The insanity of baggage fees

From the New York Times:

“The difference between Southwest and other airlines is striking,” said George Merkle, a credit counseling executive from San Antonio who flies about once a month and prefers Southwest largely because of its no-fee policy. On a Southwest flight from Baltimore to San Antonio in November, he said, he and his wife were able to store their jackets into the overhead bins because there was so much room. He cited, by contrast, a recent Frontier Airlines flight where many passengers carried on their luggage to avoid the $20 fee to check a bag. “Boarding seemed to drag on interminably,” he said. “People were dragging bags of many sizes on.”
The carry-on crunch has pitted passenger against passenger as the race for space ensues. Like many other fliers, Mr. Merkle has arrived at his seat only to find the bin space above it jammed with the bags of passengers who boarded before him and picked out bin space randomly as they headed toward the rear of the plane. To find a spot for his bag, he had to walk several rows back. “On deplaning, I had to struggle against the flow,” he said. “No one had any mercy.” 

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