowhere to put your stuff because like you said, people have hogged all the bins for oversized/overpacked luggage.

 

And you know, this is the airline's fault for not enforcing their own policy. I have seen airlines not allowing coach passengers to use the overhead bins in first or business class, but any overhead bin space, even if it's not above your seat, is fair game in coach. Would be pretty hard to enforce a rule that made people store baggage directly over their own seat.

[pms4104]

I totally agree. If you are a first time flyer and you look at the overhead bins, Wouldn't you "assume" the bin over your seat was "yours" to store your carryons in? How many times have you gotten on the plane and there's nowhere to put your stuff because like you said, people have hogged all the bins for oversized/overpacked luggage.

Generally, when we flew before the airlines instituted the checked bag fees, we selected seats near the front of economy class and were in group 5 or 6 to board. No worries ... still room in the overhead for our measly carryons.

 

Last year, we selected seats near the rear and were in boarding group 2 and had ample room for our small carryons ... but, by the time the airline was boarding group 5 and 6, they announced that the overhead bins were full and any carryons not fitting under your seat would be gate-checked.

 

I've heard many passengers comment in the past couple of weeks that airlines are getting "picky" and making them put their carryons in the template to be certain they are not oversized. In the near future, I believe airlines will wise up and, when passengers exceed the carryon limit by size or quanity, they will be permitted to gate-check the excess only after they swipe a credit card for the appropriate fees. Wouldn't take a whole lot for card swipe machines to be installed at each and every gate.

[Globaliser]

The biggest disappointement (if you can call it that) is the promotion only applies to to trips booked after the enrollment is confirmed.

I'm not sure that this is correct. Although it's a bit academic now for anyone who hasn't already taken advantage of the promotion, because the closing date has now passed, I didn't read the T&C this way.

 

The actual words seem to have been carefully chosen. They say:-

Only bookings made after member's status has been upgraded reflect member's new status.

The usual rule of airline status is this: You qualify for the privileges applicable to your status on the day that you're seeking to exercise them. And these words are not inconsistent with that rule, because they specifically do not say that "Only bookings made after member's status has been upgraded qualify for the privileges of the upgraded status."

 

Remember, these privileges don't apply only to US Airways flights. Star Alliance Silver privileges extend across the entire Star Alliance, including to airlines that have no way of knowing the date on which your Silver status began, and therefore whether your booking was made before or after your upgrade date. (For anyone concerned about baggage fees, this importantly includes United Airlines.) They therefore have to accord privileges according to you status on the date on which you seek to exercise them. And I think that US Airways is likely to do the same.

 

What those words do mean, however, is this. If you have already made a booking and your Dividend Miles number is already in the booking, that booking will not show that you are a Silver Preferred member, even though you are. In many airline systems, you can fix that by getting the airline to delete your frequent flyer number and reinserting it into the booking. The act of inserting a frequent flyer number is often the step that associates the appropriate status level with the booking, even though that status may change afterwards. I think it's likely that these words are only intended to warn of that, although they may also have been inserted to try to dissuade people, by gentle misleading, from signing up for this promotion just to qualify for existing bookings.

[SelectSys]

...

Airline seats have become commodities. Cars, TV's, and clothes have not (yet). Most people do not differentiate between an airline seat on airline X vs. an airline seat on airline Y. Commodities are by nature price-driven. And "value" and "airline" in the same sentence is an oxymoron :) ...

 

This truly is the heart of the matter. For the vast majority of US-based travelers air transporation is truly undifferentiated and hence a commodity driven by price.

 

Most consumers just don't fly enough to "feel" the difference - especially in coach. I do think the value differences exist but for the most part the airlines are pretty poor in making these differences known to consumers. Perhaps the best "marketeer" in explaining their value proposition is WN. They pitch frequent point to point service and low fares (note I didn't say lowest).

 

I must admit that I succumbed to this sentiment of chasing the absolute lowest cost airfare last December with disastrous effects. The result of going with the lowest cost carrier resulted in me missing the first days of cruise and incurring several $k of unanticipated expense. If I would have paid $100 more per ticket on AA everything would have been fine.

[April-in-NC]

I'm not sure that this is correct. Although it's a bit academic now for anyone who hasn't already taken advantage of the promotion, because the closing date has now passed, I didn't read the T&C this way.

 

The actual words seem to have been carefully chosen. They say:-The usual rule of airline status is this: You qualify for the privileges applicable to your status on the day that you're seeking to exercise them. And these words are not inconsistent with that rule, because they specifically do not say that "Only bookings made after member's status has been upgraded qualify for the privileges of the upgraded status."

 

Remember, these privileges don't apply only to US Airways flights. Star Alliance Silver privileges extend across the entire Star Alliance, including to airlines that have no way of knowing the date on which your Silver status began, and therefore whether your booking was made before or after your upgrade date. (For anyone concerned about baggage fees, this importantly includes United Airlines.) They therefore have to accord privileges according to you status on the date on which you seek to exercise them. And I think that US Airways is likely to do the same.

 

What those words do mean, however, is this. If you have already made a booking and your Dividend Miles number is already in the booking, that booking will not show that you are a Silver Preferred member, even though you are. In many airline systems, you can fix that by getting the airline to delete your frequent flyer number and reinserting it into the booking. The act of inserting a frequent flyer number is often the step that associates the appropriate status level with the booking, even though that status may change afterwards. I think it's likely that these words are only intended to warn of that, although they may also have been inserted to try to dissuade people, by gentle misleading, from signing up for this promotion just to qualify for existing bookings.

 

They updated my trial status before I took a return trip! When I checked into the airport yesterday I was "Silver" which saved my company the $20 baggage fee. :)

 

It was nice that I didn't have to call and update my status.