What's AA's policy?

[MCI transplant]

<_< -------- Our Service Men, and Women, deserve better than this!!! http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/06/video-outcry-prompts-delta-to-repay-soldiers-hit-with-200-extra-bag-fees/1 -------- So my question is, what's AA's policy pertaining to G.I.'s bags? :huh:

 

[jimntx]

No charge, and automatic upgrade to F/C if traveling in uniform and space available.

 

[MCI transplant]

No charge, and automatic upgrade to F/C if traveling in uniform and space available.

------ YEEEES!!!!------- WorldTraveler, where are you???

 

[FA Mikey]

American Airlines ups the ante,and says it will go to five (5) free bags for military, traveling on orders or for pleasure.

 

[WorldTraveler]

since I've seen military personnel in DL and other carrier FC cabins, I doubt if AA's policy is unique.
FWAAA has already noted separately that the escalation of baggage allowances for the military highlights a troubling shift in costs from the military/US gov't to the private sector and private sector customers. I completely agree.
AA and DL who both have their homes in the military rich south may both choose to use this as a PR battle - but let's remember that AA, as FWAAA noted, faced the same type of disaster not that long ago.
Winning the PR war might look good but no airline including AA is in a position to be carrying passengers which don't pay their costs - and that includes honorable soldiers or US government employees.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ------ Military personnel are one thing,------- but government employees,------ hell, they can afford to pay full freight!----- And I do seem to remember AE leaving paying passangers, including military persons, in uniform, trying to get home on leave, stranded in SJU. overnight, by leaving 15 minutes early!!!

 

[FWAAA]

If it gets ignorant people all hot and bothered that soldiers have to pay for extra bags (and heavy bags) and then seek reimbursement from their employer (the US military, a part of the US government) for those bag fees, where's the outrage when soldiers have to buy airplane tickets? Should soldiers get free tickets? If not, then why get all teary-eayed over their numerous bags?

As I posted earlier today in the Delta forum, even dim-bulb Ted Reed is right about this issue:

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11148165/1/delta-flies-into-patriotic-morass.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Commercial airlines shouldn't have to foot the bill for hauling the military's gear all over the world. Sadly, that's what's happening as a result of these ignorance-fests.

As an aside, what these soldiers did was an embarrassment to the uniform and they really deserve a stern talking-to. They knew (or should have known) that these fees were reimbursable. If they honestly didn't know, their training was substandard. Little wonder the dumbasses have pulled their video from the interwebs. I'm proud of our soldiers but not these dimwits.

 

[FWAAA]

Now I'm certain that I'm right:

The U.S. Defense Department reimburses soldiers for baggage fees. But veterans groups criticized the airline fees as an insult, and a new Facebook group called for a boycott of the airline. On Thursday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) wrote to the industry's main trade group urging policies more respectful of the military.

Matt Gallagher, a former Army captain who served in Iraq and who now works for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said "baggage fees are no way to treat returning service members."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304778304576375954151817910.html?ru=yahoo&mod=yahoo_hs

Yeah, Matt. Are restaurant checks any way to treat returning soldiers? How about hotel room bills? Any problems with car payments? What about mortgage payments?

Idiot Democrat Senator weighs in with her typical ignorance. Guess that's part of the Democratic plan for reducing military spending: the airlines should carry the military cargo for free. Sweet. Some ignorant soldiers embarrass themselves (in their attempt to shame Delta), some Vets' groups pick up the ball and run with it and Democrats in Congress browbeat airlines into carrying all their bags for free.

Airline employees (you know, the ones who would like to make more money but so far have been unable to convince their money-losing employers to ante up) should be particularly outraged at yet another transfer from their pockets to the pockets of the US taxpayers. Predictably, however, the opposite is probably true.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ------- Obviously sir, you have never been shot at in defense of your Country!!!------ Are you one of those brave souls that went to Canada when things got hot in Viet Nam? Or Iraq?----- Or just one of the Privileged Class that took up "underwater basket weaving 101" in college to get their 2S deferment?-------- Just curious? Signed, a Viet Nam Vet, :huh:

 

[FA Mikey]

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

If it gets ignorant people all hot and bothered that soldiers have to pay for extra bags (and heavy bags) and then seek reimbursement from their employer (the US military, a part of the US government) for those bag fees, where's the outrage when soldiers have to buy airplane tickets? Should soldiers get free tickets? If not, then why get all teary-eayed over their numerous bags?

As I posted earlier today in the Delta forum, even dim-bulb Ted Reed is right about this issue:

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/11148165/1/delta-flies-into-patriotic-morass.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

Commercial airlines shouldn't have to foot the bill for hauling the military's gear all over the world. Sadly, that's what's happening as a result of these ignorance-fests.

As an aside, what these soldiers did was an embarrassment to the uniform and they really deserve a stern talking-to. They knew (or should have known) that these fees were reimbursable. If they honestly didn't know, their training was substandard. Little wonder the dumbasses have pulled their video from the interwebs. I'm proud of our soldiers but not these dimwits.

Yeah, airlines are losing so much money because they're hauling all that military baggage. It is statements in your post that are a disgrace, not what the soldiers did.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ------- FWAAA,------- I see you replied to the JFK Cargo thread, but not to my question sir!? ------ The silence deafening!----- Again, have you ever been shot at in defense of your Country? ------ Or let's put it this way, have you ever been in the military in time of war? :huh:

 

[eolesen]

Airlines should be able to charge DOD for the excess baggage charges related to soldiers moving on orders.

What's wrong here is DOD expecting the grunts to foot the bill first, and (hope to) get reimbursed later.

My son will be a Marine in two months. He only has a debit card. That's not just money on a credit card -- it's money out of his bank account. I'm sure there are other soldiers who don't have credit cards, or maybe don't have the credit limits to be floating a nearly bankrupt government money. I regularly have to float $1000+ to my company for weeks at a time while waiting for reimbursements to clear, but at least that is in a continuous cycle where what I float this month is repaid by last month, and after I stop traveling, I get repaid in full the following month. But it still doesn't chnge the fact I had to float the first month....

ATA should be working with GSA and DOD to come up with a direct billing system. In the old days, it used to be on the GTA form. They don't issue those anymore as far as I can tell.

Maybe with EMD and things like direct connect, the government can prepay the excess. Or maybe they should issue UATP cards to the grunts so they can pay the charges wiout using a personal card. There are solutions which would fix both wrongs.

 

[Frank Szabo]

Yeah, airlines are losing so much money because they're hauling all that military baggage. It is statements in your post that are a disgrace, not what the soldiers did.

FW's words are the way many "business" people feel - it shows, without any doubt, the manner of low-life SOBs that are at the head of corporations - basically, those who want the gains to be private and sacrifice/losses socialized. The lot of them are a disgrace to my country but, unfortunately, there's no mechanism to permanently move them to a locale more compatible with their views.

I'd love to see how much good that MBA would do for these low-lifes while dodging rounds from al Quaida AK-47s - dear God, if I could only work my will - guess who'd be on the next flight out?

Screw the "educated" idiots with rusty tire tools.

 

[eolesen]

It is actually pretty easy to estimate the revenue lost from military waivers -- agents have to enter in an override code to issue the bagtags. If an airline is estimating $$$ in bag waivers, then I suspect it is based on some stats pulled from the override data, and not a random number pulled out of their hind quarters.

One guy I spoke to at The Widget says the waivers at one large airport in the SE come close to $1m, just at that airport and for the travelers and overrides they know about...

I'm all for cutting guys in uniform some slack when it comes to enforcing the rules for things on their dime. I'm not so quick to cut the government slack, though. They're the same government who cost AA millions for wiring bundles, millions in wasted fuel during ATC delays, and millions complying with other regulatory BS which does nothing for safety but simply guarantees employment for the Thousands Standing Around.