Glenn Alperin

The ATM at the Airlines

First of all, I'm the author. My "comment name" is Stock Miser.

legalalien, I wasn't suggesting that such services were actually "free". As with anything else, there are business costs associated with all aspects of running a business. My gripe is that these are extra charges imposed by the airlines in an attempt to prop up their sagging bottom line. Why are they penalizing passengers who wish to fly with them? If they raised their ticket costs by $25 per one-way fare, they could make the same amount of money (possibly more) and not, at the same time, leave an unexpected hole in the wallets of their passengers who won't know it if they don't read the fine print (and we all know that most people do not read the fine print, which is how businesses get away with such fees in the first place). Furthermore, they would not be discriminating against people who are unwilling or unable to pack light. When you go on a trip expected to last a week or two, do you expect to wear the same clothes everyday? What about parents with infants, for which is is rather easy to need a significantly greater collection of luggage? It's easy to pack light, but I wouldn't want to be the one sitting next to you on the flight back if you chose to do so to avoid paying an extra service charge.

As for being able to withdraw cash anytime anywhere, do you know it actually costs banks far LESS money per ATM transaction (regardless of whose ATM it is) than it would for a person to go into a bank to see a teller to either cash a check or withdraw money from their account? People do banks a favor by going to the ATM. Banks should do more to reward their customers for helping to keep costs down. I don't consider an ATM service charge a reward. Given that it costs banks MORE money for a bank customer to see a teller in person, why don't they charge fees for that instead of ATM fees? Actually, some banks have tried, and very quickly reneged on the idea after massive protests.

User216242, the idea of "fewer flights + larger (same) planes = more profit" is a good one, but that doesn't effect the passenger experience. Passengers, or for that matter any consumer in any industry, don't like to feel like they are being cheated by way of unscrupulous pricing policies. Lets face it: passengers are paying to get themselves and their luggage to a destination. They shouldn't have to pay a price to get themselves there, and another price to get their baggage there. That just seems really underhanded of the airlines to try to sell two tickets (one for passenger and one for baggage) for the price of one passenger to fly.