You can now add United to the list of airlines that charge passengers to check a single piece of baggage on domestic flights. The carrier announced that they'll begin hitting travelers with a $15 fee to bring even one piece of checked luggage on board. The fee matches American Airlines' controversial baggage charge, which was the first of it's kind when it debuted three weeks ago.
United is already well-established as a pioneer when it comes to finding new fees. According to Reuters, they were the "first legacy carrier to implement a $25 fee to check a second bag." Airlines have been going fee crazy of late because, they say, it's the only way they can survive rising fuel costs.
The $15 first bag fee isn't the only charge that United cooked up for their customers. The airline also raised the fees charged for overweight bags and luggage requiring special handling by $25-50 depending on the item. It undoubtedly won't be long before other major carriers follow suit.
Yesterday, we were a little miffed by the packing tips of One Bag that came off as a bit sexist. (Asking ladies to pack one ugly pair of shoes and to use a bathing suit tankini top under suits? As if! Should men wear their speedos as an alternative to briefs at a big meeting?)
Thus we were spurred to create our list of packing tips for the ladies. We travel quite a bit and we never check a bag. These are some of the little things we do to make sure all our stuff fits into one stylish green Kipling carry-on suitcase.
Since we're now living in the age where having extra baggage can cost you a pretty penny, we've decided to revisit an old site called One Bag which offers tips on how to pack light. The site is extremely in-depth--we didn't know you could write so much about one bag!--and there's a lot of text. Truthfully, it's almost too much text to get through.
What we did find useful was the section on bundle wrapping, above, a technique that allows you to minimize the creases in your clothes and maximize the space in your carry-on. Also, the wardrobe packing list is pretty helpful though there are some tips that will have the fashion police chasing you down the jetbridge:
Several companies make pants with zip-off or roll-up legs (which convert them to shorts, capris, etc.)
The packing list won't make any fans with women, either. How could it possibly recommend that ladies bring just one pair of lace-up shoes for business meetings, daytime walks and hiking. We're not sure such a shoe even exists.
And don't even get us started on using our bathing suit tankini top as a body suit under a skirt or jacket. We'd rather pay the checked bag charge!
While most of the world is slowing lifting restrictions on cabin baggage, over in China they're just getting started. Last month the Chinese authorities added matches and lighters to a growing list of banned items. And as of May 1, they've also restricted the amount of cabin baggage you can carry on.
With the Olympics around the corner and plenty of tourists getting ready to make domestic flights across China, it doesn't seem like a great time to start changing the rules. But for the record, the rules now say that you can only take one piece of baggage on board, and it has to weigh less than 5kg (11 pounds); first class passengers get two bags.
This applies to international passengers who get a connecting flight within China, too. If you're Olympics-bound, this might be a good time to repack your bag.
We held a minute's silence recently for anyone affected by London Heathrow's Terminal 5baggage hell and we'll spare another thought for the thousands of travelers whose luggage is still lying around somewhere. A warehouse in Italy seems to be the common (if illogical) answer to "Where's my bag?" Some might be so lost that they'll end up incinerated rather than reunited with with their owners.
Ouch. Some of the luckier (but still very unhappy) British Airways passengers got pre-paid credit cards credited with their compensation payment of, for example, £175 for three bags. But other travelers--let's take supermodel Kate Moss as an example--are getting £10,000 pounds in compensation for ten bags which were delayed, but have now reached her.
Moral of the story? Don't fly unless you're famous. If you find that a touch unrealistic, then we can ease that a bit: go carry-on only with British Airways.
At London's Gatwick Airport, they have at least started allowing more carry on luggage, but if you're still checking in baggage, beware. One in five of the scales used to weigh baggage at Gatwick are wrong!
After increasing passenger complaints--along the lines of "it weighed 18 kg at home, how can it weight 23 kg here?"--the Trading Standards people did a blitz last week and found 62 baggage scales were measuring passengers' bags as heavier than they really were. One (unfortunately unidentified) airline had 10 out of 18 scales giving wrong readings.
These days, when excess baggage can cost an arm and a leg, especially at budget airlines who are trying to discourage you from checking in any bags at all, the last thing we need is scales that are wrong. Or maybe that's all right--but to be fair, let's have a few years with scales that find our bags lighter than they really are.
London's biggest airport is hogging the headlines this week, but why should Heathrow's T5 disasters overshadow little brother Gatwick's news: The smaller airport finally overturned the one carry-on bag rule which other UK airports gave up long, long ago.
In the first week of January this year, airports like Heathrow canceled the rule that passengers could only bring one bag on board, brought in awhile back as a security measure. Gatwick has been slow because it needed more x-ray and archway technology installed, but the place has finally caught up with the rest of the country.
But be careful if you're flying out of Gatwick, because there are a few airlines there who are sticking to the old rule. Better to pack small, though, and fly out of Gatwick, than wave goodbye to your checked baggage at Heathrow.
BA had already announced that they would offer free WiFi in their lounges in Terminal 5, but now they've decided to be even more generous. As of the start of April, any passengers using British Airways lounges across the United Kingdom will be able to log on for free.
This is good news for some, especially business travelers who can stay connected without having to pay any exorbitant fees. But it's probably not enough to console the thousands of travelers currently wondering where their bags are.
