American Airlines to charge $15 to check a bag
As a business traveler, I won't be flying American anymore. They announced today will pull even more seats from its domestic flight schedules in the fourth quarter, trim its workforce and the size of its fleet, and add a $15 fee for passengers' first checked bag.
The airline will ground least 75 mainline and regional planes, making its flights fewer and more crowded. The trouble is, with the price of gasoline at $4 a gallon, driving is not a good option either.
I see a boom in train travel and web meetings.
Why boycott AA? As a business owner who spent the last few months trimming overhead and trying to control costs and produce profit, I'm not sure AA has much of a choice. If it now costs $7k in fuel to travel from STL to NYC, up from $4k, how is a generally unprofitable industry supposed to operate?