United Airlines announced it will start charging for all checked baggage beginning tomorrow. Award ticket travelers, premium customers and INTERNATIONAL travelers are exempt.
American Airlines starts charging for first checked bag this Sunday with the same exemptions.
It is important to note that if you have booked a ticket prior to the date these fees come into effect it does not apply to you. For example, I was able to check 2 bags on United for free when I flew them to the Midwest a few weeks ago since I had booked the ticket before the fee was announced.
Luckily, AAL, UAL and USA have been very lenient in their carry-on policy compared to many European carriers. I'm wondering if that's the next step....allowing only smaller and lighter bags in the cabin so they can charge us for checking.
Will rollers be the first to be disallowed? Then our favorite convertibles? Will we get to a point where only those "personal items" will be allowed?
ONe article I read said all it seems we pay for is the air in a metal tube. We get charged extra for preferred seating, food, drinks (including non-alcoholic), baggage and anything else except the air. What's next? Will we have to pay to use the toilet?
Interestingly, though, on the airlines' most profitable routes--across the Atlantic--we still get most of everything since there is such fierce competition.
Pay toilets will be next. We had a carrier here, now defunct, that charged for everything and you had to take your own bag to the gate, there were no counter checked bags becuase there were no counter agents to take your bag.
And now USAir has announced it will join in and start charging for the first checked bag.
It would be wise to take into consideration how much extra time it will take to check in now that counter agents have to take the time to collect the fee from everyone who checks a bag, both cash (if they even take it) and credit card transactions will take an inordinate amount of time to process and could add an extra hour to check in.
I have flown UAL recently and had no problem with the 22" bag as "carry-on." However, EasyJet in Europe would not allow it and forced me to check that same bag, at a cost of 15 EU. If I had paid for the checked bag at the time I bought my ticket via internet the cost would have been half that amount. I will be shopping for a smaller bag; I'll be traveling even lighter than before.
Thankfully pay toilets are illegal in the United States (barred under federal law) and I think worldwide on air travel as well under international treaties so at least they can't go that far.
There is no federal law banning pay toilets. Many states and municipalities have laws prohibiting them but NYC and SF have them.
Until the mid-1970s, pay toilets were common in the United States but a group called the Committee to End Pay Toilets In America helped to get them removed and some local laws enacted.
Congress has made some strange laws but never did they pass one banning pay toilets.
everyone will start carrying on bags now. I carried on a 21" bag with wheels both on Air France and had no problem.
Has everyone seen the Southwest Airlines ad where they show some guy on a plane having to pay .25 cents for everything - .25 cents for putting the seat back, another .25 for putting the tray down, etc.. - it's a pretty funny ad -
Frank I meant on air transit.
Sorry, David, but, there's no law about banning pay toilets on airplanes.
Where did you hear or read about it? Correct me if I'm wrong.
You will not find "pay toilets" on Commercial Passenger Aircraft. It is a health and safety issue. It is contrary to International Law. So no one needs to worry, it is highly unlikely that this will ever be the case.
By "Air Transit" did David mean "Air Transat" the Canadian Charter? Or is there actually an "Air Transit" in the US with a similar name?
He means on airplanes, period. Transit by air.
Again, I repeat, there is no law anywhere..domestic, international, US, Canada, Europe, that bans pay toilets on airplanes.
That said...you will never see it. The first time a passenger refused to pay and decided to "do his business" somewhere else on the plane would open up that airline to many lawsuits as well as possible health code violations.
Additionally, who's going to fly an airline that has them. Charge for food, fine if allowed to bring your own. Charge for bags as long as you can carryon for free.
Yet how many people can "hold it" for a ten hour flight across the pond.
So, while you will never see pay toilets on an airliner, there is no law banning them. And if there is, I wish someone would point it out to me. (And if there is, I'll admit I was wrong.)
