Works for me. If you're flying from Pittsburgh International and want to eat something on the plane, you have a whole mall full of choices. If you don't get something, then you always would get exactly 24 nuts/chips/chex mix in a snack pack - if a nut broke in half, 23 nuts and two halves. I once mentioned this at a party, and a few of the others started counting - always twenty-four!

I've heard that American Airlines saved $100,000. per year by putting ONE less olive in each salad served in First Class. If this is USAirways' equivalent, I'm all for it. Too many of my USAirways friends have lost their jobs in the past decade. Check out The New York Times for the full article. I'd rather eat less and pay less - but I'd probably feel differently, if I was regularly flying over 4 hours a week!

Midwest Airlines announced today there will be a fee for the second checked bag. This seems reasonable to me - it gives you a carry-on and one checked piece. I can usually get at least 10 days worth of stuff in that. It'll penalize the heavy heavy travelers without making everyone resort to trying to drag everything on board.

I took the commuter flight between Minneapolis and Milwaukee pretty regularly for the last three years and I'd always try to sit towards the back when picking my seat so I knew there'd be room in the overhead. :)

I like the new Southwest commercial. It is about how other airlines are charging for every single thing. The flight attendant is speaking to the passengers and telling them that even going to the bathroom and using the button to call the flight attendant has a small fee.

As much as i've heard bad things about Southwest (from friends---especially one who's a Flight Attendant for Continental), i've never had a problem. I'll continue to fly Southwest as long as I need to.

Is this fee (for all the airlines that charge it) per person? Cause everytime I read about these new baggage fees I think of the Gosselins (think: Jon & Kate plus 8) and all the luggage they carry. I wonder how much they pay (when they don't fly Southwest, lol)?

It cost me $50 to bring my golf bag up here (MI), $25 each way on Delta. You're only allowed to check ONE bag now.

You're allowed to bring as many bags as you want. They just charge you after the first bag.

But of course that can all change when the carriers decide to follow American and start charging for ALL checked bags.

I flew United about 10 days ago, (the first time since Xmas) and was surprised that they changed their checked luggage policy. Now you're only permitted one checked bag, each one after that is $25. I ended up caring my hanging bag on the plane with me as carryon.

Now that American is charging $15 per checked bag, I'm reasonably certain that I'm going to become a Northwest/Frontier flyer only. This stuff is CRAZY

Kitso
KS 361

I found, in my mailbox, this rather good article from Frommers about Airlines and all of the new fees they are charging. A few I had not heard of and are a bit surprising:
Airline Fees Take Off into the Stratosphere

By Sascha Segan
May 27, 2008
Call it the Summer of Fees. We've all gotten used to a bunch of extra fees from airlines, some reasonable, some irritating. But this summer travel season is taking the fee frenzy to new heights -- levels that might even delay planes and increase air rage. Here are the ones you really have to look out for.....
http://www.frommers.com/articles/5211.html

I read today that US Airways will not be serving pretzels anymore. Apparently they can't afford the $0.03 that each bag costs.

I fly AirTran a lot since they have a cheapity cheap direct from BWI to the smallish airport that's close to my parents' house. I think they charge for the 2nd checked bag, but I would typically rather eat my own feet than check a bag anyway. They've also started charging you if you want to pick a seat when purchasing the ticket - I think it's like $15 for an emergency exit row ticket and maybe $10 for the first couple of rows. I usually just wait until I check in online and pick the seat closest to the front...no point in paying.

Netjet it son!

Someone wrote into the AZ Republic and the letter was posted today. They said that the airlines should think of "other" ways to charge people. She even listed examples of paying extra to 1) not be nearing a screaming child 2) not be sitting next to someone who smells (of perfume, cigerettes, etc...) 3) not sitting next to a person who (there is no PC way to say this) is large and is spilling over into your seat.

On long flights, I'd definately pay extra not to sit near a screaming child or next to someone who takes up not only their seat but mine as well.

Southwest actually has a policy where they require a person who takes up more than the one seat to buy a second ticket. However its been a bit controversial in the way the decide who fits in the seat and who needs to buy the extra, and what happens if the flight is full and there is no extra seat etc. etc. etc.

Couldn't fly USAirways, then. They don't take off without the mandatory crying baby.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO I like their pretzels.

We didn;t even get pretzels when I flew from Hartford-->Philly-->Dayton-->Philly-->Hartford.

Just water.

the major US airlines definitely charge way too much for nothing. I stick with Jet Blue and Virgin America when possible.

From the WSJ, interesting story on fuel costs:
Flying Stinks -- Especially for the Airlines

Travelers' Mounting Woes
Reflect Carriers' Attempts
To Deal With High Fuel Costs
June 10, 2008; Page D1
You can fly between New York and Los Angeles for as little as $370 round-trip, not including taxes and government fees, on JetBlue, and $20 more on American. And out of that, how much will the airline spend on fuel?
Almost $300 per passenger for JetBlue at current prices, and nearly $500 for American. Just Friday's $10.75 leap in oil prices would raise the cost to JetBlue Airways Corp. to fly someone from New York to Los Angeles and back by almost $24.
While most consumers know all too well how much it costs to gas up their cars, few know how much they are paying for gas when they fly on an airline. It turns out to be shockingly high at today's prices -- well more than half the cost of the average ticket on many routes.
That doesn't leave a lot of money to pay for all the other costs of running an airline -- labor, airplanes, maintenance, insurance, landing fees, facilities and managers. And it goes a long way toward explaining why air travel has gotten so miserable for consumers, as airlines slash service, raise prices, pile on fees and nickel-and-dime in multiple ways. One tiny measure of the travel morass: JetBlue stopped giving away free headsets to watch its free television on June 1. Headsets now cost $1 (you can bring your own earphones)........................
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1213...rsonal_journal

Maybe this will offset some of the new baggage increases:

Most major airlines lowered round-trip ticket prices by $20 Monday despite high fuel prices, a move that could signal softer demand for travel.

American, United, Continental, Delta and US Airways all reduced fares on thousands of flights, according to Graeme Wallace of FareCompare.com, a Dallas firm that tracks airline-ticket prices. The airlines had raised prices by $20 over the weekend, hoping to offset mounting fuel costs.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/690856.html

Ok, so they raised prices by $20 over the weekend, and now they lowered them by $20----so they are back to the 'regular' price it was before the weekend. Doesn't seem like much of an offset.

Friday the 13th will be remembered as a dark day for travelers, with
two major airlines adding new baggage fees and cutting perks in the
past 24 hours.

1) United to charge $15 for first checked bag

United's policy applies to tickets purchased on or after June 13 for
travel on or after August 18. Yes, the fee takes effect today, just one
day after its announcement.....................

Click: http://rd.smartertravel.com/?r=unitedbaggagefee

2) US Airways to charge for all checked bags, drinks

In addition to the baggage fee, US Airways will also begin charging for
soft drinks. And that's only the beginning.........

Click: http://rd.smartertravel.com/?r=usairwaysbaggagefee

And now today I hear it is $2 per soft drink and $7 per alcoholic drink. Good grief. I'll just bring my own water bottle.

The one you purchased at the airport terminal for $3, right? ;)

Exactly. you are going to get hosed one way or the other. You would think they could figure out a way to determine if your liquid is something dangerous versus some water or a coke. They are making their captive audience another major stream of revenue. Sucks. I heard someone say this morning that next will be bathrooms that you have to pay to enter. Anyone remember back in the day when some gas stations off the interstate used to have one really nasty bathroom for free or one cleaner one with toilet paper tha tyou could pay like a quarter to use?

At least the bottle of water that cost $3 is 16.9-20 oz of liquid. The $2 drink on the plane is about 4 oz and lots of ice. You ever see how many glasses they fill with ONE can of pop? (soda, for those in other parts of the country)

I'm thinking any decrease in price would be a good thing.

I usually ask for the whole can. They're usually okay with it, but some FAs have said no in the past. I just kept pressing the call button to make sure my cup was refilled until I was satisfied. :)

The prices for drinks and snacks really don't bother me at all. Yeah, it was nice getting them for free....not a big deal that we now have to pay for them.

Hell, seven dollars for a cocktail is a bargain compared to the costs you'd pay at sporting events, concerts, etc. Hell, I was at a show a month ago and the cocktails were 12$ and not any bigger than what you'd get on an airplane.

It's funny. I haven't seen tickets get that much more expensive than they were. Granted, I'm used to tickets for my usual destinations being pretty expensive, and $400 for a flight between NYC-the parents' house on the Gulf Coast is pretty typical. Right before Christmas, I'm going to a wedding in New Orleans, so I did a flight where I go from NYC to NOLA, then after Christmas between Destin-NYC, and it was only $310!!! A freaking bargain.

Besides, don't most people avoid checking bags anyway? I can only see this being a boon for business on medium and long-haul flights where people are packing a lot.

For awhile, even prior to the charges, yes people did bring a great deal on as carry ons.
And even then, FA's had to tell people that some stuff you just could not do.
So now that everyone is try to do so, there is even more stuff going into smaller spaces.
As some point, and hopefully before some new form of "rage" gets named, travelers are going to have to start to understand that a plane's cabin just is not their very own trunk.

It's very difficult to not check a bag when you're going somewhere for a week because of the liquids issue. 3 oz. of shampoo isn't going to last me a week. 3 oz. of contact lens solution is definitely not going to last me a week.

I'm considering going and buying a bigger suitcase for Convention because I just don't see how I'm going to fit everything into one 25" suitcase. I was planning on a garment bag and a suitcase. It's cheaper in the long run to buy a bigger suitcase, but then you have to make sure it's not over 50 pounds. Ugh! Some years, just shoes and toiletries took up one suitcase. I need to have somewhere for the dresses! I may end up paying to check the extra bag after all... I have a hard time seeing putting my whites into a suitcase. Dangit.. What to do? (I have to figure this out by tomorrow!)

I go places for a week pretty regularly, and rarely check a bag. If I'm going away for a week to a place that's not a resort, it's pretty easy (and in my case, usually cheaper) to buy shampoo and contact solution at my destination. When I go home to Florida for Christmas, I send the presents ahead of time, as well as a few semi-formal dresses if we have some commitments that require more than casual clothing. It's never been that hard, really. :confused: One of my best friends works for an airline and takes full advantage of the flextime and free standby flights. He's out of SF for a week on a pretty regular basis, and always only carries-on.

I'm glad that there's at least a little bit of lead time in terms of putting this into effect and when they'll start charging. When I flew back in February the flight attendant here tried to tell me I couldn't carry on both my laptop and my small purse and I'd have to get the purse into the laptop bag. WTF? Now I'm starting to wonder when I'll find out which company I'm flying on when I go on vacation this fall...

AGDee, I have a big enough suitcase - has an expandable zipper that I'm able to get my garmant bag inside it and still get it closed. When I went to Michigan back in February I was 1.5 pounds underweight. I'm not as concerned about it this trip because I figure that I'm not packing sweaters and boots.

Oh and regarding the liquids, I just check all of them and put them in a big ziplock or two inside the zip comparment in my suitcase. I figure worst case scenario, and they get lost, I'll pick up some more, but I like to get through TSA as easily as possible. I keep my medication in my carryon but it's pill form.

I caved and bought a 29" lightweight with 2 inches of expandable space. I think it will work. I hadn't even thought of putting a garment bag IN the suitcase. That's brilliant! And I think I have one lightweight that will work perfectly!

And yeah, most of this is not a problem when it's not Convention. I just need so many shoes and so many different outfits. There will be no time to find somewhere to purchase the toiletries either so I do need to bring my own.

So i can understand or at least rationalize the prices increases for jet fuel and the baggage check prices and other charges airlines have started to implement. However charging for WATER is down right criminal when your option to carry your own on board is non existant due to TSA regulations so you are FORCED to pay for WATER (typicall free from home) either in the terminal or on the plane. That to me is going to far and I think will be the tipping in how far airlines have been able to push their new fees!

What I have done for awhile is bring an empty bottle with me.
Once done with check point, fill it at a water fountain.
Add some crystal lite to it and all is well.

That's a great idea!

A great idea- A flight attendant friend of mine gave me the same advice and it is a lifesaver when traveling with kids!

Here is a rather handy dandy chart of current fees being charged by the airlines:
http://rickseaney.com/domestic-airline-fee-chart/