Senate Dems to airlines: Stop charging bag fees

Senate Democrats are urging airlines to let passengers travel with their bags for free.

This would save time for travelers and cut down on long wait lines, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wrote Tuesday in a letter to a dozen airlines.

“Stop charging checked bag fees during the coming summer months, the busiest travel season of the year,” they wrote.

The airlines began charging fees for passengers to check their bags about a decade ago to help cover rising fuel costs, but now that gasoline prices have declined this is no longer necessary, the senators argue.

“Many customers seek to avoid the fee and instead have adapted by carrying their luggage onto the aircraft,” the senators wrote.

But this creates “staggeringly-long lines” at security check points, they warn.

“Passengers report waiting for so long in these lines that they miss flights, despite arriving at the airport hours in advance,” the senators wrote.

“Without charges for checking their bags, passengers will be far less likely to carry them on, which snarls screening checkpoints and slows the inspection process,” they added.

The letter was sent to American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Allegiant, JetBlue, Alaska Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin America, Sun Country, and Island Air Hawaii.