Cranky on the Web (April 30 – May 4)

Airliines charging extra is not always good for the consumer. People are having to pay to check a bag, but you aren’t paying for a guarantee you bag will arrive and/or arrive safely. You are not paying a bag fee and being handed an insurance policy on it.

Anyone old enough to have traveled during a time when everything you pay for now came with the price of the ticket will never think having to pay extra for the same thing is good. People who have come of age when airlines charge extra for everything may feel differently, since they havent known airline travel any other way.

TBH, it’s a tough pill to swallow when they’ve unbundled things that were previously bundled. However, when they add new things to pay for that were previously unavailable (e.g., elite security / check-in lines for non-elites, extra legrooms seats to non-elites) I actually see that as value added. Instead of having to fly extra to get some of those perks, I can just pay for what I need when I want it.