Carry On Bag Charges – Is it just a Marketing Ploy?

Just when you thought that airlines couldn’t charge for anything else, now Spirit Airlines wants to start charging for your carry-on bag. And, it’s not a trivial amount…$45 to let your carry on travel bag fly with you in the overhead compartment. Let’s see, the poor beleaguered air traveler is charged for checked bags, charged for specific seat choice, charged for blankets, pillows, food, drinks…and maybe in the not too distant future, travelers will even be charged to use the in-flight bathrooms.

For the seasoned traveler, this appears to be a simple ploy to allow Spirit Airlines to position itself as the absolute lowest priced carrier. Virtually every traveler wants to find the lowest fare. By separating the travel ‘add ons’, Spirit will appear as one of the lowest cost carriers in the industry…that’s if you look purely at the cost of just the flight and nothing else.

The truth of it is, that Spirit has simply ‘unbundled’ the individual charges that make up an airline ticket price. Think of it as the simple difference between buying the Big Mac meal verses purchasing the sandwich, fries and drink separately. There is a significant difference between purchasing the Big Mac Meal and just the sandwich. If you were just buying the sandwich, you’d think it’s a great price…until you add on the other parts of the meal, and the price goes up. That’s the simple analogy. So, to just fly yourself, it is one price…to fly your bag is an additional price…to look out the window is yet another charge…you get the idea. But, Spirit will now appear as one of the lowest cost flights when travelers search purely on flight cost and none of the travel necessities.

The other obvious marketing ploy is the insane amount of news coverage Spirit airlines has received for this announcement. Spirit’s president stated on Sunday that reservations have gone up over 50% in one week, likely because in all this press  Spirit is being labeled as a low cost airline.

Take heart, though weary travelers…new legislation has been introduced to the prohibit charges for carry on bags. According to Jeff Plungis at Business Week, “The legislation by Senators Benjamin Cardin of Maryland and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana would assure that items essential to people’s health, work and safety can be carried on board without extra fees.”  Just what we need, is the government getting involved. This is not an airline travel regulation…doesn’t impact TSA requirements…nor does it affect airline restrictions…nor does it affect your travel safety or travel bags. This is nothing more than a marketing ploy by Spirit Airlines to get free advertising.

Hey, Spirit Airlines…maybe it would simply be cheaper to buy a seat for my carry on bag… or better yet, maybe I’ll just ship my travel bags via UPS. Even better, I’d rather fly on a real airline, where I’m not going to be charged for the simple essentials of traveling.