"Airlines bank on extra-bag fees"

Sunday, February 6, 2005

Airlines bank on extra-bag fees
More companies are tougher on collecting charges to offset some of their
profit losses.
By Meredith Cohn
The Baltimore (MD) Sun


As Army soldier Richard Morris prepared to board a flight at
Baltimore-Washington International Airport last fall for his first mission,
his mother bid him farewell in the airport lobby with a swelling pride in
her heart -- and a slight hole in her wallet. 

Linda Dawson had just charged $160 worth of fees for excess baggage on her
credit card so her son could get all his gear to Fort Campbell in Kentucky,
his first stop before eventual deployment in Iraq. 

"I thought it was outrageous, but what was I going to let him do, go to camp
without his boots?" said Dawson, who drove from her home in southern
Pennsylvania about 40 miles north of the airport. "I was surprised, and I
wasn't prepared." 

Dawson joins many others who are discovering that airlines, with cramped
cabins full of carry-ons, are no longer letting that extra bag slide and are
reaping millions in extra dollars in revenue from the fees. 

Baggage has become another reflection of the changes sweeping commercial
aviation. Many more people are flying. And leisure travelers, who generally
take much more with them than business travelers, have been making up a
greater share of the flying public with the rise of discount airfares. 

Moreover, as the bottom lines of some airlines have grown lighter in an
increasingly competitive market, the companies have gotten tougher about
collecting fees to recoup some of their losses. The average ticket prices
per mile flown has sunk below 1986 levels, excluding taxes and the
"September 11" security fee that goes to the Transportation Security
Administration for screening passengers and bags. 

More baggage means less space for other revenue-generating cargo, and
heavier planes drive up fuel costs. Changes in suitcase design have also
contributed: The proliferation of wheeled luggage has made it physically
possible for travelers to cart more stuff. 

The Travel Goods Association says the wheeled Pullman case was introduced in
the 1970s. Pilots and flight attendants began using them in the 1980s. Their
popularity with the general public began in the early 1990s. The advent of
wheeled versions of expandable, carry-on and backpack bags are also now
widely available. 

Airlines have historically charged fees for extra baggage. Baggage revenue
has climbed steadily since 1990, according to the government numbers most
readily available. But the biggest jump has come since 2001, when leisure
travelers began making up more of the airplane loads than their business
travelers, who often know how to pack light and need fewer things on their
typically shorter trips, experts said. 

At least one airline, Alaska Airlines, has begun to automate the baggage
check-in process. Passengers put their luggage on a scale themselves and
insert a credit card if it exceeds the limit. 

The additional baggage fees aren't enough to make or break the airlines.
Together, they pulled in more than $259 million in fees in 2003, up from
almost $153 million in 2001. That's less than 3 percent of their total $100
billion in annual revenue. 

It's not an uncommon sight at airports these days to see passengers moving
items from heavy bags to lighter ones at the check-in counter to avoid the
extra fees. Airline policies vary, but in general they allow two 50-pound
checked suitcases and one carry-on bag, in addition to a purse or laptop
computer case, before charging extra fees. Most airlines now display a metal
frame at their counter that outlines the acceptable dimensions for
passengers to test their bags before checking in. 

Fees range but generally have become competitive in the last couple of
years, like all other fees and fares. The most common charges on domestic
flights are $40 to $80 for each extra suitcase and $25 to $80 for extra
pounds or oversized bags. The fees typically go up with more and heavier
bags and with unusual items. 

Attached Photo:

A US Airways worker unloads baggage at Philadelphia International Airport.
In 2003, airlines pulled in more than $259 million in extra baggage fees,
about 3 percent of their revenue.

baggage.jpg