[verniemack]

I was traveling from Newark, NJ to Charolette, NC. I had already paid the $25 STANDARD baggage fee before my bag was weighted. Fine, my bag was over 10 pounds, I figured how much more could that possibly be??? WELL, US AIRWAYS HAS A STANDARD OVERAGE FEE OF $90!!! REALLY???? FOR 10 POUNDS???? That is just highway robbery!!

I will be letting every person i know and don't know how disgusting that is and you can mark my words after I go and buy an other small bag to fly home with, so that I will only be paying $50 for 2 bags instead of $115, I will NEVER EVER EVER use this horrible airline again.

WAY TO ROB YOUR CUSTOMERS US AIRWAYS!! WELL DONE............

[azstar]

Overweight baggage is expensive. Southwest charges 50.00. Delta & U S Air charge 90.00 up to 70 lbs, American & United charge 100.00 up to 70lbs. I'm not justifying the cost, and I don't know whether it's a ripoff or not. But, planes fly by weight. Even the fuel is measured in weight, not gallons. Too much heavy baggage, especially on 50 seat regional jets, can cause the aircraft to be overweight requiring passengers to be removed and reaccommodated, often on a different airline, at great expense to the airline.

[jimworcs]

Azstar, in a tiny proportion of cases, the scenarios you outline could true..but in the vast majority of cases the overweight baggage charge, even for small overages, is an attempt by the airline to capture and maximize their ancilliary revenue. Overweight baggage charges are a rip off, plain and simple, but the OP was foolish to give them the opportunity to rip them off. The airlines will always rob you if you let them... and you did.

[Burgers]

Jimworcs,
Its nice you are advocating on behalf of the consumer but respectfully I have to disagree.
I employee a lot of people and benefits cost are rising at at mid to high single digits ever year.
Airlines allow 50 Lbs which is quite generous, and quite heavy. Comp claims from OJI (On Job Injuries) rise dramatically with incremental increases in weight, sound, etc.

We restrict employees from handling anything over 40 Lbs as statistically this is about the highest weight before you see a marked increase in injuries.

[jimworcs]

Fair enough if they set a limit and stuck to it. some European airlines do this. However, the bag doesn't become safer because you have paid excessuve fees for it. if health and safety is the issue, set a rigid, maximum weight per bag and require them to use two bags if they go over the limit. The health and safety card is played too much, even if there is a is valid point to be made. it becomes a fall back position, much like "security", and is often bogus. I think BA set a
rigid 23kg limit, which is fair enough. (I might be wrong about this, but I think that is the case).

[Burgers]

I'm not claiming the work becomes safer if you charge more but the charge can help mitigate some costs should a worker become injured - onerous penalties discourage those that want to carry a heavy bag - but in the end the customer has a choice.
I tend to think its all about health and safety, here's why. You could pack your 10 extra pounds in a trash bag and check it for $25 or pay the $90 for a single 60 lb bag. Clearly they are discouraging heavy bags.
Watching workers handle bags in cramped baggage holds on their knees, or twisting and lifting as the put bags on a belt loader I suspect airlines have a lot of OJI claims.
While I would agree a maximum weight limit makes a lot of sense in the US we don't have such ridge rules - there is much more to consumer choice than say Europe.
Benefits costs are particularly onerous on companies in a tight margin business such as the airline industry.

[jimworcs]

I think your illustration makes the opposite point you are making.

In your analysis, if the second bag costs $25 and the overweight bag costs $90, the airline is profiting from making their employees unsafe by allowing a unsafe weight. Where is the airlines duty of care to their employees? It is utterly unethical to say we will allow our individual employees to become injured and we will use the money we make from the passenger for overweight bags to mitigate the costs. What kind of management is that? They cannot, in the name of customer choice, choose to expose their staff to unnecessary risks.

The truth is, the airlines make ridiculous profits from overweight bags and clearly, based on your analysis, don't give a toot about the consequences for their employees. A more ethical approach would be to simply ban any bag over their chosen maximum weight and tell the passengers they must either purchase another bag and pay for a second bag or the bag can't travel. That would be fair and protect their employees...but far less profitable, so they simply don't do it.

[The_Judge]

There is a maximum weight the airline will accept. Over that weight, it then is not accepted for travel. That weight was 100lbs. That seems to be the cutoff that management feels employees are able to handle safely.

[jimworcs]

wow... 100 lbs seems a lot, I would have set it closer to half of that!