United Charges for Bags

Filed in archive Golf Travel on February 5, 2008

Airline travel these days is a lot like having someone stick a fork in your eye.

It's expensive and cut-rate at the same time; you pay hefty taxes on top of your ticket price and you have to buy your food on board (or buy it at the airport and bring it on board).

Let's not even get into delayed, overbooked or cancelled flights.

Now, united airlines is implementing something that is going to potentially hit the traveling golfer upside the head like a snap hook from two fairways over.



Starting on May 5th, UAL will charge every passenger checking a second bag $25. Unless that passenger is a member of United's most-frequent-flyer program.

UAL is further going to charge passengers $100 for large or overweight bags that "require special handling".

Does a golf bag - which can be large and overweight - require special handling? Yes. Golf bags do not often come down the same conveyer belt with suitcases - they are usually off-loaded from the plane and placed on a different conveyer with other large stuff.

Here's a golden opportunity for the airline to craft a regulation that ensures any golfer checking in his or her clubs must pay another $100.

Of course if one airline does it, you can take it to the bank that the others will, too.

United says half its passengers check a second bag. It claims its new regulation will bring in another $100 million annually, allowing it "to offer competitive fares to everyone", according to the airline's Chief Revenue Officer.

Uh huh.

If I run a golf travel business - or ANY travel business, I would be worried that this idea snowballs rapidly.

If I'm a traveling golfer (and I am), then I can now expect to get hit for more cash every time I load my clubs onto an aircraft.

And, as I say, it won't do any good to stay away from United - every airline will follow suit.

What I want to know is this: will the airlines guarantee that my clubs arrive when and where I arrive after I pay that surcharge?

Fat chance. And pass the fork for the other eye.