American Airlines...

[bronze_ribbons]

...plans to start charging fees for all checked luggage (not just second bags). My first thought on reading this was, "Well, there go my cosplay options." However, it turns out there will be a grace period:

If you bought the ticket before May 12, both the first and second bag will be free.

If you bought/buy the ticket between May 12 and June 15, first bag's free, second bag's $25. The fees for additional bags run between $100 and $200 each. Fees are one-way.

If you buy a ticket after June 15, first bag's $15, second bag's $25, etc.

More details at aa.com.

[I can travel light when I have to. Doesn't mean I want to - especially not for conferences and festivals, which are decidedly different from motorcycle jaunts. And on many business trips or working vacations, the manuals, handouts, and equipment in my luggage often outweigh the clothes. *grumble*]

Also of interest: at the NYT "Frugal Traveler" blog, there's a fascinating discussion about how best to pack light for an extended stay in Europe. Some of the suggestions are relevant to traveling anywhere (and I speak as someone who usually ends up vowing to pack more shoes and fewer books...).

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That discussion is hilarious! I think it's the idea of a man seriously proposing to wear ankle boots, jeans, a tie and blazer to a Monte Carlo casino that has me dying with laughter right at the start.

Nineveh_uk

[inkgeist.insanejournal.com]

I can understand that traveling for work/conferences, but for traveling anywhere else more than carry-on blows my mind. I see these girls traveling home to LA from school here in SF and they have enough suitcases to take a couple of corpses home. This morning on the train, there was a girl with a suitcase that clearly weighed more than she did, blocking two seats and then wondering why people werent rushing to help her move it so she could haul two other cases.

[dichroic.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

I wish only I could take a second suitcase that cheaply on travels not from or to the US. Apparently airlines think only Americans overpack. Given how badly I want to bring more stuff, maybe they're not wrong. However, in my own defense my last international trip was for two months. (For this week's overnight local trip I managed with one normal-sized backpack including toiletries, clothes, knitting, books, and my laptop.)

I want to get a Kindle or Sony Reader, specifically to solve the problem of bringing enough to read while traveling.

[dichroic.livejournal.com (from insanejournal.com)]

And by the way, the commenters there are right that European men don't wear shorts much. (Younger women do, often with boots. No idea why.) And if you see an adult in white sneakers, they are most likely an American tourist. It's not true that Europeans don't wear jeans though, at least not in the Netherlands.