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Wow, what a pain. At that point, I would have just FedExed the bags.
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@FatLynn: I do this pretty often myself, and it's worked great: inexpensive, no hassles, no theft, and no lost bags! If only there were some way to Fedex myself.
@FatLynn: I do this all the time! Works great. My luggage ALWAYS arrives, on-time, in-tact, no TSA paws in it, nothing missing from my luggage either. Usually only costs me $10-15.
A mysterious fee that not even American Airlines can explain? This can only mean-Oh God, they're multiplying! I told them not to feed the executives after midnight (ok, I told them not to feed them at all, but that includes after midnight), but they just wouldn't listen!
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This is a great submission, and a pleasure to read...I wish all articles were like this - clearly written and nice to read. Kudos to Pat for biting the bullet and being honest about corporate policy.
That being said, that fee is ABSURD. I can think of several viable reasons that someone might need to pre-pay for baggage, and flying other individuals in for business is high on the list. It happens a decent amount. Thank goodness the OP thought to look for this, or the guest would have been stuck at the counter, paying for it herself! Horrible policy on AA's part!
Wow. United lets you \"save\" $5 by paying in advance ($15 vs. $20 ... as we all remember, it used to be $15 across the board, then they jacked it up to $20 but kept the advance payment at $15). That's ridiculous.
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@Necroscope: As crappy as that whole situation was, I've never known anyone to check a guitar. I always see them stuffed in the overhead bins. In fact, when my brother tried to check his guitar (about 2 years ago) the person at the gate stopped him, warned him they could not guarantee its safety, and strongly recommended he carry it on.
The agents are admittedly idiots here, but what they are offering is the to allow pre-payment to carry two bags each eay ($20 for the first, $30 for the second), plus a $20 phone fee. So, yes, the fee makes \"sense,\" although the agents poorly explained it.
It'd be nice if the Consumerist actually did a little research to figure obvious things out, but I guess unbiased reporting isn't your strong suit.
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@elizass: The numbers you gave are not what the OP was told, which was (in part): \"She came back a few minutes later and told me - it would be $20, and a $100 pre-payment fee. $120 total. Each way.\" It was explicitly an \"each way\" fee. There was also an explicit $100 \"pre-payment fee.\" There was also no mention of any \"phone fee,\" whether $20 or any other amount.
@kerrington.steele: Yeah, definitely looks to me like an example of \"selective numbering.\" Sort of like when people take long lists of measurements of things like the Great Pyramid or the Washington Monument, compare them to other numbers (such as dates) or to themselves (and find a frequently-recurring number) and from all this data pluck out apparently-meaningful coincidences. (See e.g. Ch. 13 of Martin Gardner's Fads & Fallacies to see how this works.) A sufficiently large sampling of numbers to play with, will always turn up convenient coincidences of this type. In the case of AA, their complex fee structure, including fees for many different things, is large enough to allow this to happen. Here, it's easy to find a bunch of fees that add up to $120.
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@PsiCop: Not to mention $120 compared to %15 at United is still very suspicious. Other legacies giving a discount for prepay and AA charging more? 500% more???
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@elizass: I'm pretty sure the OP was told the $120 was the fee each way, for an unspecified number of bags and with no mention of a phone fee (though that's probably part of the \"prepayment fee\" he mentions). interesting, if your analysis is somehow correct, that they assume he wanted to pay for 2 bags each way. yes, it's convenient that AA's first 2 bag fees = $50 total, but I have a feeling you're just throwing out numbers that happen to add up to $120.
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Did I read that correctly? The baggage fee was $20, and fee to pre-pay this (rather than pay at the counter) was $100, for a total of $120?
I think the funny farm has a new CIEIO.
The nexttime, if it is THAT important, you should think about first class. I don't know about AA, but some airlines don't charge those stupid fees for first or business class passengers.
Having had to book flights for speakers in a former life in a galaxy far far away, most speakers wouldn't come if I didn't book them first class.
Its too bad, but that is the way it is, and I hope people avoid using AA for just this kind of crap.
@Klaus_Kinsky: Now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't first class tickets waaaaay more expensive than economy? Even with that outrageous fee, I think it would still be cheaper to sit in the back.
Well written. No anger. Good read for a change.
WHAT THE FARK.
WHO IN THEIR STUPID LITTLE MIND CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF CHARGING THE CUSTOMER AN EXTRA $100 BUCKS FOR THE PRIVILAGE OF TAKING THEIR MONEY FOR A $20 FEE.
I rarely fly anywhere (2001 was the last time) so I have little experience with the way airlines are operating these days. I get the impression from what I read on Consumerist.com about the airlines that those businesses are being run more and more like dishonest car dealerships. You are told a certain up front price but then, as the deal progresses, the extra fees, charges, and more fees begin to appear until you wind up paying far more than you expected.
I think I'll stick with driving wherever I wish to go as long as there's not an ocean involved. It will be a less stressful and more honest experience than dealing with the airlines (not to mention skipping the dealings with the TSA).
That's great - unless you don't happen to be retired, live in the western U.S., or have unlimited free time to drive 2,500 round trip for a weekend getaway.
I take many weekend getaways, travel with just a small bag, - read, don't complain and enjoy being able to hop around the country for under $275. Which is far less than gas and car wear and tear would be.
I sound like an airline shill - but even with the BS involved I still enjoy traveling and flying.
@jamesdenver: Or there's the option of only going far away and taking int'l airlines. Example- Japan Airlines flies JFK-Sao Paulo (part of a one-stop Tokyo-Sao Paulo route). Strongly recommended for their service.
Yeah agree. I did Luthsansa non-stop Denver/Germany and was amazed at the different from UAL.
@justwingingit: My sentiments exactly. The only way to fight this as a consumer, short of lobbying for legislative changes, is to vote with your feet and not use their 'service'.
Delta has some weird policies too. They are gracious to take along multiple baby items (stroller, car seat, etc) as free items to check. However, they are not eligible for curbside check-in. Also, if you do carry a baby item, you are not allowed to pre-pay your normal luggage at the $5 discount.
so you get your baby items for free, but that means you have to pay @ the counter (can't curbside check) and the full price.
the only way around this is to pre-pay and curb-side check your regular luggage, but to gate-check your baby items. with that comes lugging around your carry-ons, baby items, along with your baby/babies all throughout the airport.
So am i understanding correctly they are just charging $100 for the privilege of pre-paying the $20 baggage fee?
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If they don't have their system set to provide this service it makes sense that there would be an additional fee. I wonder how many people ask for refunds on prepaid luggage they decided not to use.
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I believe you're can prepay the baggage fee when you're checking in online (basically 24 hours before departure). Also most likely you'll know how many baggages you'll be checking in.
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I understand why they wanted to prepay for her, but it'd have to be way cheaper to just pay at the time of...we want to discourage you from giving us your money in advance!
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Well, it's published now. :)
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The lesson here is plain: those silly affinity programs (like the BusinessExtraa mentioned) don't change the basic rule of domestic airlines; if you're concerned about rip-off fees, you simply can't fly legacy carriers.
Next time--Southwest, even in these circumstances.
Also--what does the headline mean by \"attempted to charge\" They *actually* charged him, right?
@treimel: I don't agree. As a United Premiere member, I don't pay baggage fees at all. Neither does anyone I'm traveling with.
@treimel: I'm a big fan of Southwest but in this case I don't know that they would be the best carrier. Don't get me wrong, I fly SW as often as possible, but the way they fly might not be the best way for a person who is disabled. Depending on the schedule there's a very good chance of needing to change planes to get where you're going on Southwest (Southwest's schedule is run more like a subway, get on/off, change trains, with an express here and there). I know that they would take good care of a person with a disability, but I question how comfortable it would be for that person considering all of the stresses involved with flying, when a different (though much lousier) airline would have a direct flight.
@treimel:
first sentence, not headline.