From: Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
Public reaction has been fiercely opposed to Alaska Airlines’ announcement Thursday that it will begin charging $15 for checking a passenger’s first bag starting July 7.
Many postings to aviation-related websites, such as flyertalk.com, worry that Alaska’s on-time performance, already the worst in the country in February, will deteriorate even more as passengers carry on luggage instead of checking it, and spend time in the plane’s aisle, trying to load the bag in an overhead bin.
“As everybody tries to avoid the checked bag fee by carrying on all their stuff, we all get to sit and wait while our fellow passengers try to fit their 200 carry-ons into bins and under seats that can accommodate maybe 150,” wrote one person who posted on flyertalk.com.
Many others wrote that they will switch to Southwest Airlines, which competes with Alaska Airlines on about 50 percent of the Seattle-based airline’s routes, and which doesn’t charge passengers for checking bags.
At The Seattle Times’ online edition, more than 70 posters commented on the plan, with nearly all of them critical of the airline’s decision.
“As a disabled person, I am forced to check my baggage. When comparing the costs to Southwest Airlines I may have to make the change for business trips,” wrote one poster to the Times site.
The $15 bag fee will be charged by both Alaska Airlines and sister airline Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) of Seattle. Together, both airlines account for about 50 percent of all operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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