PHOENIX — Admit it. Your chunky carry-on bag would never fit into the sample box displayed outside the airport gate.
Don’t expect that bag to get a free ride for long. Checked bags are now a moneymaker for US Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines, and officials say they’re going to keep a closer watch on how much you take on board as they begin their new baggage fees.
“We’re planning on having extra staff where possible, especially at peak times at busy airports,” said US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant.
The airlines point out that the carry-on policy came from the Federal Aviation Administration, not the industry, and they have an obligation to keep people from sneaking bulky bags onto planes. Not only is it unfair to the honest, fee-paying traveler, they say, but it would overload the overhead bins and force gate crews to delay takeoffs while they checked excess bags.
But the added scrutiny means something else as well: Every passenger, even those not used to checking bags, is going to have to follow the rules.
People who are accustomed to boarding with a large roller case might find themselves handing $15 to an airline employee before they get through security.
“It’s up to us to get to them before they get too far in line and say, ‘Ma’am or sir, you need to check that bag,’ ” said Mark Dupont, American’s senior vice president of airport-services planning.
American, the nation’s largest carrier, was the first to announce fees for a single checked bag. It started charging $15 each way for the first bag on tickets purchased June 15 or later.
US Airways will match that fee for tickets booked on or after July 9. United will follow with the same bag fee for domestic flights as of Aug. 18.
The three airlines say they are responding to pressure to cover sky-high fuel prices that have erased profits and sunk stock values. The Air Transport Association says fuel costs will pound the industry this year, contributing to about $13 billion in losses.
Honor Guthrie, 45, an American passenger on her way back to Chicago from Phoenix, said she understands that fuel costs are killing the industry. She said that next time she travels, she will likely take something smaller than the large roller case that she brought on the Phoenix trip.
Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said passengers have gotten used to bringing in large bags, in part because airlines rarely have enough staff to watch them. In her 30 years at American Airlines, Glading said, she has seen passengers bring on tubas, paintings and wedding gowns.
“We’re very reluctant to be separated from our bags,” Glading said. “I imagine that that reluctance for passengers will grow into sheer horror now that they not only have their bag taken away but they now have to pay for that.”
Airlines’ checked-bag fees
American: $15 first, $25 second
Continental: $25 second
Delta: $25 second
Northwest: $25 second
US Airways: $15 first bag, $25 second beginning July 9
United: $15 first, $25 second beginning Aug. 18
