It wasn’t long ago that meals on domestic flights, even for us lowly coach passengers, were free of charge; not so any longer, though I’ll generally opt for temporary starvation in lieu of paying five bucks for a meager airline sandwich.
Now, as though we weren’t already paying out our ya-hoos for air travel, it appears that the airlines have found another way to give their customers the shaft – charging to carry our luggage:
According to breaking-news reports, British Airways (BA) will begin charging coach-class passengers extra fees to check a second bag starting Tuesday, February 13. The fees range from £30 ($59) on domestic flights within the U.K. to a whopping £120 ($235) on long-haul international flights.
The good news is that the new fees do not apply to flights between the U.K. and the U.S. The bad news, I’m afraid, is that the move will almost certainly give U.S. airlines added incentive to jump on the charge-for-checked-luggage bandwagon. [full story: msnbc]
I’ve always favored packing light and only carrying-on, but I understand sometimes that’s simply not an option – I think it’s pretty crappy of airlines to dip their grubby hands deeper into our shabby pockets. Just when I thought the airport couldn’t become any less pleasant…hell with it guys, I’m takin’ Amtrak.
The Daily Transit 