Spirit CEO votes for the coat?

Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza must have been reading OBOW. He says (in effect). “Hey, wimps, you don’t need no stinkin’ bags. Get one of those new travel trenchcoats and no-bag it already!” 

‘The head of the nation’s most fee-happy airline told Congress today that bringing luggage on vacation was “not essential” to travel and his airline was actually helping the poor fly by charging up to $45 to place a carry-on bag in the overhead bin.’ - ABC

A reminder, Spirit charges for carry-ons but not for one personal bag which must fit underneath a seat and measure 16 x 14 x 12” (40 x 35 x 30cm) or less. 

Update on July 15, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Update on July 15, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

Here’s a thought: since Spirit expressly allows several items like coats, wraps, etc. to be excluded from the carry-on fees, someone should design a bag that looks like a folded raincoat. The TSA people wouldn’t care - they’d just scan it with everything else. The gate agents would just see a bulky, folded coat. It would need hideaway straps, obviously.

Comments

[topometropolis]

You mean the CEO of Spirit (the airline) not Sprint (the phone company).

[Brad]

Indeed. Corrected.

[Andy Mesa]

He's absolutely right. Just like RyanAir, these restrictions just mean cheaper tickets. I'm all for them charging for absolutely everything, because it means *I* don't subsidize *you* for your excesses.

I had a conversation with someone yesterday who bawled about how he got ripped off by RyanAir. Why? Because he checked bags, he changed his flight, he did everything you're not supposed to do and got nickel and dimed to death. Meanwhile, I took a similar flight (across Spain) for €10.

Spirit's free carry-on limit is well within the limits of any reasonable carry-on. I can easily fit my Patagonia Lightweight Travel Duffel in their stated dimensions for a free carry-on, and that's the bag I plan on taking on my next three month trip.

[Little J]

I have a flight bag with similar dimensions to this one - http://www.etsy.com/listing/30449018/swiss-cross-flight-bag - that will fit under the seat of any plane, jet, train, or even Grayhound bus that I have ever been on. I find the internal space to be more than adequate to One Bag pack for a trip of several weeks (yes, you rewear clothing but so what?).

Because of this, I am constantly in shock when people bring those ginormous rolling bags onto planes and hog all the overhead bin space. What are they bringing? Seriously.

[K-eM]

So do they make these trench coats for women? I haven't seen any. Please let me know if I've missed it because this CEO's statement seems very male chauvinistic to me right now.

While I generally succeed in packing small enough for my bag to fit under the seat in front of me, it can occasionally get quite difficult to do that simply because of my gender and trip requirements. In addition, by putting my bag under the seat in front of me I am then giving up leg room and I'm tall.

[p23brian]

I don't necessarily object to luggage fees for checked or carry-on bags if there's a corresponding reduction in the base fare. There's something to be said for only charging for the specific services the customer is using. If you want to travel with no bags at all shouldn't you be able to save a little on your ticket? If you travel with only a small carry-on shouldn't you pay less than someone with a large checked bag? It seems to me the real problem is the bottleneck caused by people trying to avoid the checked bag fees by carrying on more stuff than they should. Maybe adjusting the way fees are structured will help with this. If the price of the Spirit ticket plus the charge for a carry-on bag is less than the ticket price for a competing airline that includes the carry-on the customer still comes out ahead.