It has begun: carry-on bag fees. Spirit will begin charging for bags that will not fit under the seat:
Not a good trend; this will open the door for the rest of the carriers to do this. Click here for the fairly complicated policy. They’ll have fun enforcing it!
The free under-seat bag must be 16x14x12 or smaller.
USA Today Today in the Sky blog:
Basic carry-on items — things like a purse or laptop bag — can still be brought on for free, but only if they measure 16” by 14” by 12” and can fit underneath the seat in front of you. The carrier apparently will have new bag sizers at its gates to help enforce its policy, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Scott McCartney, The Middle Seat columnist at the Journal, explains what boarding will look like: “Passengers who have paid for carry-on bags will board first. Those that haven’t paid will be warned–their boarding pass will say ‘No Carry-On Bags.’ Once the first group has boarded, it will be easy for gate agents to police the fee rule during boarding, Spirit says.” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza tells McCartney: “After Zone 1 is on, there are no more carry-on bags. If you have one, you’ll have to pull out your credit card and pay at the gate.”
One advantage of fees for carry-on bags is that they’ll likely discourage fellow passengers from boarding planes like pack mules. Spirit’s chairman and chief executive, Ben Baldanza, says fees for checked baggage upset the balance between carry-on and checked items as passengers tried to avoid checked-baggage fees. The carry-on fee, he said, “will make our boarding faster and easier.”
Thanks, Ben. No, really - thanks alot. We all grant the “pack mule” problem, but there are rules to deal with that. Apparently enforcing rules is more attractive to the carriers when the penalty for violation is a hefty charge, er, profit.
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(Thanks to Buzz for the tip on this one)
Frank@OBOW