[Shell323]

I understand that many different airlines have baggage fees, and airlines like Southwest make a killing off of promoting this obvious money trap. I am however disgusted right now by the fact that no matter the price of your ticket on any flight with American Airlines, you can be left by your flight if you do not have $25 to pay for your bags comfy seat in the storage compartment. I purchased a ticket for my brother to come home to Buffalo from a trip to L.A., and was not given the option to pay the baggage fee online. When my brother arrived at the airport on time for his flight, he was denied the seat that I paid for because he did not have the $25 baggage fee. I completely agree (to a point) with what the telephone representative stated, that there needs to be some personal responsibility for that fee. HOWEVER what the representative did not have a smart "the COMPANY not the CUSTOMER is always right" answer for was the following question. I explained to him that I did understand his statement, but I wanted to understand at what point, since flights can range from $150 to over $1000 a seat, the airline was willing to accept that sometimes things happen and say it was ok for someone to want to be able to change their clothes on a trip without paying extra. Is that only reserved for those who pay over $1000 a ticket, or do even filthy rich people have to pay for their baggage. I do not claim that the baggage fee was not stated, I am aware that my brother should have had the fee since he was aware of it. As far as I have been told right now, there was some type of hold on his account because of being away from home, and he wasn't able to pay the fee. My point is when does customer service actually come into play? When you can afford to buy out the whole plane? I am STILL waiting at this moment to find out exactly where my brother is, and am very concerned for his safety. I paid for a ticket on the plane, got somewhat of a deal even, if you think a couple hundred versus a thousand is a deal, but for a measly $25 the company American Airlines was willing to strand my brother across the country from his home. That is ludicrous, disgusting, and I will NEVER EVER do business with them again. I also plan on making this complaint on every single online board, writing a letter, and possibly contacting a lawyer if something happens to my brother because of their greed.

[Sabra]

This reminds me of the story of the woman who was stranded in SFO for a week because she didn't have the baggage fee.

I suggest you contact www.elliott.org for help with your issue. That site is a travel ombudsman who has several high level contacts at various airlines.

[dfwgirl]

So very basically, if you walk into Target and don't have the money for a gallon of milk, do you get to have it for free?? Everyone else pays for their milk.

[Jason]

Traveling is really fun. However, airline baggage and other fees at this time are not merely an inconvenience, but rather a fact of life. Air carriers will probably only continue to charge fees in long term as it gets tougher for some carriers to stay in the sky. You may read this article: Baggage fees likely only to get worse