HIDDEN FEES

[autofixer]

Weissinger was broke and leaving California to start a new life in Idaho. She had nothing but an airline ticket and $30 in her pocket.

However, the last time she flew, five years ago, checking a bag was still free. Most travelers are aware of the fees, but so she was shocked when she got up to the ticket counter. U.S. Airways said she had to pay an extra $60.

"$25 for one bag, $35 or another bag," said Weissinger.

She explained she didn't have enough money and asked couldn't she pay when she got there? The airline said no.

I think the amazing fact here is she is flying. Remember way back in the old days...broke people took the bus!

 

[CallawayGolf]

Yes
Military and family 4 bags per passengers at 100lbs at piece….FREE

She is not worthy because of status
I get it

She's not "worthy" because she didn't prove that she was eligible for any kind of waiver provision in the policy. Status outside of her relationship with the airline at that moment has nothing to do with it. She could be in the top 1% of all wealthy Americans and she still wouldn't have been waived unless she met the criteria to which you just referred.

My point about her current situation was that she is very unlikely to be a return customer. So why should a special waiver be granted to someone who will not return the favor by purchasing more tickets on US in the coming years because of how well she was treated this time? The airline could have put her in first class, given her access to the club, rented a limo to take her to her final destination and given her automatic CP status and still never saw a dime in return for taking care of the customer in this special treatment kind of way.

You still want to be generous with someone else's money which is way easier than being generous with your own money. If you are a stockholder or in senior management, you have the right to decide which give-away policies make sense for the company and which ones do not. If you aren't in one of those decision-making positions you can only follow the rules or face the consequences for being a fee waiving maverick.

 

[john john]

My point about her current situation was that she is very unlikely to be a return customer.

Bottom line she reach out for help and got it

WWJCD

 

[CallawayGolf]

You are fearful of fraud and abuse stealing buddy pass and computer terminals because of bag fees “Employees paying hardship baggage fees on their credit card “
And this is your suggestion

Fraud and abuse of of these kinds of policies is not fear, it's a reality. Happens all the time. Soon websites and blogs will appear showing how to convince ticket agents to waive your bag fees because of their generous fee waive policy. Then, when you add cash transactions and a generous fee waiving policy you can be certain that there will be some percentage of revenue leakage whereby cash collected from the customer somehow turns into a waived fee. It's like magic.

I didn't suggest "employees" pay hardship baggage fees. I suggested that you personally put your money where your keyboard is, so to speak, and demonstrate by example the kind of compassion that you are asking the company to authorize. Give till it hurts and then give some more. Heck its only money and just think of how good you will feel knowing that everyone who comes to the airport and faces an unexpected bag fee will be able to board the plane with their bags thanks to john john's limitless benevolence for all of those hard luck stories.

 

[john john]

I think the amazing fact here is she is flying. Remember way back in the old days...broke people took the bus!

Yep in1982 up and down the east cost for $19.00 airfares
Where were you

 

[CallawayGolf]

Bottom line she reach out for help and got it

WWJCD

Great question, but who can know the mind of the Lord? My best guess is that JC wouldn't stick his hands into other people's pockets without their consent as a way of being generous to those in need. When people came to him in need He used His own resources from on high to provide healing of sicknesses and even death, to provide food to those who were hungry, and ultimately to offer up Himself so that the world could be saved by faith. When a tax collector came looking for money, which He didn't have, He didn't steal it from someone else but rather told Peter to go an catch a fish which just "happened" to have a money piece in its mouth which presumably had been lost or forfeited to the sea quite a while earlier. I just can't recall a single event where JC engaged in or commanded stealing from someone as a way of appearing generous.

Money in a corporation has to come from somewhere and in most all cases it comes from paying customers. So giving away special treatment to some customers must come at the higher expense of other customers. So a fee waiving policy means that those customers who do not have their fees waived are paying more so that others can pay less or nothing at all. There really is no other way to make a policy like that work. So a fee waive policy hurts paying customers and possibly employees as the cumulative burdens of compassion policies (and the abuse and fraud that goes with them) takes it toll on the financial health of the organization. The most likely result of this is higher prices for paying customers and lower wages or fewer jobs for employees. One look at the last three years of financial statements makes it pretty clear that US wouldn't be here today if it didn't collect ancillary fees or if it waived those fees for everyone who raised an eyebrow at paying them.

 

[john john]

a generous fee waiving policy you can be certain that there will be some percentage of revenue leakage whereby cash collected from the customer somehow turns into a waived fee. It's like magic.

So giving away special treatment to some customers must come at the higher expense of other customers. So a fee waiving policy means that those customers who do not have their fees waived are paying more so that others can pay less or nothing at all.

Checking bags at the gate
Military and family 4 bags per passengers at 100lbs at piece…
I do acknowledge your fear of compassion fraud and abuse

 

[Keroseneuser]

Checking bags at the gate
Military and family 4 bags per passengers at 100lbs at piece…

The Military member gets to go out and patrol sniper and roadside bomb infested areas to get that bag fee waived. All in all I bet the Military guy would rather pay the bag fee and waive the combat patrol.

 

[CallawayGolf]

Checking bags at the gate
Military and family 4 bags per passengers at 100lbs at piece…

I suppose I will have to interpret your point here in the absence of completed sentences.

I suspect that not charging for bags that make it to the gate is a logistical and infrastructure issue that cannot be resolved in a cost-effective manner. If you have to pay more to have systems and people in place that can realistically be regained by collecting the fees, then it doesn't make sense to do it. Far better to try and catch most those bags at the ticket counter or at security checkpoints than to make fee transactions at the gate.

Taking care of the military and their families is just a cost of doing business. The military is a very good customer in total even if the individuals who fly are not all that frequent in their use of the airline. Americans by-and-large support the military so there is good-will created by showing care for the military and the unavoidable bags they have to travel with. Besides, if US charged for military bags while other airlines did not, there would be a substantial book away by the military which no one wants to see. So non-military fliers are subsidizing military bag fees but no one is complaining about that or asking for it to be done differently. Its a good business decision that can be supported by reason and common sense.

 

[john john]

The Military member gets to go out and patrol sniper and roadside bomb infested areas to get that bag fee waived. All in all I bet the Military guy would rather pay the bag fee and waive the combat patrol.

Agree but it is a revenue leakage fee.
They are worthy of fees being waived. but there is fear of compassion fraud and abuse

Suppose a Private or Sergeant Major miss their flights and show up later
Are they worthy of waived fees or pay like the poor lady because of fear compassion fraud and abuse

 

[CallawayGolf]

I do acknowledge your fear of compassion fraud and abuse

I don't fear compassion; I just don't believe compassion is defined by using other people's money. That's why policies of compassion and benevolence don't belong in a business or government setting. The only way for those entities to provide money or services under the guise of compassion is to use other people's money to do it. Corporations collect money from paying customers in order to be "compassionate" and governments collect taxes from productive citizens in order to be compassionate. This puts several layers of insulation between someone with the resources and will to be compassionate and the person in need. It needs to be said again that taking money from one person or group to give it to another person or group is not compassionate.

People and private organizations with a charter can show true compassion and offer direct assistance to those in need. People reach into their own pockets and give so that others can receive aid as may be appropriate. Personally my wife and I have given to charity between 10 and 40 percent of our household income over the past decade or more. If our taxes were lower we would give even more. So while I can be personally generous and compassionate I do not expect the businesses or governments I interface with to do it for me. I actually expect them to get out of the way so I can support issues and causes of my choosing rather than being forced to give to causes that I do not support.

Feel free to start a non-profit organization that provides assistance to those in need of having their airline baggage fees paid for them. You can accept donations and provide vouchers and help out anyone you like. If it takes off you might make a real difference in people's lives. If no one gives to your organization, then perhaps you will conclude that there really isn't a need for travelers to have their baggage fees paid by other generous people.

 

[Black Magic]

Callaway has the typical "rule with a iron fist HP attitude" theres no swaying him.

Certain situations are indeed different. The human element is eroding from america and long gone at us airways. Had I have been there I would have hinted to the customer to check 1 back and get the other through security to be gate checked at no charge.

 

[CallawayGolf]

Callaway has the typical "rule with a iron fist HP attitude" theres no swaying him.

Certain situations are indeed different. The human element is eroding from america and long gone at us airways. Had I have been there I would have hinted to the customer to check 1 back and get the other through security to be gate checked at no charge.

Callaway believes employees and customers will exploit any reasonable attempt to provide a compassionate response to situations so that they have ruined it for those who are truly in need. Callaway also believes that taking personal responsibility has been eroded in America and replaced with an entitlement mentality that demands something for nothing as a new way of life.

I have a novel idea, why don't we ask everyone to pay their own way in life and stop demanding to be treated special because we think we can get away with it if we put enough guilt on someone else to pay for our failures?

 

[tadjr]

There are ways to be compassionate without waiving the charge.

US Airways cant tell the customer what she can/cant do with her other bag. She said she only wanted to check 1 bag, then check it and whatever she decided to do with the other was up to her. Give it to a cleaner to throw out or I know of skycaps that will take "leftover" items and give to charity or their church. They should not have told her she couldnt leave it because of security, but instead offered suggestions on what to do with it. They could have offered to get her a plastic bag to take as carry on with as much as she could and leave the rest for trash. As long as its not just left unattended its not a security issue.
We have a Bijoux Turner $10 store that we send people to all the time to get a bigger carryon (thats within size limits) and they can repack.
They could tell her to find someone with a credit card and computer and check her in online and pay for the baggage fees.
Is there a travelers aid desk in SFO? Send her there to see if they have assistance of some kind.
Maybe she could have found someone else going to Boise who would be willing to pay for her bag and be reimbursed once they got to the other end (but that is highly doubtful).

The whole story is ridiculous that someone would wait 8 days to travel and that no one could come up with some kind of solution sooner. If she had not been able to travel at the time she was scheduled because she had to take care of the bag, they should have implemented the "flat tire" rule to get her on the next flight.

As with many news stories though, there is probably a lot more here that hasnt been explained.

John John- a question for you on having compassion and being taken advantage of. Where do you draw the line?

I had a customer come to me the other day with her little kid crying because she was running away from an abusive situation and had missed her flight on AA. She wanted me to sell her a ticket to BOS for the $60 she had or to take the AA ticket. Our ticket was $250 and it was her fault she missed the AA flight for whatever reason. She told me that AA could get her to MIA and BOS, but she would probably have to overnight in MIA and didnt want to do that with the little kid. I felt sorry for her situation (and yes the tears were flowing on her part), but she was booked on AA and it was her fault she missed the flight. I'm sorry. She came back with the AA agent (not sure how she got them to endorse the ticket over, but they did) and now when she has the two bags (and they were big) to check she tells the other agent she doesnt have money to check them in and that someone at AA told her the first bag was free and she wouldnt have to pay. (AA started the bag charge so we all know this is a falsehood). What does that agent do? Waive the fee? She had already told me she had money when she wanted me to give her a cheap fare to BOS, but now she tells the other agent she doesnt have money when I know she does. You cant give stuff away because people WILL LIE! and once they find a sucker they'll do whatever it takes to take full advantage of the situation. I hate this job (in one sense) because its made me see the bad side of a lot of people that will do whatever they can to take advantage of anyone who truely does have compassion for their fellow man, but, after 25 years of seeing the theatrics on a daily basis, I'm not going to risk losing my job because of it. I will offer suggestions and help as much as I can, but if you are going to use the services we offer, then you have to pay for them as charged. No one is waiving my food bills, electric bills etc and I would never dare go somewhere without money and then expect someone to give me stuff for free if there is a charge for it. People need to take some responsibility in their life and if things dont always work out with what you have, you make do or find the right people to help you.

 

[john john]

Taking care of the military and their families is just a cost of doing business.

So lets charge the employees for bags and sport equipment like US does
Taking care of employees right