AA - this takes the cake ...

[RogerT]

Well .. now I know how American Airlines plans on becoming profitable. By
sticking it to our service members.

My niece finished her Air Force training and was heading to her
next duty station. American charged her $200 for baggage charges
for her duffle bags with her uniforms and stuff and even told her
that her purse was a bag and charged her for that. $200!!!! from
a service member. There's no low they won't stoop to. I told
my brother to call the media. Get this on tv. And then on top of
that ... they lost it all.

RT

 

[KennyFlys]

That's pretty disgusting. If there's one group who truly do deserve a protected status and a certain level of respect, it is those who have volunteered to serve in the military.

 

[HPNFlyGirl]

Delta did it too. When I was flying out to OAK I sat next to a service member out of Pope AFB and they charged him $200 as well.

 

[AWACSEng]

It is a pretty crappy deal. But if it makes anyone feel better, it is all reimbursable. I always make sure "additional baggage authorized" is on my orders just to make sure I get my money back. The sad part is some younger troops may not know they can get their money back.

 

[silver-eagle]

If they were flying on their own dime, I agree. They should be given a free ride. If flying for business, the business should pay. And let's understand this, the airlines don't care who pays so long as they get their $5 a meal.
They're more mercenary than a mercenary.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

If they were flying on their own dime, I agree. They should be given a free ride. If flying for business, the business should pay. And let's understand this, the airlines don't care who pays so long as they get their $5 a meal.
They're more mercenary than a mercenary.

Frankly, there is very little of this post that I understand. Actually, I am not sure I understand ANY of this post.

 

[SCCutler]

At the risk of being branded a jerk, I observe as follows: the commercial airline industry is in utterly uncharted waters, here, and while I wish they would not roll out so many fees and charges, I also wish gas was still $0.339/gallon. Ain't gonna happen.

They are trying to find a way to simply continue existing, and the jury is still out on whether they will succeed.

I am glad to read that military personnel traveling on orders can have their expenses reimbursed (as they should be).

 

[Greg Bockelman]

At the risk of being branded a jerk,

Not by me. NEVER by ME.

 

[poadeleted20]

If she's on orders, the USAF is paying for the flight, and she should be able to claim the $200 on her travel reimbursement when she arrives at her next duty station.

 

[rubber314chicken]

If she's on orders, the USAF is paying for the flight, and she should be able to claim the $200 on her travel reimbursement when she arrives at her next duty station.

If she's on orders then the airline should realize that without people like her then they might not be in business and not make all of us tax payers pay for it, but rather they take it out of their pockets themselves.

 

[docmirror]

Here's a blast from the past. In 1962(or thereabouts), the military and the common carriers got together and figured out what to allow for baggage for servicemembers. IIRC, the first go-around was 58Lbs. Finally after a few years, it steadied out at 66Lbs, or 30 Kilos. Not surprising, that was the same weight as most international carriers allowed for their servicemembers.

This lasted for many, many years, and there was never a charge, even if your duffle was 2 or 5 or 10 Lbs over the 66 limit(common). Gate agents were moderately nice, and at least during my stay in the armed forces, we were treated pretty well, and given decent service.

Now, although the rest of the country has given the servicemembers some respect, the airlines are starting to crap on them. My generation is running this country into the ground. We need to be collectively slapped, and slapped hard for being a bunch of nit-picking, PC, jackasses. For anyone in service in todays military, I must apologize for the BS you put up with.

 

[wsuffa]

Now, although the rest of the country has given the servicemembers some respect, the airlines are starting to crap on them.

Without detracting from the military, I'll point out that the airlines crap on everybody. I've also seen the TSA crap on the military - including one TSA guy that took away a bottle labeled "Holy Water" from a soldier in uniform that was headed to the sandbox: why? Because it wasn't in a baggie.

On the good side, I've seen some wonderful gestures by flight crews toward military folks in uniform, including offering them upgrades instead of giving the upgrades to elite passengers that might otherwise clear. I've also seen elite passengers on complimentary upgrades offer their first cleass seats to military folks. (And I've seen very respectful service folks turn them down because there wasn't room for all their fellow soldiers on the flight). And announcements by the crew that have led to a round of applause for the military folks.

All in all, I've seen far more gestures of goodwill by the airline crews (as opposed to management) toward folks in uniform.

My generation is running this country into the ground. We need to be collectively slapped, and slapped hard for being a bunch of nit-picking, PC, jackasses. For anyone in service in todays military, I must apologize for the BS you put up with.

Agree. And I'll stop there rather than having to slap myself and move the thread to spin zone.

 

[tdager]

OK....so it is all reimbursed, however to charge her for her PURSE?

 

[ScottM]

Without detracting from the military, I'll point out that the airlines crap on everybody. I've also seen the TSA crap on the military - including one TSA guy that took away a bottle labeled "Holy Water" from a soldier in uniform that was headed to the sandbox: why? Because it wasn't in a baggie.

On the good side, I've seen some wonderful gestures by flight crews toward military folks in uniform, including offering them upgrades instead of giving the upgrades to elite passengers that might otherwise clear. I've also seen elite passengers on complimentary upgrades offer their first cleass seats to military folks. (And I've seen very respectful service folks turn them down because there wasn't room for all their fellow soldiers on the flight). And announcements by the crew that have led to a round of applause for the military folks.

All in all, I've seen far more gestures of goodwill by the airline crews (as opposed to management) toward folks in uniform.



Agree. And I'll stop there rather than having to slap myself and move the thread to spin zone.

Bill I have seen this too.

I have also seen the airline offer any serviceman in uniform free access to the lounges.

While I like to pee on the airlines as much as the next person, I have to admit that was a nice thing for them to do.

 

[Missa]

Without detracting from the military, I'll point out that the airlines crap on everybody. I've also seen the TSA crap on the military - including one TSA guy that took away a bottle labeled "Holy Water" from a soldier in uniform that was headed to the sandbox: why? Because it wasn't in a baggie.

DAM! If I had seen that I should have whipped out my baggie, dumped out my shampoo etc and handed the bag to the soldier.

 

[EdFred]

DAM! If I had seen that I should have whipped out my baggie, dumped out my shampoo etc and handed the bag to the soldier.

Just make sure you dump the shampoo on the TSA agent.

 

[gkainz]

way back when I was in the service, I would have been hard pressed to come up with an extra $200 (or even $50 if we want to SWAG for inflation) at the check in counter - I would have been screwed.

In fact, I recall dropping off a buddy at Memphis airport and not being able to come up with the coin to leave the airport parking lot - I don't recall the amount, but I'm sure it wasn't more than a couple of bucks. Parking attendant waived me thru and said "got you covered".