Should Airlines Add A “Carry-On” Bag Fee?

By Tina Dowd

More Fees, More Carry On’s from the New York Times chronicles the problem airlines have created with the addition of the checked bag fee. Check this out.

The price of checking a suitcase on an airplane — $15 to $40 a bag — has added up to more than $6 billion in revenue for airlines in the United States in the last four years, according to Transportation Department statistics. The fees have also led to an increased number of bags being carried onto airplanes.

Now, the rising number of carry-on bags — the Transportation Security Administration estimated that there were 59 million more carry-ons in 2010 than the year before — has touched off a debate about just how much it costs to screen all the added bags, who should pick up the bill and whether airport security is being stretched too thin.

[Homeland Security Secretary Janet] Napolitano estimated that adding more security staff would cost a quarter of a billion dollars a year, though she did not say whether the airlines should be asked to help pay for it. Mr. Soule said later that it would be inappropriate to comment since bag fees were not regulated by the T.S.A.

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed an increase to $4, from $2.50, in the passenger security fee, beginning in 2012. An increase in the fee, which passengers pay each time they board a plane, would raise $600 million a year, the department estimated.

Sundance Vacations is following the subject and urges traveler’s to consider this; there’s no such thing as a free bag. Eventually, Homeland Security will raise the passenger security fee or congress will raise taxes to pay the quarter of a billion dollars that is needed to hire additional screeners. In the meantime those extra 59 million carry-ons are a security risk. So, check your bag just add the price of the bag into your ticket cost when you are comparison shopping.

Or consider this idea….Should airlines add a “carry-on” bag fee?

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