American to charge for FIRST checked bag.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

But once this becomes industry standard, the entire point of not simply making it part of the airfare becomes moot.

Everyone who's not a complete idiot will simply figure in the $15 - $45 their bags will cost to each fare price quoted, and the competition for lowest fare will be back to Square One.

Yes, but by that point a segment of flyers will be quite used to saving $15 by doing carryon only and would resent any move to change the system by increasing the price of their ticket just to pay for everyone else's baggage handling needs.