US Airways adds $5 procrastination fee

by Ned Levi on April 23, 2009

US Airway has announced that passengers will soon be able to prepay their baggage fees when they check-in online. The online fee will be, first bags at $15 and second bags at $25, the same as US Airways currently charges.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. If you don’t pay the baggage fee online when you check-in for your flight on the US Airways site, and instead wait until you arrive at the airport, you’ll pay a $5 surcharge.

US Airways stated in this morning’s announcement that it will now charge passengers who wait to pay the baggage fees at the airport, $20 for the first bag, and $30 for the second bag.

The new online payment option for the baggage fees, and the $5 surcharge if you wait to pay the fee at the airport, will begin July 9th for flights booked on or after April 23, 2009.

Will it be long before the other airlines, charging passengers to check-in luggage, to apply the same surcharge? I don’t think so.

Moreover, is there any justification whatsoever, for charging $5 more, if you wait until you reach the airport to pay the fee, less than 24 hours later? I don’t think so.

Oh, please don’t tell me it costs more to collect the fee at the airport because a person has to do it. Most US Air passengers check in at the airport  using a kiosk, with no US Air personnel involved.

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Tagged as: baggage, baggage fee, online baggage fee payment, online check-in, surcharge, US Airways

  • Frank

    Most US Air passengers check in at the airport using a kiosk, with no US Air personnel involved.
    ========================================================

    NOT the case when you have bags (paying bag fee!) The Kiosk was put in place just for that reason, to reduce the CONGESTION at the check-in counters.
    I’ve worked the check-in counter many, many years ago. For the life of me, when there is a very long line, you would think the passengers who have finally gotten to the counter make their transaction very brief, well because, there’s dozens of passengers behind you. Not the case! There’s ticket issues, changing returns, a dozen questions, example: How’s the weather today in MCO? Then you have the people who show up late to the airport expecting to be escorted to the front of the line. Fair?
    A prepay fee? I think this airline is just trying to get passengers to make transactions, just like boarding passes, prior to arriving at the airport. This will reduce congestion at the counter, help PROCESS passengers more quickly and help keep flights on-time.

  • Laura Townsend Elion

    Thanks for warning us Ned.

    Interesting logic they use, though, considering they charge me MORE for a ticket I purchased way in advance and I know the guy who booked his on Orbitz just last week paid hundreds less for his…

  • Puzzled

    Frank, most airlines have self-check luggage check in kiosks. Your argument does not hold.

  • Hapgood

    You forgot the additional $5 fee for processing the fee payment.

  • http://www.ffocus.org Bruce InCharlotte

    @Laura – the price doesn’t always go down. Sometimes fares go up and when that happens, the early birds win.

    Perhaps US would get better spin if they offered a $5 discount for pre-paying rather than a $5 surcharge for procrastinating.

  • Ed

    If they really want to encourage people to prepay, why not offer a $5 discount? Instead of $15 at check-in, make it $10 prepaid. But that would only make sense if the real reason behind this wasn’t just to take more money from us.

  • Jennifer

    What about Groups??? I work with student groups and this causes a nightmare. You can’t always check-in ahead of time, it depends on the airline. It’s awful with 55 students at the airport each trying to pay their stupid little fee. Just creates MORE chaos!

  • Anne

    United has been doing this…costs less to prepay. The catch is; if you prepay, the fee is nonrefundable, even if the flight is cancelled and you don’t go anywhere!! That’s crazy…if the flight doesn’t go, they have to refund the airfare (even though they’ll try to get around that too), but they don’t have to refund the baggage charge??????

  • DT

    While I think this also is a grab at getting customers online to check in and pay bag fees so the check in counter is less crowded (and requires less employees), it also gives them an idea of how many checked bags they will be dealing with for a particular flight. Most of the flight planning in terms of fuel required, how many checked bags there will be, etc are based on best guesses and this is done well before passengers get to the ticket counter to check in. This might let them more accurately asses how many bags they will have on a flight, especially if the flight will be restricted due to winds, length of flight, aircraft type, etc.

  • twiga

    This is all so ridiculous!
    i have been living in europe for the past 3 years and the more i read about what is going on with the US airlines the more sickening it is. on many occasions i have been able to fly from vienna – sweden, budapest – croatia, or brataslava – london for less than 50$ roundtrip on the discount airlines! Yes I have to pay extra for checking in a bag but for a 25$ roundtrip flight taxes included you bet I am OK with paying a little extra for a bag. If I want to fly the full services airlines like Lufthansa or BA I can expect to pay $120 and up but I get meals and baggage check in without extra cost. The point is that here in europe I feel have a choice about what kind of flying experience I want and the total cost represents that. US airlines are forcing a discount airline service at full service price with no choice fbecause the low prices that do exist in europe rarely are found in the US and to get the “all inclusive”service you have to buy business or first class which is way way more than 99 euros!

  • Marilyn Long

    An earlier poster brought up the subject of group travel. Not only will this new bag policy create havoc for groups, it will raise group airfare to an even more ridiculous level. I have been helping our church choir group with travel arrangements. US Airways gave us the best quote with one of the best schedules for our particular trip, but it was still at least $150 dollars more per person than the same flight would have been had I been booking it as an individual. Then we have bag fees on top of that. There are more negative details about this flight arrangement which I don’t want to describe for fear of embarrassing someone who made an innocent mistake with the booking, but let’s just say that I am glad that our group trips for the next two years at least will not have anything to do with US Airways.

  • Frank

    On April 23rd, 2009 at 10:22 am Puzzled said Frank, most airlines have self-check luggage check in kiosks. Your argument does not hold.
    ========================================================

    I never check a bag. so, if you didnt prepay for your checked bag prior to your day of departure………. HOW DO YOU PAY AT THE AIRPORT?

  • Jo Anne VG

    Makes perfect sense. They will know how many bags in advance will be on a plane probably by 80%. That leaves then 20% space to sell to commercial carriers at a premium price. Ever watch what goes on a planes – there is a lot of commercial freight. That’s where the money is – not w/the passenger. For example, if you were to mail your 50 lb. suitcase it would cost you a lot more than $25 or $50.
    It’s all about freight which the airlines are NOT supposed to be the business of but they are. That’s why we are treated as freight when we book in, sit in our seat and deplane. To echo an Andrew Lloyd Weber’s song line – “Freight is great” and that’s how the airlines feel. If the airlines could take us there virtually they would. After all, you won’t see “freight” asking for free baggage transport, free drinks, an upgrade, wanting the lowest price and demanding to use the business lav.
    Next, we will be riding on the wings!

  • Ned Levi

    Frank, you asked, “I never check a bag. so, if you didn’t prepay for your checked bag prior to your day of departure………. HOW DO YOU PAY AT THE AIRPORT?”

    The answer is kiosks via credit card, and you can always pay a ticket agent.

  • The man who notices things

    This is how it goes now:

    “US Airways today announced discounts to their checked luggage policy. Taking into account the preferences of our passengers, and wanting to react to the needs and desires of our passengers, we have discounted our check day of departure checked baggage fees, Effective [insert date] passengers who pay in advance for their checked baggage will receive a $5 discount over their day of departure bag fees. We are always checking to see if there are areas where we can listen to the concerns of our passengers.”

  • kimberly

    Fuel has gone down…wasn’t this the reason for CHARGING for ALL bags to begin with?

  • Val

    Hi guys:

    I love this topic and love hearing all your thoughts. I actually have to write an article for a travel writing class assignment, would it be okay if I quoted ya’ll (anonymously of course)?

    Thanks,
    Val

  • The man who notices things

    Val – silence is not consent – keep that in mind when using other people’s ideas – even though posted to a public BBS where the comments are in public domain . . .

  • Frank

    On April 23rd, 2009 at 7:40 pm Ned Levi said Frank, you asked, “I never check a bag. so, if you didn’t prepay for your checked bag prior to your day of departure………. HOW DO YOU PAY AT THE AIRPORT?”

    The answer is kiosks via credit card, and you can always pay a ticket agent.
    ===========================================================

    thanks, Ned. I wondered for a few minutes how passengers can check-in without EMPLOYEE HELP at the airport. Ok, you can get your seat assignment, ticket, etc without an employee, but dont you need an employee to actually check your bag and throw it onto the baggage belt? Also weight it?

  • Ned Levi

    You’ve got it Frank. The airlines which use the kiosks assign, on average, a ticket agent per 4 kiosks. It’s an awful job really. They’re kiosk troubleshooters too, if something happens and a passenger can’t get it to work for them.

    The passenger goes to the kiosk, and either swipes a credit card used to purchase the ticket, frequent flier card, or types in the confirmation or frequent flier number, which starts the kiosk check in process.

    Using the kiosk, you can simultaneously check-in everyone traveling together, if the tickets were purchased together on one order with one confirmation number.

    You can:

    Check in for a flight
    Change a seat assignment
    Standby for an earlier flight
    Receive complimentary upgrades to First Class for Elite frequent fliers if available.
    Pay for upgrades to First Class for non-Elite frequent fliers if available
    Check-in baggage and pay the baggage fee if any
    Print a boarding pass
    Add a frequent flyer number to a reservation

    By the way, kiosks don’t print exit row boarding passes on any airlines I know of, though there might be an exception. If you have an exit row seat you can check in via kiosk, however, the ticket agent will print them and give them to you. This is because the FAA wants the airlines to verify you’re qualified to sit there.

    For all the airlines I’ve used a kiosk, for baggage, the baggage tag is printed at the ticket agent’s printer. They check the weight of each bag, attach the bag tag, and give you the receipt. From there they either take the bag and put it on the belt, or you walk it over to TSA in some airports for x-ray scanning.

  • Frank

    On April 27th, 2009 at 6:18 am Ned Levi said You’ve got it Frank. The airlines which use the kiosks assign, on average, a ticket agent per 4 kiosks. It’s an awful job really. They’re kiosk troubleshooters too, if something happens and a passenger can’t get it to work for them.
    ===================================================

    Ned, thorough and impressive response. Thanks!

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  • Mark

    There’s another new fee that US Air is now assessing. If you purchase a ticket online within 14 days from the departure date, they will add a $50 “quick ticketing” fee. Now, you already get a high airfare because you do not book in advance… on top of that US Air must have thought that it is fair to kick you when you’re down and adding this new $50 fee. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. After 10 years of loyalty as a frequent flyer, I am going to use in the miles i have in an upcoming overseas trip and i will drop US Air for good.

  • Ned Levi

    Mark, I fully understand you sentiment. I really dislike all these fees and wish the airlines would be honest enough to just raise fares, instead of nickel and diming us to death with fees that many don’t understand or realize exist to “raise” fares.

    Personally, I’m not letting the fees keep me away from one airline or another. I’m choosing which airline to fly based on their service, employee quality, non-stop direct flights versus having to stop on the way, when available, plane quality and cleanliness, and other non-monetary factors, plus the bottom line cost, of the fare + taxes + all fees.

    Recently I’ve used US Airways to go to Florida. My best friend used Southwest to go there. Both tickets were purchased a month out from our trips, which were a few days apart. We never saw each other because he came back the day I went down. He believes the rhetoric that Southwest is “the” low cost airline. Even after the fees, my ticket was $40 less expensive than his.

    Now, I understand from my travel agent friends that prices are all over the map on any flight, and that I could have just lucked out, but even with all the fees I’ve found that out of my home airport (PHL) I consistently pay less total cost of tickets when I choose US Air. Plus, to be honest, it’s been a very rare occasion when I’ve found a US Air employee who didn’t serve me well, or a plane that was bad.

    US Air is far from perfect or ideal. I don’t think there is a US domestic airline which is, at this point in time.

    In the last few years I’ve flown US Air, American, Continental, United, Alaska, Delta, El Al, Hawaiian, Air France, BMI, Lufthansa and British Airways.

    Of the domestic ones I’ve flown above, I put Alaska and American at the bottom of the heap due to the quality of their planes, and staff. I put Continental at the top of the list, with US Air a close second.

    Of the foreign airlines I’ve flown above, I put Air France at the bottom of the list with El Al, and Lufthansa at the top, though there isn’t much difference between any of them. I’ll fly Continental or US Air before any of these particular foreign airlines.

    This isn’t to say US Air doesn’t deserve to be dropped by you. This is to say that I really don’t see them as any better or worse than most, and my suggestion, as to the cost of flying is, don’t focus solely on the fees, look at the bottom line of the fare including all taxes and fees, and see who comes out ahead for your flights, to make your decision. And frankly, I’d throw in the non economic factors too.

  • skyguyj

    I fly EVERY month for business, mostly international, but sometimes domestic. As an Elite flyer with Lufthansa, I usually don’t have to deal with baggage fee’s at all.

    However, living in Las Vegas, more often than not I HAVE to book US Airways to connect to my trans-atlantic Lufthansa city.

    US Airways has become NOTHING but a “could care less” airline since the America West merger. The customer service is NON-EXISTENT at all levels. I avoid them like the plague! I would rather buy a seperate ticket on Southwest to LA and then transfer my own bags than deal with the chaos and rudeness here in Las Vegas.

    It’s sad. US Airways “used” to be a decent carrier (for the most part). The “NEW” US Airways is a pitiful excuse for an airline. Take your “Procrastination Fee” and shove it US, I’ll rent a car and DRIVE before I EVER book you again!

    Get it together………..or GET OUT! You are nickel and diming your bread and butter passengers to DEATH, and you offer NO incentive(s) to even WANT to be a Frequent Flyer with you! (I’ve flown your transcon First Class……Embarrassing)….not to mention PATHETIC!!!

    I am sooooo done with you.

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