Airlines Cracking Down on Carry-on Bags? Finally.

Recently, there has been a rash of stories about Airlines cracking down on carry-on items. But are they? And are they really addressing the problem? The problem is not in people themselves. That’s too easy of an answer and takes the fault off the airlines.

Airlines have started cracking down on the number of carry-on items, and what counts as an item. This only solves part of the problem. One other issue is that folks are bringing on bags that don’t fit. Little has been done to correct that.

This problem really starts with the airlines and how they are structuring fares. In an effort to lure people in, nearly all airlines have some basic, rock-bottom economy fare. One that doesn’t include checked baggage. Some don’t even include a carry-on. Everything is an add-on.

So can’t you fault people for being cheap and finding ways to skirt the carry-on rule. It reminds me of the old comedy skirt when a passenger wears all their clothes on the plane. Some folks are dicks about it. Most are just trying to save time and money.

Now airlines have raised checked bag fees again. Even if it’s only five bucks, they are only going to make the problem worse. There is a better solution. Stop playing the low airfare ruse. Get ride of the stupid low airfare that you aren’t going to pay anyways. Sure, flights will cost more; but the cost will be more realistic. Maybe give folks an incentive if they pay the ticket price and still don’t check bags. Like a free drink or a meal.

One big contributer to the problem is online check-in. There is no need to check-in at a counter, where your bags might have been checked for being too big for a carry-on. It used to happen to me. I got smaller bags as a result. Airlines need gate check, for free. They seem to end up offering it for free anyways if they are worried about room in the overhead storage.

Again, this problem is really caused by the airlines in their effort to keep profits up and prices cheap. Like a lot of jobs, why pay someone to help when the customer and a machine will do it for you. This seems to be the way that things are heading. Even the TSA is starting self-scan at certain airports. What could go wrong?

We will see how that turns out. But back to carry-on bags. Maybe it’s time for airlines to get off the extra fee policy and go back to a basic fare per class. It just makes life a lot easier and honest.