Tag Archives for checked baggage.
The Department of Transportation has finalized its rule increasing the minimum amount of cash an airline has to pay a passenger for involuntarily denying them boarding, and banning airlines from denying boarding to passengers that have already boarded. The rule increases the maximum amount airlines can be on the hook for when they mishandle domestic checked baggage as well. These changes go into effect April 13, 2021.
Frequent flyers know that checked baggage is never a good idea. It can get you arrested even when there’s nothing illegal inside. They say there’s only two kinds of luggage: carry on and lost. It turns out there’s a third, “accessory to a crime.”
American Airlines has suspended curbside check-in at all of its airports worldwide, except for two: Maui and Miami. This change went into effect on Tuesday.
The airline acknowledges it as a cost-saving measure.
At an internal meeting on Friday, American Airlines President Robert Isom told employees “every lost bag is nearly $60.” That amount was new to me.
In January alone American mishandled 74,975 bags, the most in the industry by far, and not any improvement over the prior year. At $60 per bag it cost American $4.5 million, and annualized at the same rate $54 million. Extrapolating similar costs for the industry would mean US carriers losing over $160 million a year to mishandled bags.
Alaska Airlines had twice the usual number of baggage handlers call in sick since Friday morning, though the airline says this is not part of a coordinated job action. As a result many bags didn’t make it to their destination. That’s frustrating for customers, of course.
What’s notable to me, though, is the Alaska Airlines apology. There’s nothing mealy mouthed about it. There’s no hedging. It’s not offered in the third person.
Checked baggage is always ‘at risk. American Airlines is now reimbursing a Tulsa passenger for $1000 after her lost luggage turned up on Facebook Marketplace, being sold by a baggage worker there. The passenger had them ‘dead to rights’ too – the bar code on the new Patagonia jacket being sold matched her receipt for the purchase, she says.
American Airlines is looking to reduce the cost of delivering checked checked bags – and as a result
they are “in the process of reviewing” their policy of standby free of charge (or for a fee) for elite customers who have checked bags.
Most provisions of Canada’s new Air Passenger Protection Regulations went into effect July 15. They lay out new rules that apply to flights to, from, and within Canada – including connecting flights.
One of the rules is that when an airline damages or loses luggage they must refund checked baggage fees they collected. After all, they didn’t provide the service they charged for – prompt transport of luggage from one place to the next, delivering it in the condition it was received (outside of normal wear and tear).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
