Well, another nail in the coffin announced today for the airline industry… and then us. American Airlines announced that in June it will start to charge $15 for your first checked bag! SO not only do you get the beauty of paying for a flight (now at already higher ticket prices and reduced in-flight services), paying for that flight does not even guarantee you a spot for at least 1 bag! This is such a slippery slope and it begs the simple question..

What are you paying for when you buy a plane ticket?

If you can’t even get a single bag for free for your ticket.. Wow.. so what is next.. we have to buy the ticket + pay for the bag + pay for the cleaning of the plane? Maybe for the use of the bathroom?

Well.. we know how this scenario plays out… let the pile on begin. If AA is the nation’s largest carrier, who will be next to follow? United, Delta, US Airways. We know it is just a matter of time. We also know, once they institute a fee and people start to accept it, they never roll back those fees. So, this is not a short term deal in our opinion.

Oh…. and on a side note, AA also plans to cut flights, raise existing fees for services like ‘reservation help’ (whatever that is) and oversized bags (not good news for the cyclists of us who take bikes to races), and layoff workers.