Home

American Airlines Plans $15 Bag Fee - So What?

Image: flickr

American Airlines announced it will soon be charging $15 for checked baggage. According to the New York Times, this will “eliminate[e] a free service that passengers in the United States have come to expect during the modern jet era.”

The New York Times should know better.

Checked baggage is not and has never been “free.” The costs of checking your bags at the counter and moving the bags on and off the plane, as well as the extra fuel required due to the extra weight, is all factored into the price of the ticket which you already pay for. These costs would only be “free” if American Airlines or some other entity paid for them out of their own pocket. That’s not how it works. You, the air traveler, already pay for all of this.

American Airlines is essentially raising your ticket price but calling it a “$15 bag fee.”

Is this a problem? Maybe, maybe not.

Unlike the government, American is a profit-driven enterprise that operates in the logical framework of profit and loss. Due to skyrocketing fuel prices, they’ve had to raise fares, add surcharges, tack on fees, etc. This $15 fee for checked baggage is just the latest example of your money buying less because of the price of oil.

The beauty of the free market is that you, the consumer, are free to accept American Airlines’ $15 fare increase, or go spend your money elsewhere. Fly JetBlue or Southwest or whatever. Take the train. Drive. Stop complaining. American Airlines is not a monopoly. You don’t have to buy their tickets or pay their fees.

There’s no outrage here. Just stupidity at the New York Times and all the other hand-wringers who think American Airlines is eliminating a “free service.”

Recommended Reading