WASHINGTON — Aiming to avoid the federal regulation of what is and is not a necessity at 35,000 feet — and the taxes on what have become lucrative add-on fees — Delta and five other airlines have pledged not to implement fees for carry-on bags.
The pledge was announced by a group of senators, including Amy Klobuchar, who have sponsored legislation that would designate carry-on bags as a necessity, thus subjecting any fee to the same 7.5-cent tax that tickets are. The legislation came after budget carrier Spirit (which doesn’t fly to Minnesota) announced that they’ll start charging separately for carry-ons starting in August.
The other airlines: American, United, US Air, JetBlue and Minneapolis-based Sun Country. Delta, which completed its merger with Northwest at the end of January, is the largest carrier out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate and lead senator on the carry-on bill, has said the legislation will move forward unless all airlines agree to not charge for carry-ons.
Round One goes to the legacy air carriers. Round one looser, the US tax payer and consumer.
These airlines are betting that as long as they do not impose any more FEES, they’ll get to keep charging for the federal TAX FREE ones they already have in place.
There is no question as to who the “tail is that is wagging the dog” in congress.
You mean to tell me that Mn US senator Amy K got the airlines to promise not to do something that they never said that they intended to do? Congratulations!