Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Because our Congress has nothing better to do...
Having absolutely and without qualification failed in its obligation to secure for posterity the fiscal solvency of our great nation, the United States Congress is considering forbidding airlines from charging fees for checking luggage.
“Many airlines consider checking a bag not to be a right, but a privilege — and one with a hefty fee attached,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who has introduced legislation that would “guarantee passengers one checked bag without the financial burden of paying a fee, or the headache of trying to fit everything into a carry-on.”
Airlines, of course, will make up most of the lost revenue some other way. So, those of us who avoid bag fees -- and there are many routes to avoiding them -- are now to subsidize people who do not make the right choices, all because Mary Landrieu has some constituents who don't know how to pack?
I am no big fan of checked bag fees for precisely the reasons described elsewhere in the linked article -- that they have made already crowded cabins a lot more crowded. Unfortunately, neither the airlines nor Senator Landrieu would appreciate my preferred solution, which is fees for carry on bags. Allow one "personal item" -- a purse or computer bag -- for free, and charge for anything else, and you will clean up the cabin in a trice.
We need a new national commitment to mock any politician of either party who proposes silly new laws about trivial subjects to distract our attention from their own transporting incompetence.
7 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Nov 22, 07:37:00 AM:
I've long held the view that airlines have it all wrong--people hate to check their bags and manny would gladly pay for he right to carry on. Charge for that right and you'd speed up boarding times and get more flights in the air.
By , at
Tue Nov 22, 07:41:00 AM:
If you have issues with Mary Landrieu's checked baggage freedom act, you'll really hate Nancy Pelosi's federal subsidies to babysitters idea.
The founding idea of a limited government incorporating specifically enumerated powers is dead. I don't know what sort of government we now have, but whatever it is its all about government control. Every thing that happens becomes an excuse for more federal power and daily decision making. You watch: even Corzine's theft of $1.2 billion will turn into a call for more regulation, just like our rackateering corruptocrat of an Attorney General tried to turn his own illegal gun running into Mexico into a call for tighter gun control laws. This is the modern phenomenon.
By , at
Tue Nov 22, 01:39:00 PM:
I think you Americans should start a petition to change the name of your capital from Washingon to something else like Leechville.
It is terrible to hear/read that "Washington was unable to do" ... "Washington failed" ... "Washington enacted new taxes" etc. This just sullies George Washington's good name. Something like "Rulertown failed", or "Notusville enacted new taxes" would be much more descriptive...
Leave good ol' George out of this mess. Change your capital's name now! :-)
Vilmos
By 
Georg Felis, at
Tue Nov 22, 06:17:00 PM:
You make it sounds like a bad thing that Congress is spending its time on this stupidity. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than having them enact other legislation.
By , at
Tue Nov 22, 07:54:00 PM:
Free baggage is a "right"
Just look in The Constitution
If you don't see it you are a racist
By , at
Tue Nov 22, 10:35:00 PM:
15 trillion dollars in debt, and this is what they are working on?
By , at
Wed Nov 23, 07:40:00 AM:
Hey Anon...it's the Commerce Clause again. Thats where they look whenever the Congress wants to improve our lives for us.
