I spent about 3O minutes speaking with a lead flight attendant for Delta Airlines. The major air names, American, Delta, United and U.S Airways charge $25 for a first checked bag.
The decision to charge has proved costly.
Passengers are stuffing more in their carry-on bags.
Fewer carry on bags now fit in the overhead compartments.
The bags that don’t fit have to be stowed for free in the luggage hold below.
There’s been an increase of lost bags because the temporary tagged bags are not fully integrated into the tracking system.
People don’t want their bags stowed below. They brought a carry-on for a reason.
Flight attendants are not paid a single cent until the plane moves away from the blocks. The increase in front end hassles is wearing thin on employees.
Finally, the process is delaying flights. Planes are not pushing back on time creating inevitable connection problems.
Ralph Braseth 