Much has been made of the increasing baggage fees charged by airlines, a trend in the U.S. so far only resisted by Southwes Airlines.
Certainly when traveler are looking at paying as much for their luggage as for their ticket on a short flight, it’s an issue. But a flight on United Airlines reminded me today, that often cost is not really the issue. It is the complete unreliability factor associated with checking bags.
As a premier flier with United, I don’t pay basic baggage fees. And waiving fees for passengers who reach even the lowest rung of elite status is pretty much industry wide more major U.S. carriers. Now, it is certainly simpler and faster to keep a bag in sight, but there are nonetheless hassles.
The most common hassle of carry-on luggage is the three ounce liquid rule, meaning no wine, limited shampoo, moisturizer, etc. But carry-on also means more time in the security line, one more thing to drag around and keep track of, and on a return trip, limited shopping, just for examples.
In this case, I had not checked my bag on the flight out, but it was on the edge of carry-on size limits, it was heavy, and I was tired. It was also United’s “P.S” plane, their specially configured transcontinental 757, with only about 100 seats, which limits the number of bags. So I figured, fine, let them check it. It would free up overhead space too. And since I was getting a ride home, I knew it would be easy to just call my husband upon landing, as it is almost exactly 30 minutes from our home to the airport.
The flight was fine. The uncertainty starts upon landing.
The monitors at baggage claim said “Carousel 3.” I even used a kiosk to confirm that my bag had been on the plane. So I went to the carousel, and waited, and waited. While the carousel had been moving, it soon stopped. And after over 30 minutes, it hadn’t started again. Not a single bag had emerged. And the natives were getting restless.
Several of us started discussing the situation. And the general consensus was that we all were going to try to cram things in carry-on next time. One guy’s comment “So much for not being a bin-hog.”
Finally I went to the baggage service counter, where the baggage assistance woman was not in a great mood. One passenger said he had gate-checked a bag that was missing; the woman basically accused her of lying. The young man in front of me discovered his bag had missed the plane, would be there in about 30 minutes and she said, not in a kind tone, “Yea, well deliver it, if you pay, otherwise you wait.”
So I asked as nicely if I could if she knew anything about my flight. She snapped. “Carousel 3.” “Yes, but m’am, there are no bags out from that flight.” “It can take 20 minutes.” “Yes, I know, but it has been more like 40 minutes.” Finally she asked for my bag tag, typed something, sighed, and picked up the phone.
Then the response, after a quick conservation, “there’s something wrong with the plane, they got people off but not bags.” I asked if they gave her some idea as to how long it would be, and was told “they’re working on it.”
At which point I heard some commotion near carousel 3. Apparently another employee told people to go over to number 5. There, not only was the luggage being delivered, employees had taken most of it off the carousel, as it had apparently been offloaded some time ago. So most passengers, including myself, now almost an hour after the flight, were able to just grumpily grab their bags and head out.
Now, things happen. And not even FedEx is absolutely perfect on delivery. But the complete unpredictability of the system is maddening. If you expect bags in 20 or so minutes, waiting an hour can cause all sorts of complications. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.
Actually in San Francisco United is usually pretty good. But “usually” doesn’t help when it’s a bad afternoon or evening. Unfortunately, problems happen enough that passengers lose faith in the system, and then resort to whatever means possible to avoid handing over their bags. (Especially when they are paying for the privilege.)
Suggestions for the airlines? Since they are charging for luggage, make on-time delivery, say, 30 minutes or less a priority. Have more customer service agents monitoring the baggage area. And try to work on customer service attitude.
As a travel agent I am sympathetic to dealing with the public, but taking it out on passengers who aren’t being rude doesn’t help. (Several people from the flight who had followed me over heard the exchange, and were shaking their heads and muttering about the agent’s attitude.) At the least make service with a smile a higher priority.
The traveling public is by and large a reasonable lot. Charge for a service and provide it, and people understand. Charge for a service and make providing that service a crapshoot, not so much.
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Janice … I think the major failure that the airlines have failed to understand is that once you started making people pay for a service their expectations increase.
For example: Bag delayed but included in the airfare? I’ll deal with it. Bag delayed and I had to pay $50? No. I’m not waiting for my bag to show up. You’re going to deliver my bag at your expense.
Unfortunately, the airlines failed to anticipate this. They thought they could make people pay and they would still be happy with poor/ rude service. In my experience, that isn’t going to happen.
As a Medallion member on Delta, I avoid the baggage fees, but I still refuse to check luggage, my biggest issue is with the liquid restrictions, but I’ve come to the decision it’s easier (and if I had to pay the fee, cheaper) to just buy what I need when I arrive and throw out the unused portion.
Yes, it’s wasteful, and can be expensive, but it’s still cheaper than paying the baggage fee and I can stroll off the plane and out of the airport without a hassle.
I think that if we’re paying a fee – that fee should include “delay and lost luggage” insurance……
This sort of incident annoys me. If you are required to pay extra for a service, that service had better be delivered promptly, if not with a smile, certainly without a scowl. While baggage service agents might get the raw end of the deal, in this economy employees should be especially careful of conduct likely to cause passenger to write a complaint letter or indeed post an adverse story on a blogsite. I would recommend that anyone who experiences this kind of problem take some time to write a short letter of complaint to the airline, succinctly outline the facts and request a refund of the checked bag fee – don’t get greedy, but if an airline employee has been rude make sure you mention this in the letter, being as specific as possible as to what was said, and by whom.
I’ve had many, many instances of my baggage not arriving on the carousel that’s posted so I always check repeatedly that the people standing with me are people I recognize as arriving on the same flight as I did and I always check the display that lists which carousel is supposed to have the luggage from my flight. Once in a huge airport (exactly where, I don’t remember) I was told they announced the change of carousel several times, but it was so loud and the announcer so muffled that none of us waiting got the message, and the officials on the floor that we eventually asked did not have the correct carousel either (and the message board with carousel information still had the wrong carousel listed). And, like you experienced, everyone was rude. I’m wondering if the baggage area is controlled by a different entity than the airlines and they don’t get along or perhaps some airports have a sadistic person, like a man behind the curtain, who likes to change carousels at the last minute so that we travelers have to scramble to find our luggage.
I have to say that I agree with John that the airlines have shot themselves in the foot, again, by charging fees and not understanding that by doing so they have raised the level of expectation among their customer base. The exceptions to this rule are Southwest, who has managed to avoid resorting to bag fees and Alaskan, who charges fees but also promises that your bag will be off the plane and available for you to claim within 30 minutes of your flight’s arrival. If it isn’t, then they give you a voucher good toward your next flight on Alaskan.
Sure, it isn’t perfect but at least they are willing to do something if they fail to deliver in a timely manner whereas the legacy carriers continue to walk over the customer and then act surprised that their customers don’t appreciate it.
Ah, but if you ask the airlines, they aren’t ‘charging more’ for toting your bag–they’re ‘unbundling’ the fees from the cost of the tickets. So they don’t see it that you’re paying for a new service–it’s one they’ve always provided (albeit rather poorly)–now only the people using the shoddy service are paying for it. (Don’t get me started on the fact there’s no way it costs $25 for them to transport a 30 lb bag–it’s clearly a money maker for them.)
As MVFlyer said, the airlines will say they are “unbundling” the baggae fees from the cost of tickets. The response to that is to ask whether they lowered the cost of the tickets by some amount to reflect the “unbundled” fee. They have to answer “No” because they did not lower the airfare. Therefore it is an additional cost/profit center and the airline will be held to a higher standard, whether they like it or not. By making the charge specific, they have an implied warranty that they will deliver the bag(s) to you on your flight, on time, and will return them to you within a reasonable length of time after the end of the flight, or they will have to deliver them to you if they cannot perform. They won’t like it, but they opened that door when they added the fees.
Great–United, unfortunately, has the best transpacific airfares going right now. Have booked a couple of round-trip flights and already groaning inwardly with this bit of news…United Express flights are notoriously unpredictable as it is–frequently delayed–but to wait for luggage and miss a transfer–but wait, it gets better, you get to PAY for the added injury!!
@MVFlyer: It doesn’t cost $25 to transport a 30 pound bag? Then why don’t you try shipping it?
All: Once again, multiple issues. Carry on with your discussion of what should be included with baggage fees. But think about this. As Janice said, even minor elites don’t pay anything. Others do. So are you then saying that those who pay should get extras like insurance but the elites don’t because they are not paying anything?
But the other thread here is about wonderfully nice customers and always in-the-wrong rude agents. Does it *ever* happen? Sure. But in my experience, it is usually the rude customer that elicits a rude response in return. Now, perhaps that still isn’t appropriate, but just for ONE moment, put yourselves in the position of someone who is dealing with rude and annoyed people constantly. Could you do that and be completely sweet? Could anyone? I doubt it. So go ahead Matthew in NYC and attempt to get someone fired if that will make you feel better. I’m sure you are always a lovely, pleasant person to others.
But the reality that happened here? Some RAMP agent dumped the bags onto the wrong carousel without telling anyone, but go ahead and take it out on the person at the counter. That’s your right as an American.
Last fall I flew United into SFO on a delayed flight. Bags started coming out onto carousel 3 after 40 minutes or so, and 15 minutes later they stopped. My bag wasn’t there. I checked the kiosk, which said my bag should be on carousel 3. When I went to the baggage claim office with my claim check, a surly agent told me impatiently, “Those bags came in ages ago on Flight XXX (not my flight number). Go down there [pointing halfway down the room].” Yes, my bag was in a roped-off area “down there”. But United should have been able to tell passengers that it had put their bags on another plane so that we could find them without wasting more than an hour and much anxiety.
I’m a 1K with United so I usually check bags because I don’t have to play and, more importantly, I don’t have to schlep the bag through the airport.
I really haven’t had any problems with checked baggage on United except for one trip last year to London and they were able to get the bag to me on the same day.
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones but I think the reduced number of checked bags overall is helping performance and the ten or fifteen minutes of waiting usually isn’t that bad.
MVFller wrote – “Ah, but if you ask the airlines, they aren’t ‘charging more’ for toting your bag–they’re ‘unbundling’ the fees from the cost of the tickets. ”
If that’s the case then they are giving frequent fliers a discount off the cost of tickets because they aren’t paying the fees.
I’ve been saying since airlines instituted baggage fees (and I’ve written it here) that passengers will accept fees, and actually gladly pay a fee, if there are guarantees for the service, Airlines just don’t get it or don’t care, even though they are making billions … yes, billions … off checked baggage fees. They do care about their frequent fliers though that can check bags for free. With that in mind, American Airlines announced this week their Priority Baggage Delivery service for their frequent fliers and First/Business Class passengers where they promise to deliver their checked baggage to the carousel first, before those people that are paying foor the service. You might argue that frequent fliers are paying for the service because they spend more money than non-frequent fliers, but that just is not necessarily the case. Actually I think that AA may have difficulty living up to that promise and it could back fire on them. I would argue that someone who checks their bags early with plenty of time before flight should get their bags back first on the carousel.
@Robert—I’m a United elite, and have been for several years. I don’t pay for bags, and to boot, they get ‘Priority’ tags put on ‘em–it’s in fact a Star Alliance priority tag, supposedly recognized by all Star carriers. Has this helped me get my bags earlier or not losing them, even when I’m flying overseas on a premium class ticket? Of course not. I’m not sure what the tags accomplish–perhaps they allow the handlers to throw them extra hard, or hold the bags back longer so they come out at the end.
Matthew in NYC January 19, 2010 at 10:13 am
I would recommend that anyone who experiences this kind of problem take some time to write a short letter of complaint to the airline, succinctly outline the facts and request a refund of the checked bag fee – don’t get greedy, but if an airline employee has been rude make sure you mention this in the letter, being as specific as possible as to what was said, and by whom.
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Therein lies the question. Apparently airline employees are RUDE, but, never the customer. Sooo, if a customer doesnt LIKE THE ANSWER by an AIRLINE EMPLOYEE, it makes it RUDE. Nor do customers ever lie.
Just because YOU didnt like the answer, doesnt make it RUDE.
Mel January 20, 2010 at 10:07 am
As MVFlyer said, the airlines will say they are “unbundling” the baggae fees from the cost of tickets. The response to that is to ask whether they lowered the cost of the tickets by some amount to reflect the “unbundled” fee. They have to answer “No” because they did not lower the airfare.
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NOT TRUE!!!
Transport Association of America said total passenger revenue for the major U.S. carriers fell 18% in 2009 versus the year before. It was the largest drop on record, exceeding the 14% decline in 2001.
The revenue decline was due to a 6% drop in passenger volume, and a 13% plunge in the average price paid to fly one mile, the ATA said.
Frank … Are your numbers average per passenger revenue or total revenue?
A drop in total revenue could reflect a drop in people flying (which news reports would allude to) and not a reduction in the average ticket cost so both you and MVflyer could be correct. A drop in average per passenger revenue could reflect people flying shorter distances so that wouldn’t neccessarily support your point either.
The only real stat (if you could find it) that supports either claim would be the average change in air fare per ticket class per passenger per route. That way your only really looking at the change in air fares for a given route and it would rule out schedule reductions reducing the number of lower cost fare seats between two destinations.
Annecdotal evidence from our local airport (CVG) suggests that airfares have not decreased by $25 to $30 per passenger. They did not drop after the lastest increases.
An experience in Houston: I was waiting for my bag to appear on the carousel, when I heard my name and four others paged over the speaker system, to come to the service desk. We were advised that our bags had arrived on an earlier flight and were waiting just a few feet away. We didn’t even have to wait till all the other bags had come out. Very good service from Continental.