Baggage?
 

With so many airlines charging for baggage now (second bag) does anyone think that JB will start charging also?

Yes, I think they will. The company has already shown a penchant for charging the customers that use a service more than those that don't. I am actually surprised that they haven't announced a charge yet.

I also expect them too. As a person who travels a week at a time for business, it is impossible for me to travel with less than fifty pounds. I hope when they make this change that they raise the weight limit for the first bag to 70 pounds. It really is only fair. They let me take 100 pounds now at no charge.

I can travel for weeks with only a carry-on. Unless you're including equipment or something in the 50 pound minimum for a week there are many others who manage to do similar trips with much less weight.

As for upping the single bag allowance, there's no way I see that happening. The point of the airlines charging the fee is to cover the fact that they are spending more money to carry the weight (ie fuel). So they aren't likely to increase the allowance while also increasing the cost. That would be counter-productive.

If you recall, JetBlue's free baggage allowance used to be a whopping 3 bags at 70 pounds each, for a total of 210 pounds if packed strategically. I actually utilized this just about to its fullest during a cross-country move a few years ago.

With fuel prices where they are, and airlines trying to eke out a profit, I can guarantee you that JetBlue will not raise the first bag allowance to 70 pounds to be "fair." Besides, the competition has long since had a 50-pound per free bag limit, and recently implemented 1 bag limits, so by your logic they are all unfair. The real question is whether or not JetBlue will drop down to 1 free bag like most of the majors. The irony is that JetBlue and Southwest, the 'no frills' and 'low cost' carriers, are now amongst the most generous in the industry. I wonder how long that will last.

I'm not sure about this one. It would certainly make sense from a revenue standpoint, but as you pointed out, there have already been recent new charges announced for ancillary charges, and increases to others. Those seem to be working for the time being, and it certainly doesn't hurt to be "the airline that still lets you take two bags for free."

We'll see how it works out, though.

I know its about revenue, but I sometimes wish at least one airline would be a leader and just decide to base it all on weight and not the total number of bags.

I generally end up with right under 50lbs on my trips, but would prefer to still be able to pack things in two lighter bags rather than have to put everything all into one. So if JetBlue changes the total allowance, I would like to see it just be based on weight, not the number of pieces.

This was mentioned on the CO board. CO Insider somewhat avoided the situation and also mentioned physical space being consumed and TSA efficiency. They could also start charging based on how much you weigh, but I wouldn't expect that to come about...

FL is now on board, but they're only charging $10 instead of $25 for the 2nd bag. (And they exempt elite and J customers)

Maybe B6 will follow their lead...

I believe that it's 50 lbs. per bag to reduce OJIs (On the Job Injuries).

What if they change the baggage requirements to be 2 bags of 30 or 35 lbs each? That's still a reduction in the maximum amount that someone can bring, thereby reducing the fuel consumption, but also would allow for a decrease in OJIs due to the less heavy lifting. It would also look better, in a marketing sense, as they would still be allowing '2' bags.