Dr. HFH

If the only criterion is speed, i.e., what's the fastest way to board a plane, you might be interested to learn that it has been studied and determined that randomly is the quickest. Link.

PepeBorja

Let's address the root of the problem: Carry-on luggage..

Tolls, Fees, or taxation are a way to modify human behavior; thus carry-on bag fees are the way to go to restore order and civility to air travel.

E.g., $20 to check bag. $40 to carry on. FC, Prem Econ, and Elites have the carry-on perk; all others pay the man.

Problem solved.

eefor jfp

One issue is that it does cost the airline money to transport your bag in the hold. They have to pay ramp workers to load it and unload it and get it to you at baggage claim. Forcing people to deal with their own baggage saves the airlines money. (they can, for example, hire fewer baggage handlers) so, if nothing else, the prices for carry ons should be cheaper than those for checked luggage if we're going by costs (although we all know that is not always something an airline does).

carlosdca

Mentioned already above. Before changing anything, I would propose ENFORCEMENT of the current rules:

1. Strictly enforce carry-on rules (it has to fit in the sizer) regardless of class/status.

(FT will still welcome the rants 1) "I have ALWAYS flown with my Tumi model XYZ but was forced to check it" 2) "Rude agent made me stick my carry on in the sizer" 3)"I know my super dope Travelpro xyzlite fits in the 77W overheads bin but was forced to gate check it". etc/_

2. Strictly enforce boarding process

3. Strictly enforce what the overhead bin labels say "Reserved for Business/PE, etc"

In addition to the above and to the size requirements, a weight restriction could be imposed(no exception but J/F/PE) for carry-ons. Enforce it or pay at the gate. Problem solved.

carlosdca

No. You pay for the convenience.
Cost [only] should not determine price (ask Costco, who loses money on certain items but makes big $$$ on others).

Gig103

Because as much as Doug Parker tries, AA is still not Spirit. When BE didn't include OHB space there was enough backlash that they relented. If AA wants to give me the option of carry-on or checked, one bag for $0, I could put my bag in the hold and let folks who need the OHB space take it. There are others that would, too.

I've been flying Southwest more, lately, and have not seen problems with OHB space and I really believe it's because folks can check their luggage for no extra fee.

Oh please, not the luggage weight thing. I've gone through that with EU carriers and it's just a way for them to force you to pay checked-bag fees.

mvoight

A lot of people carryon more because checked luggage has fees
I find there to be much more space when I want to carryon when flying Southwest.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Bag fees are aren't going anywhere. In fact I get the feeling without fees AA would lose money.

PepeBorja

Argue one must may, but the truth is carry-on luggage is the reason behind all the chaos at boarding and even fights between passengers for space.
This never existed until fees for checked in baggage appeared.

Only fees will help reduce the number of carry on bags to "normal" levels and they will restore air travel's boarding process to an orderly and much less stressful event.
$20 for Checked bags, and $40 for carry on. No CC exceptions. Only FC, Prem Econ, and Elites get one carry on.

Let's assume an average flight has 100 bags checked at $40 and 100 carry on bags at $0. Net is $4000 collected in fees.

If half of the people with carry on opt for the new $20/$40 rule the revenue would be 100*$20 + 50*$20 + 50*$40 = $2000+$1000+$2000 = $5000 collected in fees.

If all the carry-on bags are checked in then we have 100*$20 + 100*20 = $4000. Worst case scenario.

Bag fees are here to stay. Might as well use them to modify traveler's behavior and enhance the customer experience.

I was a luggage ape in the late 1980'sat America West in PHX and remember counting bags as I was loading them into the belly of the beast... Yes it would be more work for the ramp crews BUT it also means faster boarding and deplaning allowing the airline to operate shorter turn-arounds. It also would eliminate delays due to the chaos that surfaces when space runs out and passengers argue and open every OHB looking for space. It also frees gate personnel to do other tasks besides checking in bags during boarding... The best is there won't be any calls or pleas for people to check in bags at the gate and eliminates the stoooopid bag sizers and bag gate police.

Antarius

Umm, what and where?

enviroian

Good point I agree.

Dr. HFH

1456 DFW-BOS on September 19th for one. FA: "I'm sorry, sir, these bins are reserved for first class. You'll have to take your bag with you to economy. I believe that there is still overhead space in the last three rows."

GrumpyYoungMan

Would love to see/hear that on every flight.

rasheed

There are many, many issues I have with AA, but the carry-on baggage policy is not one of them. The main reason for this is AA continues to offer unlimited, free check bags at the gate. Now, this assumes you can get it passed the people on the way to security which sometimes believe they are the enforcer of the carry-on rules. Even for the short amount of time they blocked Group 9/BE from getting this benefit, that has been changed to allow all passengers to drop bags at the gate. I have done this even on not full flights if I didn't want to carry bags around. I even did this quite a bit on intra Europe flights on HBO fares. The only condition was I had to do it at the gate. In almost every case, the agent was happy to have someone volunteer their bags.

So the problem is really because people do not want to check their bags. The charging for checked bags is an issue, but how can I complain when I just need to pack into a smaller physical bag to be able to get my luggage carried for free. There is another advantage here in that checking bags at the gate is often simpler with no line or weight process (ha!) than the baggage drop process at the check-in desk. Okay, maybe my methods are too savvy for the flyer who is trying to avoid checked bag fees because if they fly regularly, they probably already get a free bag through status or cardholder.

I still travel on many SWA flights with full bins. I don't see much forced checking at the plane door (due to full bins), but the warning announcement is made often to the C group. It doesn't matter what you charge or don't charge - the process of baggage claim is not getting better for people to want to check bags.

I think the better solution AA has taken is to make bigger bins. The ones that carry 4 bags (if you actually know how to position your bag) is great. Boarding is still a slow process I agree...

gateH15

Easy solution to bypass AA employees who are trying to enforce bag size before going thru security, is to use different check points not manned by AA personnel.