Spirit's $100 carry-on fee starts next month

Hold your horses gents. Don't lay all of this on the consumer. Because the airline is the enabler. Instead of trying to cater to every Joe Sixpack out there, airlines need to actually post prices that they CAN make a profit with. Those who can afford to fly, will; those who can't, won't. Airlines have perpetuated this problem by trying to "fix" a problem that isn't theirs to begin with, and thus have sunk themselves in trying to do to. More or less creating their own "race to the bottom".

"How we got into this mess" is due to airlines trying to appease these people who are looking for everything on the cheap. Simple fact of life is that not everyone can afford to fly.

Don't want to lose money or operate at a loss as an airline? Then stop offering tickets and such to the flying public that PUT you at a loss. Of course the customer is generally going to take the cheapest......they only would If its offered to them. Airlines put themselves in this mess.
You're totally right, but there really isn't any way to fix it. Why? Its just like flying wages. "If people stopped taking $19/hr first officer jobs, the airlines would have to raise our salary to attract candidates". Problem is, airlines know that there are idiots who would do the job for next to nothing, and those people will never change. Very similarly, major carriers like Delta, United, and American could raise fares to include all amenities and pay the bills, but they'd be forever undercut by LCCs like Allegiant and Spirit and would lose the leisure market almost entirely. This is why LCCs post peanut fares with no perks and try to sneak upcharges on unsuspecting travelers left and right, they know they get the crowd that flies rarely and is very inexperienced with travel generally. Majors can't do this because their bread and butter is the business traveler who wouldn't stand for such nonsense. No one wants to be the first one to hike up fares and have frequent flyers jump ship. Its a race to the bottom.
 
$26 to where? The cheapest I have ever seen to anywhere that is not really within driving distance was $80 round trip and that was ONCE. It was usually $100-$300. $100 to carry your bag on is crazy!
I almost bought a ticket to come home from NJC on Spirit, it was $26 after taxes LAS-OAK.
 
We paid less than $26. Yes, we could have driven the 500+ miles, but it would not have been possible to leave on Friday night and return on Sunday morning if we drove. And it would have cost far more than the airfare to drive!
From MCO the only thing I've see that cheap is to Ft. Lauderdale.
 
Besides, the fee is $25 for club members and $35 for nonclub members. It is $50 at the kiosk. It is only $100 if you get to the gate with it.
 
Second, they beat you over the head with reminders about the fees. Before you can hit submit, you are presented with a reminder that it costs $XX to check your bag or buy the overhead option at the airport, click here to buy it now. You have to work to proceed to booking the flight without it.

Then, two days prior to the flight, we got an email reminding us of the ability to save money now by booking the bags. The morning of the flight, we got another reminder. An hour before the flight we got a final reminder.

Now there are always people like my sister who decided to fly out that weekend and take the train back. She paid $38 to check her bag at the airport. I asked her why she didn't pay $19 to do it when she booked her ticket and why she ignored the follow up reminders. She said she doen't pay attention to "those things".

One thing I will give Spirit is that their fees are not hidden or otherwise a secret; because you do have to jump through various reminder hoops in order to purchase a ticket. So how some people who buy a Spirit ticket, then later complain about how they didn't know about the fees.....I have to wonder about them and their attention to detail (or lack thereof). I don't agree with some of the fees personally, however I don't feel that Spirit is anything but upfront about them either. It's fairly plain as day.
 
This is a really interesting thread, however I am surprised that know one has mentioned the existence of the domestic market as a major contributor to the 'race to the bottom.' If you book an international fare on DELTA, United, AA, even USAirways - most tickets include a free checked bag, a meal or two, and even a few extra inches of seat pitch, a bundled product. Unfortunately, as the consumers has shown, passengers are okay with an unbundled product (Spirit/Allegiant/United, etc) for a 3 hour flight, however on an 8+ hour overnight flight, this would be unacceptable.

Now one thing that is interesting, the economy products, (both hard/soft) on the likes of Cathay, Emirates, Singapore, etc - are far superior to anything offered in the states, and excluding seat width are often better than domestic first on the legacies. Now on these world class airlines (Skytrax 4 & 5 star carriers) the economy product is more expensive than the US competitor on the same route, yet have equal or higher load factor's.

Just a few more things to ponder!
 
This is a really interesting thread, however I am surprised that know one has mentioned the existence of the domestic market as a major contributor to the 'race to the bottom.' If you book an international fare on DELTA, United, AA, even USAirways - most tickets include a free checked bag, a meal or two, and even a few extra inches of seat pitch, a bundled product. Unfortunately, as the consumers has shown, passengers are okay with an unbundled product (Spirit/Allegiant/United, etc) for a 3 hour flight, however on an 8+ hour overnight flight, this would be unacceptable.

Now one thing that is interesting, the economy products, (both hard/soft) on the likes of Cathay, Emirates, Singapore, etc - are far superior to anything offered in the states, and excluding seat width are often better than domestic first on the legacies. Now on these world class airlines (Skytrax 4 & 5 star carriers) the economy product is more expensive than the US competitor on the same route, yet have equal or higher load factor's.

Just a few more things to ponder!

They not catering to the international traveler who wants a high end product; rather they are catering to those with family in other countries who want to visit. They are thrilled to pay $400 instead of $900 on AA, for example--even on the 5 hour flight to Lima.
 
Doesn't work that way, jrwit. What happens is one airline decides to do exactly that, and then they are the highest priced ticket on Expedia. So what do passengers do? They purchase the lowest priced ticket, and the airline charging enough to make a profit without added fees loses all of its business and leaves with half full airplanes, losing money.

Sorry, it just doesn't work.

That is a very simplified explanation, which parallels microeconomics. There is quite a bit more to the whole equation. My airline history, prederegulation is hazy, but I recall quite a few financial blunders before the 1980's. Regulating ticket prices is only one factor. Fuel is a great example of what our regulation could not and currently cannot completely control. Sure, we can lock in ticket prices and prevent airlines from continually striking each other down with that sword, but they'll still rumble.
 
My airline history, prederegulation is hazy, but I recall quite a few financial blunders before the 1980's.

Airline bankruptcies during regulation: 0
Airline bankruptcies after deregulation: 190

Regulating ticket prices is only one factor. Fuel is a great example of what our regulation could not and currently cannot completely control. Sure, we can lock in ticket prices and prevent airlines from continually striking each other down with that sword, but they'll still rumble.

You can't "rumble" when you're not allowed to compete on a route. If Pan Am is the only carrier awarded the authority to fly JFK-NRT, then there will be no "rumbling."
 
I almost bought a ticket to come home from NJC on Spirit, it was $26 after taxes LAS-OAK.
Yes, unless you know loads are good, peace of mind with a space positive ticket is golden! I guess the former is true for you. Where we live non-revving is virtually impossible. Spirit flights are always full.
 
Clearly something is wrong with the current system: Customers are unhappy, Pilots are reallllly unhappy, management is unhappy (even with millions in their pockets), and it's nearly impossible to make money as an airline. I don't get how in a time when EVERYONE is flying and it is seen as almost a 'given' when it comes to travel, all of these variables are still negative.... to borrow on scientific terms, what is the independent variable(s) that must change so that these dependent ones can flip from such negativity...?
 
Clearly something is wrong with the current system: Customers are unhappy, Pilots are reallllly unhappy, management is unhappy (even with millions in their pockets), and it's nearly impossible to make money as an airline. I don't get how in a time when EVERYONE is flying and it is seen as almost a 'given' when it comes to travel, all of these variables are still negative.... to borrow on scientific terms, what is the independent variable(s) that must change so that these dependent ones can flip from such negativity...?
Wow, that is a really broad brush.
 
Wow, that is a really broad brush.


It definitely is, and it is obviously a generalization. There are happy pilots and happy companies and happy customers, it just seems like there is overall more negative than positive. I may be totally wrong....and sincerely apologize if I am
 
I don't think you're wrong, jrwit. I think you've pretty much summed it up. The current system is broken. The airlines are essentially a public utility, necessary for the functioning of the United States (and global) economy. This is tacitly acknowledged by government through the Railway Labor Act, which seeks primarily to avoid labor disruptions, specifically because of the disruption that they create to commerce. A single airline ceasing service (whether due to labor strife, liquidation, or any other reason) can cause absolute havoc on a local economy in a major hub, and can cause significant damage to the national economy. Yet the government insists on treating the airlines as any other business, with no regulation to ensure their stability. It's asinine, and it's about damned time that everyone just admits that the deregulation experiment was a dismal failure.
 
I don't think you're wrong, jrwit. I think you've pretty much summed it up. The current system is broken. The airlines are essentially a public utility, necessary for the functioning of the United States (and global) economy. This is tacitly acknowledged by government through the Railway Labor Act, which seeks primarily to avoid labor disruptions, specifically because of the disruption that they create to commerce. A single airline ceasing service (whether due to labor strife, liquidation, or any other reason) can cause absolute havoc on a local economy in a major hub, and can cause significant damage to the national economy. Yet the government insists on treating the airlines as any other business, with no regulation to ensure their stability. It's asinine, and it's about damned time that everyone just admits that the deregulation experiment was a dismal failure.

Something I hope the trade unions aren't wasting their time pushing for. Airlines will simply not agree to re-regulation, and outright government seizure of airline operations would be...terrifying (and illegal).
 
Something I hope the trade unions aren't wasting their time pushing for. Airlines will simply not agree to re-regulation, and outright government seizure of airline operations would be...terrifying (and illegal).

I don't necessarily think that would be good (and I don't think they're pushing for it). I think it's a major issue though that they are treated as both regulated and as not regulated. It's not 'fair' that pilots can't strike or do any serious collective bargaining due to the the fact that the govt. will regulate that action, but, conversely there isn't sufficient regulation in place to make up for this fact.
 
Something I hope the trade unions aren't wasting their time pushing for. Airlines will simply not agree to re-regulation, and outright government seizure of airline operations would be...terrifying (and illegal).

Who said anything about government "seizure" of airline operations? I'm not sure that you understand how regulation worked under the CAB.
 
I don't necessarily think that would be good (and I don't think they're pushing for it). I think it's a major issue though that they are treated as both regulated and as not regulated. It's not 'fair' that pilots can't strike or do any serious collective bargaining due to the the fact that the govt. will regulate that action, but, conversely there isn't sufficient regulation in place to make up for this fact.

I agree, the RLA is a sham. However, it should show quite clearly that added (economic) regulation simply doesn't make sense; the government is not on the side of the pilots. I say repeal the RLA (won't happen).

I fully support safety regulation, by the way.

Who said anything about government "seizure" of airline operations? I'm not sure that you understand how regulation worked under the CAB.
I'm aware how it worked then, but how would you put the cat back in the proverbial bag?
 
I'm aware how it worked then, but how would you put the cat back in the proverbial bag?

I really don't think it would be that difficult to "put the cat back in the bag." Dividing up route authority could be done easily without the need to reduce capacity. Current capacity is showing to be pretty much would it should be. By stabilizing the industry with route bids and monopoly route authority, you could keep current capacity. Would we be able to go back to the old days of a single airline serving a route? Probably not, but that's not necessary. Stability could be achieved without doing so. What needs to be curbed is the constant influx of new entrant carriers that drive down prices. If that stops, and carriers can no longer engage in fare wars, then the industry will stabilize.
 
Back
Top