If a certain Senator has her way, a bill that forces airlines to allow one free checked bag (within weight limits), free passenger access to drinking water and restrooms will become law.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) hopes that her Airline BASICS Act would force Airlines to provide the services I mentioned above at no cost to passenger. The Bill would also require clearer disclosure of the various fees charged by airlines (that part I am supportive of).
I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall ever being charged for using a water fountain or for use of the restroom while on board or in an airport in the US or in most places around the world (there are a few exceptions in eastern Europe!). The Senator claims that air travel is already stressful and this bill will help reduce some of these stresses for passengers:
“When an airline advertises a flight, that is how much it should cost, plain and simple,” Landrieu said in a prepared statement. “Passengers should not be charged additional fees for checked or carry-on baggage, drinkable water or other reasonable requests. Air travel can be a stressful experience for many reasons, but unfair fees for basic amenities should not be one of them.”
In this blogger’s humble opinion, I think this is a very bad idea. The baggage fees that are being charged by airlines are one of the primary reasons airlines are able to survive what has become an extended recession for them. Only now are they starting to claw back to profitability after years of losses and bankruptcies that swept through the industry (and with AMR, we’re not done yet!).
This bill assumes that air travel is a right and not a privilege and that airlines need to sacrifice their viability in order to appease a loud minority of travelers. It doesn’t take into consideration that if airlines start to fail again, thousands upon thousands of jobs will again be lost in an economy that can ill afford to lose them. And does anyone think that fares will not rise dramatically in lieu of free checked baggage?
Airlines will collect approximate $3 billion in baggage fees alone this year. $3 billion that is very much the difference between survival and failure of the industry. It’s one thing for Washington to protect travelers against excessive delays as provided for in the Passenger Bill of Rights, but it’s a completely different matter to let Washington dictate to an airline how it generates it’s revenue.
While I respect the Senator’s right to propose legislation, I have to strongly disagree with this piece. It is shortsighted with tremendous potential for unintended consequences. I would suggest to the Senator to allow the dynamics of a free market society to run its course. If passengers don’t like the fees, no one is forcing them to board an airliner. As it stands now, $3 billion dollars of passenger money is voluntarily flowing to the airlines for checked baggage suggesting an acceptance of current fee structures that are in place.
As you can sense, I have a fairly strong opinion on this topic, and it’s only my opinion. I would like to hear what you think.
Airlines do not need baggage fees to survive, as you claim; they merely need to reduce boardroom and pilot compensation – both are excessive.
Tell that to the regional pilot raking in the 28k a year…………
Wouldn’t you know it. Just last week I told my wife I wanted more expensive plane tickets, regardless of whether we checked a bag or not…
I dont see it as being ridiculous that passengers have choices and one choice being they don’t have to fly. The Airlines made a mistake a long time ago when they created the impression that air travel was an entitlement.
if passengers dont like fees they would not fly that particular airline. I dont see the problem to pay $400 dollars to transit me across the country, and $50 more to take my cargo with me. Theres a price for the convenience that all to often is taken for granted.
If it was a fee issue, Southwest would own 100% of the airliner passenger market. Apparently the marketplace has accepted the fees, but yet government is trying to tell the marketplace that it is wrong.
I agree with charging for bags, otherwise they just raise the fares for every one even if you dont have a bag to checkin. On the otherhand it will increase revenue to all airlines as every one will be forced to raise the fees and they get additional revenue for passengers not checking a bag. Now in this case an airline with innovation can lower their costs and their prices to stand out.
The point “If passengers don’t like the fees, no one is forcing them to board an airliner” is ridiculous as there are no real alternatives to air travel in most cases for long journeys unless you want to spend days and weeks travelling to reach your destination.
Not sure what the honorable senator’s intent is, and I don’t care, but there is also a genuine angle to it.
I am in favor of one free checked bag per person.
There are many simple items that you cannot carry in cabin baggage, either due to security hassles, the stoopid liquid capacity limitations or not wanting to lug around the weight of a bag across multi-segment flight. For many people (not the typical business travelers) this forces the need to check in a bag and pay the additional cost.
Several airlines in Europe charge for water, the obvious one being Ryanair. It is plausible to think a US based airline will eventually follow suit
I was all set to submit this huge detailed response as to why this bill is horrendously stupid, until I realized she’s probably just trolling…
This isn’t legislation, it is pandering during election season.
We see a lot of this “proposed” legislation stuff every election cycle so those running for re-election can claim to have “done something” for “the people”. The water and bathrooms thing is because of the flap Ryan Air caused when they said they’d charge to use the loo. Notice that they never implemented it.
It will expire without action at the end of the current congress’ term (next year).
I agree, I think its just a cry for attention to demonstrate she is trying to do something. I suspect there are more important things she should be worried about. I wonder who wrote the Bill for her. how did they come up with free water and toilets? Perhaps they googled RyanAir
there was a short period of time (2008-2009) where US Airways started imposing a charge for all beverages, including water. But other than that, that’s the only time I remember an airline that didn’t have free water.