Airline fees are everywhere. They’re an unavoidable part of modern life. But that doesn’t make them any less irritating.
There’s an entire class of travel, mostly associated with discount airlines, in which the ticket price is rock bottom, sometimes around $40 or so, and then you get charged extra for every little thing, from choosing a seat assignment to checking in early. It’s not a great feeling, getting nickel and dimed for everything, but with this type of airline, you generally know what you’re in for.
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But it certainly is another matter when American Airlines (AAL), one of the largest airlines in the entire world, decides to add another fee. But that is what has happened, as American Airlines has announced it will begin charging a $75 fee for their first standard-size suitcase. This fee is just for people who use their basic economy fare, and only for Asia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Israel flights.
From there, a second bag will cost $100 and a third will be $200, and this is all pending size and weight restrictions, of course.
For the non-budget flight class, most airlines offer one free checked bag, so American Airlines move is unusual, especially with the Biden Administration looking to crack down on what it deems to be unnecessary fees.
Of course, it can reasonably be pointed out that this fee is just for a select number of routes on the cheapest class of flights, and it might be an isolated thing that the general American Airlines passenger need not worry about. But it does not feel unreasonable to wonder if this is comparable to Netflix testing out its password crack downs in parts of Europe and Central America, before introducing it worldwide. People didn’t like it when Netflix did that, and they likely won’t if American Airlines follows a similar path.
