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When did the f*cking airlines start charging for carry-on bag?

Sharxfan said:
Man the stuff people try to get in the overheads is ridiculous. I love the people who travel with musical instruments and try to stuff their shit in the overhead which then takes up one bin for one damn item. I use that infrequently but when going overseas I gate check my bag on the first flight as the bins are too small then use overhead on oversea flight so I can get through customs quicker and not have to wait for my bag so that $1K fee would kill me but could probably expense it which would add to my miles. so I guess a win-win.
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gotta admit, we did that once on personal travel. my dude bought an awesome portuguese guitar in lisbon. he also flew a ton for business and had telephone concierge service with UA (global services). called them to make sure it could go in the cabin (he was more concerned with temperature than anything else). they said no problem. when we drove back to frankfurt and boarded for SFO, they were expecting it, took it immediately and put it in a coat closet close enough where he could keep an eye on it.
 
just flew
Alaska to Edmonton, free carry on that got checked for free. SW not having free checked means no carrying mulit-tool anymore but other than that flying still sucks.
 
Delta started no free bags this year too. I’ve actually upgraded a couple times for included bag(s) which was cheaper than bag fees. But I have the apps and check different dates, times and local destinations which can make a huge price difference. Also try to board toward the front which often boards earlier while there is still bin space. Am guilty of bringing guitars into the cabin because of witnessing them being literally and unnecessarily thrown onto the belts up into the planes after gate checking. Ended up bringing a small less precious one in a gig bag which has been wedged into the wall along my leg under my window seat on many flights. Sometimes if I don’t put the blanket over it they make me stow it above but usually after boarding when folks won’t jam it up. They will do free bags again eventually, hopefully, maybe?
 
I never understood the purpose of Southwest's A/B/C cattle herding system anyway. Why does someone who checks in 23 hrs before takeoff deserve a better tier than someone who checks in later? Reserving a seat is the superior approach. And if you're too cheap to pay for a seat, just let them assign it for you. This isn't rocket science.
 
Southwest used let you buy yourself to the front of the line. Otherwise it was first-come-first-served in various ways over the years.
It also used to be by far the fastest boarding system. They used to be able to turn a plane in 25 minutes. Of course the planes had fewer passgeners.

In a sense it's still first-come-first-serve if you pick a seat. If someone picks a seat before you do, congrats, you can't get that seat.

And yeah instruments get special handling becasue they're very fragile. I was once on a plane where a guy's scientific apparatus didn't fit in the bins. Like there was bin space, but it was bigger than the bin. They gate-checked it, but he reminded them it cost about $100k to build and that they should be extra careful with it.

I don't remember if there were extra seats--that's apparently how cellos and the like fly. The musician typically pays an extra seat fee of some form too.
 
You have to be a masochist or some kind of :weirdo to take up playing a ginormous instrument like a cello, stand-up bass, tuba etc.
Talk about making life as difficult as possible
 
augustiron said:
You have to be a masochist or some kind of :weirdo to take up playing a ginormous instrument like a cello, stand-up bass, tuba etc.
Talk about making life as difficult as possible
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Contrabass flute? :laughing
KontrabassG3.jpg
 
Climber said:
I went to check in for my flight tomorrow.

They wanted to charge me for picking a seat at check-in! :wtf

Then I saw the clincher, they want to charge me $50 for my carry-on and I have to check it!!! :wtf
When did this shit start?
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Charging for Seat Selection has been pretty typical for at least a year. You can buy different ticket packages that may or may not include it. Only the most hoodish of Airlines charge for Carry Ons, (mostly just select Frontier and Spirit flights), but that started a few months back as far as I can tell.

I full stop do not fuck with those airlines, so I am not totally sure exactly when they started. They are even lower than Southwest.
 
littlebeast said:
flew a ridiculous amount for business. quit and retired very early because i hated every. fucking. minute of it. used to love sitting there while the jam of passengers carrying way too much and too big shit tried to find open space for it all. and then the parade of, no space left, we’re gonna have to tag and load this in the belly. /sarcasm. if it were up to me, checked bags would be free, and any carry on over 2 square feet would be $1000 (whatever it takes to discourage that bullshit).
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People only started doing the carry on bullshit BECAUSE they began charging for checked bags. If you go back to when Flights were service oriented and checked bags were an assumed cost, all carry on the carry on nonsense would stop.
 
Eldritch said:
People only started doing the carry on bullshit BECAUSE they began charging for checked bags. If you go back to when Flights were service oriented and checked bags were an assumed cost, all carry on the carry on nonsense would stop.
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Yep, around 2008. I was flying across the country about 8 to 10 times a year then, and noticed the change almost immediately. It's such a cluster fcuk boarding and disembarking when people are struggling with their bags. I'd always check my bag. I hate dragging a suitcase around the airport.
 
Eldritch said:
People only started doing the carry on bullshit BECAUSE they began charging for checked bags. If you go back to when Flights were service oriented and checked bags were an assumed cost, all carry on the carry on nonsense would stop.
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I’m gonna have to disagree with AI on this one. especially after checking the sources.
 
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