Free Bags

From Yahoo:

"Senators to airlines: Drop bag fees to shorten airport lines"

Two U.S. senators say one way to reduce long airport security lines this summer is for airlines to drop their fees on checking luggage. It's the latest suggestion for dealing with what could be a hellish summer at the nation's airports. Airlines are already warning passengers to arrive at least two hours early to get through security and catch their flights. Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday they asked executives at 12 airlines to drop checked-bag fees this summer. The senators say suspending the fees won't eliminate lines but it's a start. A spokeswoman for the nation's largest airlines called the senators' proposal a misguided attempt to re-regulate airlines and warned it could make airline travel more expensive — fares would rise to offset the loss of income from fees. Jean Medina of Airlines for America said it would be better if the Transportation Security Administration had more staffing at the busiest airports and encouraged more travelers to sign up for PreCheck, a program that lets known travelers zip through security faster without removing shoes, belts, jackets and laptops. Last week her group encouraged travelers to post pictures of long lines on social media with the hashtag #IHateTheWait. TSA is under growing pressure to fix the long lines. Some airports use private contractors instead of TSA for screening. Officials for the big New York City-area airports and Seattle have indicated they are considering such a move. Bag fees have grown rapidly since 2008, when American Airlines became the first big carrier to charge for checking even one bag. It was a tool that the then-financially troubled industry used to deal with rising fuel prices. Since then, fuel prices have fallen and airlines have earned record profits. The bag fees have remained; they brought in $3.8 billion last year, according to government figures. Many passengers avoid the fees by carrying more luggage on the plane, leading to competition for limited space in the overhead bins. Markey and Blumenthal said the TSA told them that passengers using checkpoints near airlines that charge bag fees have 27 percent more rolling carry-on bags. Long lines aren't limited to airports where the main airlines charge bag fees. Recently passengers tweeted pictures of long TSA lines at Baltimore and other airports that are dominated by Southwest Airlines, which does not charge for the first two bags. Spokesmen for American and Delta Air Lines said their airlines were loaning workers to help TSA with non-screening duties like handling bins and managing the lines at checkpoints and even offering recommendations for redesigning checkpoints for better flow.

^ While I believe there shouldn't be fees for luggage on planes I don't  think that it will fix the long TSA lines. The airlines will never get rid of these fees because they bring in so much extra money for them (although the baggage fees should be refunded when the bags are lost and you have to wait for them.) The TSA is the main issue here (and around the country.) They are under-staffed, under-trained and as government workers have no incentive to work faster or be more productive since they won't be fired or replaced. I can see having private security companies  - that have to follow government regulations - would be more effective since an airport could get rid of the bad company and/or individual employees more easily than they can now with a government employee. Of course the Federal Government would have to do a lot more checking on the airports than they did pre-9-11 and than they do now since both of those systems didn't/don't work. I have flown around the country and the world and have seen first-hand that you can go through a crowded airport security line with a friendly yet professional screener. Unfortunately, those are extremely hard to find in the US as of right now. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senators-airlines-drop-bag-fees-shorten-airport-lines-143148220.html