Airlines collect $3.5B in bag fees

Airlines are making
bags of money off us.

Just came across a new report from  Standard & Poor's showing once again how airlines are running off with bags of our money.

According to a Standard & Poor's study released this week, U.S. airlines collected $3.5 billion in extra bag fees from consumers last year - a 24 per cent increase over 2009! Most U.S. airlines charge a $50 fee per bag now.

Add that to the "fuel surcharges and air taxes" airlines are allowed to pass along to passengers without ever having to justify the amounts - in many cases, air taxes and fuel surcharge, which amounted to over $21 billion in total last year, account for more than the ticket - and you can see why airlines are doing very well these days despite their claims to the contrary.

"If it weren't for the fees, the airlines would most likely be losing money," rationalized Jim Corridore, airline analyst with Standard & Poor's.

According to the Standard & Poor's survey, Delta generated the most revenue from bag fees — $952 million — followed by the combined United and Continental at nearly $655 million. American collected $580 million and US Airways $513 million.

To be fair to the airlines, though, I should point out that the cost of jet fuel rose 37 per cent over the same period last year.

And, according one airline analyst, passengers have no one to blame but themselves for all this
"Unfortunately, for the airlines when they try to roll $50 into the ticket prices, people stop buying tickets," said Rick Seaney CEO of FareCompare.com.

As an airline passenger, these extra fees make me so sick I just want to grab a barf bag!

Muslims kicked off Delta flight

Take a Valium America.

I say that after hearing this morning that two Muslim religious leaders were ordered off a Delta flight in Memphis Friday after the pilot refused to take off with them aboard.

The disturbing incident involved Masudur Rahman, who is an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, and another imam, Mohamed Zaghloul. They had already been allowed to board their Delta Connection flight to Charlotte, N.C., at Memphis International Airport before they were asked to get off the plane.

The unidentified pilot apparently began to taxi the plane and then returned to the gate, where the men, both wearing traditional Arab garb, were ordered off. News reports said some passengers were uncomfortable with the men aboard. Delta is investigating the pilot's actions aboard the flight operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, based in Atlanta, for Delta. The men were taken to a lounge and booked on a later flight.

Ironically, the two Muslim men were en route to a conference where the topic was "racism against Muslims in America."

In the wake of the Osama Bin Laden execution and the revelation that Muslim terrorists may have been plotting new attacks against America's transportation infrastructure, one can understand why some Americans are nervous.

But enough with this type of discrimination.

Delta and other airlines must demand their pilots and flight crews accept everyone who buys a ticket and have undergone the necessary security screening, as both these men obviously did, or they should take disciplinary action and ground any pilot or flight attendant who takes such terrible action. As far as passengers who feel uncomfortable with Muslims aboard, well, those passengers should be asked to leave, not the Muslims.

All this comes just a week after my visit to Muslim-dominated Malaysia, where I was welcomed with open arms by the gentle, hard working people of Langkawi, the country's northern island paradise. They could have been nervous with me in their midst but instead they were warm and friendly.

Maybe Americans have to get out more and see that not all Muslims ,or Irish like me, are terrorists.