Carry-on fee ban: the bill

Two US senators have introduced a bill to ban carry-on bag fees and clarify à la carte fee schemes. 

Cardin and Landrieu’s “Free of Fees for Carry-On Act” would require airlines to:

• Not charge fees for carry-on bags that fall within their set rules on size, weight and number of bags;
• Make detailed information about the weight, size and number of carry-on bags allowed available to passengers before they arrive at the airport for a scheduled flight;
• Provide a public list of all passenger fees and charges, including ones for checked, oversize or heavy bags; food and drink; exit row seats and other preferred seats within a class; buying tickets from an airline ticket agent or a travel agency. - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about this. The intent is good. On the other hand, this is one more frontier of ineptitude and inefficiency for our growing-like-Topsy federal government.

Comments

[Andrew H.]

I personally feel that information disclosure is the one area where government regulation least ambiguously helps consumers. So, I feel like the second and third bullet points (disclose all fees prior to airport arrival) are not bad. The first bullet point seems silly to me, that definitely seems like a totally arbitrary call. Whether the charge comes as a carry-on fee or a ticket price increase just doesn't seem like much of an issue.

[Erik]

"one more frontier of ineptitude and inefficiency for our growing-like-Topsy federal government"

Why are you injecting your personal politics into this? I mean, obviously it's your blog so you can do whatever you want, but it's a little jarring when one comes here just for one bag travel news and not political commentary beyond just commenting on the merits or flaws of the specific bill.

[Brad]

Bureacracy knows no party or administration. I only mean that I don't trust our huge government to do anything well or efficiently, to do more good than harm

[stevenshytle]

Bureaucracy is non-discriminatory, it slows everybody down and provides a disservice to everyone equally. I come here for travel news because of the view of the four letters: OBOW., if I just want news one of three leters (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS...)would be enough.

[Maria]

Thank you for the update Brad. I appreciate the news, as this does apply to all who like to follow "one bagging." I too am suspicious of any additional rules / regulations / "bills" that may influence how the TSA views their version of said rules. This reminds me of a saying I've been thinking about recently. "Congress does two things well - overreact, and nothing."

[Erik]

So let me get this straight... you guys are opposed to the new bag fees but you don't want the government to do anything about it because you're suspicious of "regulations"?

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode with a town meeting where everyone opposed a new law because it would increase taxes, then someone yells out, "But won't someone think of the children?!?" and they all change their minds, then someone yells out, "But what about the taxes!?!" and they go back and forth.

If this bill doesn't do what you want, how would you change it? Talk specifics, figure something out and contact your representatives.

[Miguel Marcos]

> If this bill doesn't do what you want, how would you change it? Talk specifics,
> figure something out and contact your representatives.

The view that govt is bad is like a disease. I do wish people who automatically pull the 'govt is bad' trigger had a chance to discover what 'no govt' is like so they could make a rational decision. Might be good for people to be able to try out other forms of govt like those in Kazakhstan or Sudan or Cuba.


> Make detailed information about the weight, size and number of carry-on
> bags allowed available to passengers before they arrive at the airport
> for a scheduled flight;

I wish they stipulated a unified standard. It's nice to have the information more clearly available but it would be even better if the airlines came up with a single standard so you wouldn't have bags that work with some airlines and not others, subject to differences between commuters vs. large jets, of course.

[Frank@OBOW]

This might be a place for an existing government agency that does pretty good work - OSHA - to impose a weight limit in the interest of flight attendant safety. Mandate the weight and the size issue will take care of it self. There's my idea.

[Robert]

Since the US airlines can't or won't enforce their own policies regarding carry-ons , they are helping to bring more regulation on themselves.

[Brad]

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/04/13/bashing-the-airlines-always-a-safe-political-bet/