DHS: No More Cheap Flights Ruined By Checked Baggage Fees, Airlines Balk
Perhaps while heading through airport security sometime within the last few years, your bargain basement cheap flight went up $20 or $30 when you realized that practically every airline had added a checked baggage fee for any domestic travel.
Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is telling those airlines that their baggage fees need to go, but it’s not to keep consumers happy with cheap flights. Instead, DHS says the move is necessary to cut corners in another area — long lines at airport security.
After several disastrous incidents at major United States travel hubs like Detroit and New York, national attention was focused on Chicago’s O’Hare airport last weekend when a whopping 450 people missed their flights due to hours of waiting at security, previously reported Inquisitr. American Airlines reported that during the month of March, around 6,800 passengers had travel plans postponed after being held back by baggage security. In response, some of the airlines have hired their own extra staff to help facilitate their clients’ travel plans.
Warning: The following video contains brief strong language.
In the wake of the embarrassing delay, angered responses have come from both airlines and the government’s Transport Security Administration (TSA). Neither side is willing to take the blame for missed flights, with TSA insisting that the problem can be curbed by making checked baggage cheaper or eliminating charges altogether. TSA itself has begun to offer an $85 Pre-Check program. On Tuesday, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson shared the agency’s opinions publicly, reported NBC News.
“We’ve asked the airlines to consider possibly eliminating the checked baggage fee to encourage people to check their luggage rather than putting it in the carry on.”
Jean Medina, a spokesperson for Airlines for America, an airline industry group, said that such an accusation was preposterous, and even argued that free checked bags would actually slow the boarding process even more.
“This is not a bag fee issue. This model of charging customers for services they value and use is not a new phenomenon. It dates back to 2008. Encouraging passengers to check more bags will not help and would actually exacerbate current checked baggage screening issues that are resulting in passengers missing their connections and having their bags delayed.”
As flying has grown steadily more inconvenient in the wake of 9/11, both TSA and the airlines have battled poor public opinion. For the government authority, that unpopularity has more to do with its ineffectiveness than failing to provide cheaper options. Last summer, frequent fliers were horrified to learn that TSA fails to catch 95 percent of explosives and firearms that are sent through as a test. A CNN editorial argued that the agency needs to think more intelligently at preventing terrorism instead of making the process of boarding a flight so difficult.
“We should demand better results out of the TSA, but we should also recognize that the actual risk doesn’t justify their $7 billion budget. I’d rather see that money spent on intelligence and investigation — security that doesn’t require us to guess the next terrorist tactic and target, and works regardless of what the terrorists are planning next.”
If you’re curious about how to nab a really cheap flight without getting slapped with a surprise baggage fee, you can check out a list of each airline’s individual policy via travel site Kayak. Among those who have chosen not to charge are Southwest, Ravn Alaska, Penair, and SeaPort Airlines.
[Image via Craig Lassig/AP Images]
