American Airlines Brain Trust

I was just reading that American Airlines is going to start charging people to check bags - $15 for the first bad. Yeah, that'll solve lots of problems. I hope you didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Here's how I see it panning out..

Scenario One:
Joe Schmoe walks up to the ticket counter to check in. He's, of course, sent to a kiosk. The kiosk asks if Joe is checking a bag; Joe doesn't know any better (i.e. you haven't lost his luggage yet, nor does he know about the fee), so he says "sure". The kiosk then tells Joe there is a fee. The kiosk application is poorly written, and doesn't let Joe "cancel" so has to stand in line with the rest of the people who were nearly screwed by this new plan.

Scenario Two:
Joe Schmoe has learned his lesson - don't check bags. Instead, he uber-packs, he has everthing he needs for his 6 weeks on the road in is questionably sized duffle bag. Joe goes through security; get stuck there for a while because, of course, he has all of his worldly possessions in his duffle bag and they're curious. Not only is Joe held up, but so is everyone else.

Eventually Joe makes it through security; his plane begins boarding. Joe notices that everyone else has all of their worldly possessions, so he rushes to board first. But Joe is zone 14; so he isn't allowed to board; instead he just crowds around the agents agent (sorry, right, you're cutting costs, there's only one agent per plane) checking passengers in.

Finally, Joe boards. And would you believe the overhead bins are full? Great, now what. Of course, we know what comes next, Joe has to check his bag. So do all of the other shmoes whose bags don't fit. Every last stinking one of them.

Did you see how that worked - you made a few dollars off of the people who checked their bags, but I bet you spent more in fuel costs while the plane sat idling while all of those bags were checked at the last minute!