This being said, a newer – but certainly not the first (Luggage Forward) – service has popped up for shipping one’s luggage ahead. Sendmybag.com has a fairly affordable, relative to prices I have seen in the past, for shipping your bags to your destination. And, they have an international option. As an example… I flew to Spain this year to race Duathlon World Championships. I had to pay an exorbitant $250 one way for my bike. So $500 to travel with my bike in total. Incidentally, I remember the days of taking my bike to race in Europe when the bike traveled for free. Yes, free. Anyway, using the quote form from Sendmybag.com, it would have cost me $169 one way or $338. So, a $162 savings. That is a fair bit of savings I must admit.

BUT would I have actually done it even though the price has come down and is cheaper than the airline charges? As much as I hate paying those exorbitant bike luggage fees – especially since they don’t handle it any different nor do I get any more coverage or guarantees it will even arrive or arrive undamaged nor is it any harder to manage than any other piece of luggage despite their claims (I know, I have watched my bike case being handled on dozens of flights and they treat it no different than any other luggage and it takes no special effort as they throw it like they do everything else) there is something to be said for arriving at my destination and being able to get my bike right then, right there. Sure, it is possible the bike could get misrouted while traveling, it happens. But I have to admit, getting off my flight, getting my bike from oversized luggage and getting on my way knowing I have my bike so I can race (the whole reason I am traveling)  is worth a little extra cost to me versus having to ship it off many days ahead of my trip to allow for travel/ship time and praying it gets there as it passes from the luggage service to the actual shipper to the luggage service and to my hotel or apartment. This means a lot more moving parts and certainly more days of planning and being without my bike. And even more ironic is, it will likely be shipped via one of the very same passenger planes I am flying on as we know these luggage services do not own their own planes, they use a broker or make a deal with an airline to get the luggage shipped. So, a $250 bike luggage fee by an airline for essentially doing nothing special and guaranteeing me nothing extra can be had for $169 where someone comes and picks it up and it meets me at my hotel/apartment – and both could be using the same passenger planes to get my bike to the same destination.

It’s a tough call, but for now, my gut is telling me I would still opt to have my bike up until they day I leave, take it with me on the plane, and have it with me the moment I land knowing it is in the belly of the plane right below me. Is that worth $162 savings to me? Yes, given I have invested months of blood, sweat and tears and paid big money to prepare & travel for this race, $162 is not barely a good pair of shoes saved.

ps – The one time I shipped something ahead via USPS to the NYC Marathon (a bunch of gels and nutrition in amounts too great to take on the plane as carry-on as 99.9% of the time unless I have a bike I can travel with only a carry-on) not only did USPS loose it, they actually delivered it 2 weeks later to my hotel!

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BEST AIRPORTS FOR BEING ON TIME:

1. Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) – Flights Delayed: 12.9%
2. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
3. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
4. Portland International Airport (PDX)
5. Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
6. Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)
7. Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
8. Miami International Airport (MIA)
9. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
10. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)

1. Midway International Airport (MDW) – Flights Delayed: 35.7%
2. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
3. Denver International Airport (DEN)
4. 4 O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
5. McCarran International Airport (LAS)
6. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
7. Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
8. Orlando International Airport (MCO)
9. Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
10. 10 San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

So what does this teach you if you are an active, healthy traveler that wishes to use their delay time effectively? Check out these airports before you fly through them and make sure you have an airport gym selection ready “just in case”. You can do that right here.

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According to the story at Times.com, “CEO Ben Baldanza has also gone on record saying that his company may stop adding fees because it’s become difficult to think up any more new ones.” What does that tell you about their mindset and angle?

So back to the “new” fee at hand.. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Spirit has quietly tacked on a $2 surcharge on top of its usual checked baggage fees for passengers traveling during the peak winter holiday period, December 18 to January 5. The standard price to check a bag during online check-in is $40 for the first piece of luggage, so if you’re flying during the holiday period, it’ll run $42.” The article states that a message from Spirit attempting to explain the holiday surcharge. “To make sure we have room for everyone’s bags, we’re encouraging customers to pack a bit lighter.” But as is obvious, it sounds as if without such a fee, and without customers packing less, Spirit might have difficulty finding space peoples luggage. Preposterous, no? But maybe not so much. I have always suspected and surmised elsewhere here in past posts there could be some truth to that and that is because they want you to pack less so they can sell all excess space for a bigger fee for transporting merchandise and products for shippers. So, they penalize us for taking that room that they could be selling for a higher profit to someone needing products shipped. Possible? Hell yes! But either way, whatever their motivation or claimed motivation, get ready for the fee. That is, IF you use this airline.

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These airlines have gone on to spout about what they plan to do with the impressive profits, but when asked point blank about whether they would use their new cash cushion to reduce customer fares and fees, they suddenly went silent – literally – hiding behind regulatory laws as their reason for not speaking on that topic. But we all know what that means then, no?

This is an industry that cries to regulators & congress about raising fees and costs imposed on them, but has no compunction about turning right around and placing it on our shoulders. Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

According to the story, “Consumers paid an average of $88 more for a domestic round-trip in the first half of 2014 than they did in the first half of 2010, according to data from Airlines Reporting Corporation. Passengers also paid an average of $9 more in ancillary costs — baggage fees, on-board food and beverages, frequent flyer deals, and other costs — for each of their trips last year than they did in 2007, according to data from IdeaWorks Co.”

A pair of great quotes from the Washingtonpost.com sum it up, “Rather, airline industry analysts predicted, industry trends point toward sustained and even higher prices for consumers amid the reversal of the industry’s fortunes.” and that “Last week’s strong earnings reports represent “evidence that people are willing to pay these higher prices to generate those kind of profits,” said Bob Mann, an airline industry analyst and former airline executive. “Why would the carriers reduce price?” I disagree heavily with the claim that people are “willing” to pay, I would say we are “forced” to pay as the only choice is don’t fly and that is just not a reasonable option if you want to live life. But the ironic thing there is that many families are opting not to travel due to high costs. I know I have – I have literally not taken trips due solely to the costs of the flights. So what happens then? They squeeze more out of those that do to make up for those that they pushed out of the market. Essentially, they are killing off & shrinking their own base.

The post Top American airlines are making more money than ever, but do NOT expect it to mean lower prices for fliers appeared first on EXERCISE ON THE FLY.

John’s basic question was, “Can a member of the flying public get to the gym, work out, shower, go back through security (and in this case, customs), and arrive at the gate for his or her flight in 174 minutes — the average layover time for a passenger here, according to Pearson officials?” His criteria for his “workout” time needed was based on a 60 minute workout. If you read his full story, link above, you will see it was a successful test. The rarer to find IN terminal airport gym experience worked for him. No surprise here, but glad to see someone put the IN terminal airport gym experience to the test from the average business travelers perspective.

So anyway.. John and I had a pretty lengthy interview before he set out on his journy and we covered topics like; where did my idea for AirportGyms.com come from, what did I think about the GoodLife Fitness in terminal gym concept (what litle of it he could tell me about), why did I think that airport gyms IN termianls are so far and few between, how I thought the concept would expand in the coming years IF larger chain gyms and terminal authorities could start to think outside the box, and much, much more. Some of those comments can be seen in his article. So I suggest you head on over to the story to read all the details.

PS – this also means we updated the gym listing for our Canada airport gym listings for Pearson (YYZ), as we had the GoodLife Fitness location already listed.

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The move comes as the Denver-based airline tries to transform itself into a fee-dependent airline, similar to Spirit Airlines or Allegiant Air — the only other U.S. carriers to charge such fees. Frontier already charges $1.99 for a soda or water on its flights, a fee it added on July 1. But Frontier says that in exchange for these new fees, it is lowering its base fare by an average of 12%. But we all know they would never, ever reduce a cost if the upside to a reduction was not a huge increase in revenue for the added fee so they can make up the 12% and then some.

Current Frontier Airlines fees:

• Food and beverages
• Overhead bin fees range from $20 for frequent fliers who book online to $50 for those who fail to pay before getting to the gate. Most will pay $25 if they check-in online; $35 if they check-in at the airport.
• $15 to $25 fliers will pay for their first checked bag.
• Seat assignments — even for the dreaded middle seat — now cost an extra $3 for those who buy while booking online; $8 at check-in. If passengers don’t pay extra, Frontier will assign them whatever seats are left over.
• $5 to $15 per flight, depending on when they are purchased, for seat selection. “Stretch” seats with an extra 5 to 7 inches of legroom — including those in the exit row — will cost $15 to $50 per flight segment, depending on the distance flown.

Seems like an effort to become another Spirit Airlines.

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Overall satisfaction with on-time arrivals has dropped from an index reading of 81 to 79, but that is still a fairly high score, compared with 63 for seat comfort, the lowest scoring category. Ease of check-in and ease of making reservations rank at the top, with index scores of 82.

Among the six carriers ACSI ranked by name, JetBlue (a testament to its low fares and fees it’s claimed) and Southwest continue to lead in customer satisfaction whereas United Airlines holds the distinction of being the worst  rated in this period with an abysmal ACSI score of 60.

1. JetBlue – scored 79

2. Southwest Airlines – scored 78

3. Delta Air Lines – scored 71

4. American Airlines – scored 66

5. U.S. Airways – scored 66

6. United Airlines – scored 60

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So hey, we could always use more listings in that area so please pass them on.

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Now, we could have selected a different airline, flown cheaper, and gotten the flight times we wanted elsewhere at this stage. But we choose them based on those same facts and in the end, they have changed them all up on us. Both departure and return flights have changed now. How is that proper as they now added hours onto our itinerary, an itinerary we specifically choose to be less travel time, make comfortable connections for international travel and get us home at a proper hour as compared to other itineraries. If we wanted the flight times they have changed us to, WE WOULD HAVE PICKED THEM FROM THE START!!

Oh, and when I called.. they gave me the “this is normal” speech and the “sorry we know it is frustrating” speech, but when you press to answer you about at what point do they start to understand they are making unreasonable changes that transform the product into something radically different than what you originally purchased, they gave me the “we have the right to change itineraries” speech and showed no understanding that at a certain point they are doing away with our choices and just giving us what they want.

Oh wait, that is what airlines do now. It is amazing how much of flight has become about bending the consumer over and giving one no recourse. None.

Not sure why they don’t just have a system where you pay them $xxx for travel and with the understanding that they will put you on whatever flights they want and will just let you know 3-4 days before you go what you actually ended up with. Because in the end, that is the roulette wheel they have you on anyway. One of fake up front choices that by the end, meant nothing and were an utter waste of time to even make.

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They even rolled out new bag-sizing boxes at most airports and sent an email to frequent fliers, reminding them of the rules and sent an internal employee newsletter about their “renewed focus on carry-on compliance.” They claim it’s simply ensuring that compliant passengers have space left for them in the overhead bins, but you have to be living with your head in the sand to see that claim as anything other than a lame attempt to veil the truth in a way so as to bamboozle flyers into believing they are doing something to help them (i.e., make more space for everyone). When has an airline really had the best interests of a flyer in mind, just look at all of the tick tack fees and ticket price gouging and awards plan shenanigans. Given how greedy airlines have become with the revenue generated from fees, fees that have helped them return to profitability mind you and revenue that has steadily risen yearly, it is laughable they would even try to pass it off as anything other than a means to generate more revenue.

There are even concerns that it will in fact delay the boarding process even more as flyers will now be turned back in droves at the security checkpoint to check their bags that previously were fine in size. But suddenly, loading and boarding times and speed and ease don’t get mentioned as a concern. They only play that card when they can use it to justify another fee, but brush it under the rug in this case.

And for the record, United collects $638 million in checked-bag fees a year but wants to increase that figure. In a January earnings call, the airline’s chief revenue officer, Jim Compton, said United hopes to collect an extra $700 million over the next four years from extras such as baggage fees and the sale of extra legroom. So yeah, sure, this move is not about revenue.

Photo credit: (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (AP2013)

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