UA has been charging $2/bag at LAX for a while now and it does seem that the lines are longer inside. Of course that could be due to the closing of the T6 ticketing area. I have to believe this is costing the skycaps lots of tip money. Here's my idea for the morning:

Instead of $2/bag, how about capping the fee at $5, regardless of the number of bags. That way, UA still gets revenue, but vacationers (the prime users of skycaps) still would be comfortable adding a tip if the skycap is checking a bunch of bags, which really doesn't take that much extra time (does it?).

I think that would maximize the efficiency of the skycap operation; keep thee lines inside to a minimum and wouldn't "scare off" family vacationers with 5-10 bags from using the skycaps. By the way, I used to tip $2-3/bag; more if they were huge, or if time was short (not that I ever cut it that close!). I'm still tipping the $2/bag on top of the $2 UA fee. Those skycaps make the airport hassle a lot easier when you have to check some bags.