farrish11

Spirit just announced that they will charge $30 per carry-on, $20 if you're in the "$9 fare club." It will be cheaper to check a bag than bring it on. Exempt from the charge will be one small (16x14x12") bag (ie laptop bag or purse). Other exceptions include: "umbrella, assistive devices, outer garments (coats, hats, wraps), camera, car seat/stroller, infant diaper bag, medicine, pet container, reading material for the flight, or food for immediate consumption."

Pure speculation... Will AA follow?

I can't imagine why not... they quickly got into the checked-bag fee game, and why miss out on this extra revenue-grab, especially if everyone else adopts it? Of course, if they exempt elites, I'm all for it! (1) More revenue for AA (assuming demand doesn't take a huge hit) and (2) less carry-ons in the cabins = faster turn times (I'm guessing it takes less time to load checked bags than it takes moron passengers to stow them in the overhead bins).

Just imagine the size of some people's jackets they'll be wearing stuffed with all kinds of things! I smell a business opportunity!

DEK

Maybe this? http://www.scottevest.com

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Since we are speculating. IMHO AA and the other legacies will watch to see if there is a customer backlash and can Spirit actually make this work from a logisitic stand point. If the answers are no and yes and I had to put a $2 bet at the window at Belmont Race Track, I would put $2 on either AA or US as a photo finish to start with UA as the wildcard.

So if you are at an airport after 8/1 that Spirit flys out of and you are bored waiting for your flight, go over to the Spirit gate and see the fireworks go off.

gemac

It is instructive to do a search on threads that have the word "speculation" in the thread title. If you pick threads that are old enough that you know the outcome, you can see whether the speculation involved generated more light than heat, and you can come up with a number of worthy words that could have easily been substituted for "speculation".

MrAndy1369

Nah. Spirit is an ultra low cost carrier that is introducing penny fares. I doubt the legacies will implement this, because it would anger too many people and they have too much to lose. Checked baggage, on the other hand, I hate to admit, does make sense - because it costs fuel and manpower to check, carry, and pick up the bags and check them under the plane/offload them. Spirit is a small airline that doesn't have a niche, unlike legacies. It won't happen. I'm positive.

C. Howitt Fealz

I've done a few runs on Spirit. Never expected much from them. This, though, crosses a line...No more Spirit.

JDiver

What costs the airline more, having the SLF truck its own carry-on, or check it and have the paid employees in the airports and airside handle baggage? Where would they delineate the limit between a hefty "personal item" and carryon luggage? How would they enforce it, how many employees would it take, and how much delay and ill-will would it create? How effectively are they managing carryon luggage now and how are pax perceiving it?

Not to mention AA is still differentiating itself significantly - as are most legacy carriers - from the LCCs, an particularly from the hoi polloi pay-for-everything a la Ryanair approach.

eponymous_coward

Why not add a $500 "avoid being beaten by thugs" fee, and exempt elites? It would be a great revenue producer for AA- all they'd need to do is hire some football players and give them lead pipes...



I expect this from NK- they are the FR of the US. I would think AA might want to be a bit better than that.

If the point is to anger your infrequent passengers so they have no reason to ever want to fly you, charging them for ANY luggage they need to bring with them is a great idea. Good luck with the idea that AA can stay in business solely based on elites, by the way.

holtju2

Differentiating significantly by providing worse service/product than US LCC's WN/VX/B6?

Halo117

Please explain your statement. What does AA do that is "significantly" different from the likes of WN and B6?

Your right AA differs significantly so much that a couple weeks back I started the thread of "why should non FFs choose AA in Y". Most responses came back with sadness for the demise of AAs Y product domestically speaking.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

From what I have read, if a person uses a kiosk/OLCI and does not check a bag the BP will say not paid for check bag. At the gate, anyone that has a BP with those words and has a bag will be boarded last and told to get their credit/debit card ready. No word yet on personal items such as a purse or backpack. So, maybe one of you can let us know in which concourses/terminals do both AA and Spirit operate out of so after August 1 to enterain ourselves we can go over to the Spirit gate before our flight and watch the war of the GAs and the Kettles.

chollie

This could be a boon for ScottEvest...pack the max size personal item and then load the vest to the max...The vest will pay for itself very quickly for a reasonably frequent flier.

eponymous_coward

Charge for checked luggage (B6 and WN do not), charge for change fees (WN doesn't), which clearly makes them different from FR and NK... oh, wait.

I'm going to say something that may mark me as a bomb-throwing radical here on FT: part of the reason the coach and non-elite experience sucks on AA (and many other pre-deregulation airlines) is because of the existence of elites and loyalty programs. You have to have something to distinguish them from hoi polloi, so the argument becomes a case of socking the infrequent/less frequent traveler first, even when it becomes a case of driving them into the arms of LCCs who treat non-status pax better (WN, B6, VX). (Consider that traveling 15,000 miles in the air a year's pretty substantial for most Americans, and not infrequent travel at all... but this level of travel will get you zip in terms of status). This is also exacerbated by the fact that loyalty programs are only loosely correlated to customer profit (the EXP/1K/etc. who gets their status via flying $99 transcons during DEQM, and so on), so the reality is that benefits get lavished on people who aren't particularly good profit centers.

makfan

So, if you have a 17" laptop, as I do, you can't carry it on? Just try and stop me.

paseom2

Taking a page from the Ryanair playbook indeed.