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.