My Chicago trip: the $15 baggage fee, the showers at the ORD lounge and 10.25% sales tax.
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It somehow slipped my mind that American Airlines charges $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second checked bag. This applies to domestic flights and elite status customers are exempt from this fee. I’ve read about it many times because it was so well publicized in the news media and various internet forums (i.e. FlyerTalk). I decided to carry-on my baggage onto the plane since I only packed lightly for the weekend. One unintended side effect of this rule is that almost everyone is carrying on luggage to avoid the $15 checked bag fee. American Airlines needs to enforce their carry-on baggage size and weight limitations as some of the stuff people were bringing into the cabin were ridiculous.
The AA lounge at EWR was weak sauce. They also kicked out everyone of the lounge despite multiple delayed flights. The ORD lounge was huge and had showers in addition to the usual. My flight was delayed about an hour so I took a shower at ORD and that relaxed me enough to sleep like a baby on my flight back.
The 10.25% sales tax in Chicago is the highest in the country. You don’t realize how much more expensive everything gets with 10.25% sales tax until you’re actually paying it. The question is does the increased sales tax lead to higher quality of life for everyone living there or does it just get eaten up by government inefficiency and waste?
One Response to “My Chicago trip: the $15 baggage fee, the showers at the ORD lounge and 10.25% sales tax.”
You are right that it is pathetic. Even after collecting the baggage fees, the airlines are nowhere near the break even point. It is a sad business to be in.
I also witnessed the standby traffic. The seats were overbooked on regular basis and standbys were waiting with prolonged pain and suffering.
On the other hands. The new airport terminal in Jamaica, NY is really nice. I had a pleasure of walking between the subway and the airport train station at midnight and I thought that I was in a different country. No one was standing in the corners. No one was alive in any corner of those streets. Weird. The train station was all glass and steel. Very mesmerizing.
By readerweb on Nov 30, 2008