American to charge for FIRST checked bag.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

I get that - I do. That's quite why I didn't have a problem with it initially. Except that they HAVE raised prices. A lot. Typically it costs us about $400/person to fly right around Christmas (the most expensive time of the year, in my six years of experience with this particular round-trip.) This summer it's costing twice that. So they're already charging more - a lot more, 100% more.

This is just simply the classic supply and demand playing itself out. There is a higher demand for flights around Christmas time, so they can charge more for it. The exact same flight in say September is probably cheaper.

As a big fan of free markets, I support this. I may not always like it, and it certainly isn't a perfect system, but it is (IMO) the best one available.