Don't get me wrong; I love Southwest Airlines. One reason I love them is because they don't charge to stow a bag in the belly of the plane. Am I the only one who recalls the original reason airlines started charging cold, hard cash for bags? As I remember, the airlines said they needed to charge because the price of oil (jet fuel) had gone through the roof and that these baggage fees were temporarily needed to offset the steep increase. Well...guess what? The price of oil is now about one-quarter where it was back then ($75 per barrell today), but the baggage fees remain.
And they're a cash cow for the airlines.
I read this article that notes Southwest Airlines is looking for other revenue streams instead of the checked-bag feed trough. The article notes, "(Southwest) also expects to take in about $40 million a year for heavy bags or bags beyond the first two. Other carriers have claimed ten times that much in baggage revenues."
Ten times???
Remember when flying used to be fun?
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