With the announcement that Northwest would be charging for the first checked bag for all flights purchased on or after July 10th for travel on or after August 28th, it brings the total to four legacy carriers who charge for anything you put under the plane. The others are American, United, and US Airways(but they just about charge for everything nowadays).
Our sister blog, Infrequent Flier, recently had a post on how to save money by avoiding baggage fees. It can be found here.
A continual reminder of the issues with this system has been made by Chris Elliott, travel blogger, columnist, and reader of our little blog. He asks: Are Airlines That Charge for Checked Luggage More Responsible For Your Stuff? … Unfortunately, the answer seems to be no.
Higher standards make sense. When you take luggage as part of your fare, it is an amenity provided to you, like your seat, or your free beverage(on some carriers). When you pay a charge for it, it creates a higher level of responsibility on the part of the airline.
As the Consumerist reports in a recent post, American refunded a recent passenger’s airfare after canceling his flight to New York, but not his checked bag fee. They are refusing to refund it, even though they have the fee listed in their system unless he sends his baggage claim receipt and a formal claim letter to Tulsa, Oklaholma. Ultimately, the passenger’s letter of complaint to executives netted him back his fifteen dollars, but after much anguish.
We continue to think it should be a guarantee that if your bag fails to make it to its destination with you, your fifteen dollars will be refunded, even if the airlines would never do that. Any thoughts?