Originally Posted by
Kacee
Yes. The airlines pitch unbundling of services as providing "consumer choice" but it's really about deceptive sales practices. Just like hotel resort fees.
There's a critical difference in that hotel resort fees aren't optional.
There exist people who would rather pay $20 less and not bring a carry-on, just like there are people who'd rather pay $25 less and not check a bag, even if those people aren't you. That's not true of resort fees. Even if, initially, the "without bag" price matches the legacy price, eventually the market will bring it down again.
In my mind there are three problems:
(1) Different airlines including/excluding various services in their sticker price is a search engine problem, one that Google is going to fix shortly. "I'm bringing one checked bag and one carry-on, I'm United Silver and have the AAdvantage credit card, I'm purchasing from a Canadian POS, I'd pay $50 extra to fly out of IAD instead of DCA and I'd pay a $100 premium for a non-stop. If F is less than $150 more than Y and not more than $450 total, I'd prefer that, otherwise Y. Please show me the best flights and the prices I'll pay."
(2) Reduced competition through mergers slows down the "eventually the market will bring it down again" process. And yet,
(3) The market is fractured enough the average non-savvy consumer can't keep track and makes a non-optimal decision (buying up to regular Y on Delta because they want a carry-on, not realizing it's included because they flew United BE recently) or they get screwed (bringing a carry-on to a Spirit flight and paying $100 at the gate).