Spirit Becomes First Airline to Charge for Carry-On Baggage
- Thread starter hp_fa
- Start date
Big Bad Ben is the master of spin.
"The beauty of it is they will do what they think is best for them and will now have the choice". As if he's doing customers a favor. Puuhhleeeze. He couldn't talk his way out of the crazy idea years back to overhaul the DM program by not giving any miles at all for lower/discount purchases. After enough outcry, they backed off. His quote was something along the lines of saying "just because you fly frequently on low fares, that's not the kind of customer we want".
OP
- Feb 19, 2004
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- Thread Starter
- #3
This would make life really difficult for all involved.
The CSR's would be bombarded to the point that the police would be running (or in the case of PHX riding their bikes) from gate to gate. Add to that all the cursing that would be directed to the CSR's
The FA's would be having incensed passengers boarding the planes and setting a worse than normal atmosphere in the plane.
The DM's would either speed their exodus or be exempted. If they were exempted then that would make the non-DM's who watched gate enforcement even madder.
The only possible good that the front line would notice is perhaps they would hire more CSR's with the $$$ from the fee. (Of course the new hires would need to all be deaf so that they wouldn't become overwhelmed at all the vitriol directed towards them.) Also it would lessen the number of bags dragged aboard, but at the cost of an unhappy cabin for the FA's to then need to work within.
The CSR's would be bombarded to the point that the police would be running (or in the case of PHX riding their bikes) from gate to gate. Add to that all the cursing that would be directed to the CSR's
The FA's would be having incensed passengers boarding the planes and setting a worse than normal atmosphere in the plane.
The DM's would either speed their exodus or be exempted. If they were exempted then that would make the non-DM's who watched gate enforcement even madder.
The only possible good that the front line would notice is perhaps they would hire more CSR's with the $$$ from the fee. (Of course the new hires would need to all be deaf so that they wouldn't become overwhelmed at all the vitriol directed towards them.) Also it would lessen the number of bags dragged aboard, but at the cost of an unhappy cabin for the FA's to then need to work within.
SparrowHawk
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- Nov 30, 2009
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Spirit is trying to position itself much as Ryan Air does in Europe. Ultra low base fare and total a la carte for EVERYTHING else.
I haven't looked into the details but my suspicion is the checked bag fee is or will be lower than the carry on fee which will lower the time it takes to turn an aircraft as it will drive everyone off the plane and off to baggage claim.
Time measured in 60 second intervals is any airlines biggest cost metric. If using fees to alter customer behavior that increases the revenue generated and lowers the operating cost of the airline, then you have to give the "Killer B's" their due,
To me it's a customer Hostile move. However Spirit doesn't really want my business or others like me. I'm not their target market and one of the reasons I choose NOT to lambast them at every turn is because they make no bones about exactly who they are. There is no mixed Marketing Message like US Airways has. Spirit is EXACTLY who they say they are and it's my decision to accept or reject their business model. Unlike US they actually MAKE MONEY doing it their way!
IMO, The majors will NOT adopt this policy due to the entanglement of alliances and their hub & spoke business model. Can you imagine what a 20% increase in checked baggage would do to US in PHL or any airline that has to sort and interline bags?
OP
- Feb 19, 2004
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- #5
I also had thought about that, specifically that the checked fee should be lower than the carry-on fee for infrastructure reasons.
Dont call me Shirley
Veteran
http://nycaviation.com/2010/04/06/spirit-becomes-first-airline-to-charge-for-carry-on-baggage/
spirit Airlines announced today that it will begin charging a fee to passengers who carry-on baggage that will be stored in overhead bins. Bags that fit under the seat will remain free. Claiming the fees are actually good for the customer, Spirit said, “In order to continue reducing fares even further and offering customers the option of paying only for the services they want and use rather than subsidizing the choices of others, the low far industry innovator is progressing to the news phase of unbundling with the introduction of a charge to carry on a bag and be boarded first onto the airplane.
Someone had no be the first to bite the bullet here. Kudos to NK. Look, airline employees hate baggage fees as much as passengers do, nut by charging more for carry-ons than checked bags, but they are here to stay, as much as that sucks.
NK has a good idea. Bags belong in the cargo compartment, not above peoples' heads. It will be interesting indeed to see if a major carrier follows.
spirit Airlines announced today that it will begin charging a fee to passengers who carry-on baggage that will be stored in overhead bins. Bags that fit under the seat will remain free. Claiming the fees are actually good for the customer, Spirit said, “In order to continue reducing fares even further and offering customers the option of paying only for the services they want and use rather than subsidizing the choices of others, the low far industry innovator is progressing to the news phase of unbundling with the introduction of a charge to carry on a bag and be boarded first onto the airplane.
Someone had no be the first to bite the bullet here. Kudos to NK. Look, airline employees hate baggage fees as much as passengers do, nut by charging more for carry-ons than checked bags, but they are here to stay, as much as that sucks.
NK has a good idea. Bags belong in the cargo compartment, not above peoples' heads. It will be interesting indeed to see if a major carrier follows.
Dont call me Shirley
Veteran
And that is just what NK is doing. Baggage fees are unpleasant for airline staff and customers alike. But it seems that they are here to stay, thanks to the psychology of internet pricing. Charging more for carry-ons than for checked bags will mean fewer carry-on bags, fewer last minute gate checked bags and the resulting delays, and increased cabin safety.
Having said that, there is a difference between charging for bags (on either sort) if the customer is paying USD 9 to fly from BOS to FLL or paying USD 450 for a one hour Dash 8 ride to PHL..
Surprised that RyanAir, NK's role model, did not think of this first.
Will a major carrier take the plunge?
SparrowHawk
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Has anybody seen Spirit's "$100 for a Coke?" ad on their web site? They claim on comparably routes Spirit on average is $100 cheaper then the legacy carriers. It's a powerful message. So it should come as no surprise that the "Killer B's" are trying to capture as much of that $100 fare differential and Baggage checked or carried on is the low hanging fruit of revenue generation.
If you just want ot go ACY to BOS for arounf $90 R/T versus US at anywhere from $260 to $972R/T that's one heck of a lot of Gin & Tonics I can buy and truth is for a little over an hour flight how miserable can Spirit be? The answer sadly is not so bad if you're US Airways.
SS255
Veteran
DrBeth
Senior
Kudos to NK? You have to be kidding.
Mind you, I never bring more than one bag with me, usually my computer bag or purse, but as a customer, I think this is absurd.
I can't wait to see what kinds of bags people start stuffing under their seats to avoid paying this fee!
Since carry-ons belongs in the cargo compartment, then explain to me why the airlines allow carry-ons of certain measurements aboard to begin with? Also, the primary reasons people try to bring everything but the kitchen sink with them on the plane is because 1) airlines are inept at transporting luggage and 2) because customers don't want to pay the checked luggage fees. The airlines themselves have created this problem. Guarantee that the luggage will arrive on the same flight as the customer and customers will be more likely to pay a checked luggage fee.
If a legacy carrier starts charging me to take care of my own airline-compliant carry-on, I'll fly another carrier, I will drive, or I will pay ship my bag via a reliable company like FedEx or UPS.
Then where will the airlines be when they've chased away their customers because of ridiculous fees?
Mind you, I never bring more than one bag with me, usually my computer bag or purse, but as a customer, I think this is absurd.
I can't wait to see what kinds of bags people start stuffing under their seats to avoid paying this fee!
Since carry-ons belongs in the cargo compartment, then explain to me why the airlines allow carry-ons of certain measurements aboard to begin with? Also, the primary reasons people try to bring everything but the kitchen sink with them on the plane is because 1) airlines are inept at transporting luggage and 2) because customers don't want to pay the checked luggage fees. The airlines themselves have created this problem. Guarantee that the luggage will arrive on the same flight as the customer and customers will be more likely to pay a checked luggage fee.
If a legacy carrier starts charging me to take care of my own airline-compliant carry-on, I'll fly another carrier, I will drive, or I will pay ship my bag via a reliable company like FedEx or UPS.
Then where will the airlines be when they've chased away their customers because of ridiculous fees?
SS255
Veteran
Or the fisticuffs that result when they stick one small bag under the seat in front of them, and another small bag (hidden inside the first) under the seat behind them.
This experiment has FAIL written all over it!
Well, if it works in EU for RyanAir, any reason why it could not work here for Spirit?
List of RyanAir fees
SparrowHawk
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There is ONE reason it won't work. Ryan and NK have one thing in common, NO CODE SHARES and to my knowledge no interline agreements.. Once you complicate the business process, then the Ryan/Spirit model IMO will not work.
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