Yesterday, Spirit Airlines announced that it would begin charging for carry-on luggage. Unfortunately, this is not an extremely late April Fool's joke, as the airline is actually going to do it. Starting August 1st, ultra-low cost carrier Spirit (more on this later), will begin charging anywhere from $20 to $45 to carry luggage onto one of their flights. Members of Spirits $9 Fare Club, a group that pays lower fares than other Spirit passengers, will pay *only* $15-20 for the right to fly with a carry on bag larger than 16 inches by 14 inches by 12 inches, the maximum size that Spirit says will fit under their seats. Under the seat bags will be free for everyone, but non-members will have to pay $30 if they reserve carry on space prior to their flight, and $45 at the gate. Spirit Airlines also charges for checked baggage, and all other services.
To me, this is one of the most painful decisions made by an airline in a long time. The reason it hurts is because Spirit is sort of like the airline industry's guinea pig. As an ultra-low cost carrier, Spirit can effectively use the "undbundling" concept, without significant deterioration of brand value, or how customers perceive the airline (perhaps because its already so low!!). The unbundling concept is basically allowing passengers to pay for only the service they want, rather than everything. I already opined on this concept earlier, and the diagram in the link should explain the idea pretty well. Airlines love this concept because it allows them to advertise lower fares, and the money made off these fees is largely untaxed. The reason I call Spirit the industry's guinea pig, is because from food and drink, to checked baggage, they have always been the industry leader in nickel and diming customers. Back in 2007, they were the first airline to start charging passengers to check bags, and pretty soon other airlines followed suit. Now Jetblue, and Southwest Airlines are alone among major airlines not charging to check baggage. The other airlines allowed Spirit to test out the idea, and in seeing that customers didn't leave Spirit in droves, followed suit. I don't mind them charging for blankets, food, and even checked baggage. But this is taking things one step too far…
What Spirit is forcing you to do, is pay some sort of fee for baggage, whether that baggage be checked, or carried on. The goal behind this, and the relative pricing (checked bags are cheaper), is speeding up the boarding process by getting more people to check bags. But the associated problem is that they are also creating a more complicated boarding process, because 9$ Fare Club members board first, those who pre-applied for carry on bags second, and those who pay for carry ons at the gate. Initially that may cause boarding times to spiral upwards, but it should pull them back down in the long run…
Spirit may be able to pull this off, if only because a) their clientèle is cheap and b) they're already noted for insanely crappy service. But I doubt other airlines will. For all the extra revenue gained by checked baggage fees ($740 million in 2009), carry on baggage fees could be the last straw, sending passengers to Southwest Airlines in droves. And as 91% of people showed in a poll taken by Tripadvisor.com, carry on baggage fees are not going to be accepted. Hey, at least Spirit has time to pull this back.
logo off Spirit's site.