Originally Posted by
njmcgreg
Air Canada does something similar, not for carryons, but for everything else under the sun that they charge for. If you want to check one bag, it is included, if you don't want to check any bag, you can opt-out with the booking and save some money. You can also pre-purchase a meal, buy a lounge day pass, or (gasp) opt-out of FF miles. It can't be that complicated to work this into the booking process as they've been doing it for years.
I've told other people for some time that this, to me, is a much more sensible way of imposing a la carte pricing from both a PR standpoint as well as a revenue standpoint ... when people get charged fee after fee, they get irritable at being "nickeled & dimed" ... but if you charge a higher base fare and then give people *discounts* for the services they don't use, then two things happen. First, the passengers who take advantage of that system feel like they're getting a *deal* (how many folks buy crap they don't need 'cause it's on sale?), and second, the airlines' revenue will actually be higher than a la care pricing on an as-you-use-it basis, since there will be some passengers who don't realize hey can opt out, and there will be some wh will buy services they might not end up using.