Originally Posted by
YVR Cockroach
I was wondering what Bucharest had to do with luggage fees.
I'm actually not a fan of forcing people to guess at obscure acronyms (apart from airport codes because those are sort of in our DNA), but I also try my best to come up with thread titles that fit nicely within the suggested field length. And, I was hopeful that I could sufficiently explain my acronym in the body of the OP. Still, now that you've called me out, it has occurred to me that thread titles probably should be self-explanatory. As such, I apologize for the acronym.
Originally Posted by
pinniped
The test case in the U.S. would be Southwest Airlines. They used to have fantastic operations - I flew them in part because of how reliable they were. But in the past few years it's gotten vastly worse, and they have not changed their baggage policies. So that isn't the variable in this case...
Originally Posted by
pinniped
What's wild to me is that WN used to board planes much faster. The "10 minute turn" is part of WN lore. While that is no longer possible (in part due to modern FAA rules), they still used to finish the basic boarding process in 10-15 minutes...even in my regular-travel years that started in the 90's. I get that a fully loaded Max is going to take longer, but even the old 143-seaters seem to take forever to board these days.
Originally Posted by
EAJuggalo
They certainly seem to board quicker. I flew a 739 on DL and a Max 8 on WN. Both full flights. WN boarded in 30 minutes, DL boarded in 40. Not as many people bringing everything into the cabin since they were able to check bags for free. Anecdotally I also believe the deplaning goes faster on WN than on DL. But that's just my feeling.
Yeah, I was actually tempted to introduce the "WN as a test case" topic in my OP, but I don't have enough personal experience with their process to really comment. I just know that most people in China check and/or bring really tiny bags on board, and people do get on and off planes quickly (there isn't even much zone talk in many cases). However, it's unfair to compare that to the US or Europe and a lot of my flights in China still end up delayed.
Originally Posted by
cvision
Not really, if you are then just sitting at the gate waiting for your ATC slot. So many times I have sat on a fully boarded AA/DL flight 15 min before departure, with doors closed, only to wait for push back. The larger problem with checking bags in the US is that the risk of them getting banged up is pretty high and delivery taking long at times. So if there is no trust that my bag will make it quickly and safely to the belt, I won't check it - even if I have three bags allowance.
Building on my previous sentence, maybe boarding speed just isn't such an important variable in the grand scheme.
Originally Posted by
Nickk201
I believe allowing passengers to check one bag could improve operational performance based on my observations of gate-checked bags on U.S. carriers. This process seems to be a critical path workflow with no slack. However, I lack knowledge about the standard checked-bag workflow and its impact on operational efficiency. Southwest Airlines' decline in operations in recent years, despite unchanged baggage policies, serves as a case study in this regard.
But, as you intimate here, even if boarding speed isn't important, there probably is a correlation between letting people check bags for free and boarding efficiency. But, I want to introduce the idea that some people avoid checking bags because they fear they'll end up waiting for them on the back end, or worse...
I personally don't mind longish waits at baggage claim (I figure it's an acceptable price to pay for not having to lug my stuff through security and to/from gates), but I get it, and some airports really suck at baggage handling. Meanwhile, my bag does seem to miss connections in airports like CLT, IAH, or ATL a pretty high percentage of the time. As such, I always assume that it could happen when decided whether or not to check. I actually do roll those dice most of the time because I've been quite pleased with recovery (e.g. reasonably fast delivery to my home or hotel and a blank check to replenish essentials), but this fear is well justified. So, on flights from unimportant spokes to hubs, allowing a free checked bag might not have much of an impact.