Continental $15 for FIRST checked bag

[cpprinttom]

Effective Oct. 7, 2008, customers will be charged $15 for their first checked bag when traveling on tickets purchased on or after Sept. 5, 2008, within the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

 

The service fee will not apply to EliteAccess® customers, including those seated in First or BusinessFirst®, OnePass Elite and SkyTeam® Elite members, customers traveling on full-fare economy (Y) class tickets, or military personnel and their families traveling on official orders.

 

Effective for travel on or after Jan. 1, 2009, OnePass members will earn the actual miles flown rather than a minimum of 500 miles per flight for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. This affects base miles and Elite Qualifying Miles on flights operated by Continental* and most OnePass airline partners**.

 

Also effective for reward travel booked on or after Jan.1, 2009, reward travel mileage requirements will increase for customers traveling between North America and Tel Aviv (TLV) and between Hawaii and Tel Aviv.

 

Effective for travel on or after March 1, 2009, Elite Mileage Bonuses will decrease for Platinum members from 125% to 100% and for Silver members from 50% to 25% for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. Gold members will continue to earn 100% mileage bonuses.

 

Full details of all changes can be found at continental.com.

[minpin04]

Hasn't the baggage charge been beat to death...just wait, you'll be put on the scale next!

[pungo3]

The saga continues.

[jerseygirl3]

Spirit Air has been charging for first checked bag for awhile. It used to be $10/bag, now it's $15. Another reason to just use a carry on.

[Cotton]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

[UsernameNotTaken]

Northwest charges $15 for the first bag as well.

[VillaHappy]

Just saw this on the news - they said that Delta is now the only major carrier that doesn't charge for the first bag?

[kelz66]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

 

they don't charge for anything extra...I love them!!!

[kelz66]

Just saw this on the news - they said that Delta is now the only major carrier that doesn't charge for the first bag?

 

Southwest does not charge for the first or second bag!!!!!

 

:D

 

[Terry305]

I do work for VIrgin America and there is no fee for the first bag up to 70 pounds.

 

2nd bag is 25.00 up to 50 pds. :)

[G'ma]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

 

Long live Southwest!! The only airline managed by people with brains!!!!

 

I love 'em.

[cpprinttom]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

 

 

I would love to fly another airline but we fly out of Cleveland, and Continental has a large hub there. Continental ALWAYS has direct flights at times that work great for cruises. I think it's worth paying a little extra for a DIRECT flight!

[Kurbanfan]

Long live Southwest!! The only airline managed by people with brains!!!!

 

I love 'em.

 

Southwest is cutting 200 flights http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5967943.html#Intro

[Disneycruisers]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

 

SHHHHHHHHHH! Don't let them hear you.:p

[EJ'S MOM-MOM]

Southwest - NO luggage charges whatsoever.:)

 

YET ! Hopefully it stays that way...

[kelz66]

YET ! Hopefully it stays that way...

 

They say they have no plans to do so.

 

:D

[nolaAlive]

Southwest tends to raise fares instead of the nickel and dime stuff.

 

Southwest did reduce the free baggage allowance from three bags to two before it was common for the majors to charge for the second bag, so you could make a case that they started all this.

 

Their strategy works for me, though.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I do work for VIrgin America and there is no fee for the first bag up to 70 pounds.

 

2nd bag is 25.00 up to 50 pds. :)

 

I still really want to try your airline sometime!

 

As far as these changes from Continental It really doesn't bother me. Even if I did have to pay the extra first bag fee I still wouldn't have to pay money for crappy food from Continental. The only thing I would of been mad about is if they reduced the gold elite bonus miles.

[Globaliser]

Southwest tends to raise fares instead of the nickel and dime stuff.

It would be really interesting to see the yield that Southwest gets from the ticket sale compared to the yield that the other airlines are now getting from ticket sales on comparable tickets and routes. Southwest seems to have drummed into its customers the belief that they are cheaper than the other airlines, even when it's not the case. Of course, if you can get away with that, then you can continue to bundle up the costs of the other services.

[SelectSys]

It would be really interesting to see the yield that Southwest gets from the ticket sale compared to the yield that the other airlines are now getting from ticket sales on comparable tickets and routes. Southwest seems to have drummed into its customers the belief that they are cheaper than the other airlines, even when it's not the case. Of course, if you can get away with that, then you can continue to bundle up the costs of the other services.

 

If you are interested check out MIT's Airline Data Project:

http://web.mit.edu/airlinedata/www/default.html

 

MIT's analysis suggests that SWA's tickets have been priced at a significant discount (30%+) to their competitors at least through 2006 for domestic travel (see page 13):

http://web.mit.edu/airlinedata/www/Documents/Revenue%20and%20Related/Revenue%20and%20Related%20Charts.pdf

 

While some of this discount is probably due to the lack of a first class offering, my own belief is that SWA's low fare reputation is more than just "marketing spin" - especially for last minute travel.