Madison Jones’ blog post discusses her opinion on the the recent implemented fees for first checked bags for Canadian airlines. Madison may both agree and disagree with this policy however I strongly disagree. I predict that many people will react to this fee by refusing to pay it and instead packing huge carry on bags that do not fit in the overhead bin, forcing the cabin attendants to check their bag, free of charge. While the actual passenger whose bag is being checked is most likely indifferent to this service, it comes as an inconvenience to the attendants and an annoyance to the passengers who checked their bags properly.

I believe that having a free first checked bag gave companies such as WestJet a marketing advantage over it’s competitors. As well the storage beneath the plane is a sunk cost, it’s going to be there whether bags are in it or not, therefore the money paid for their first bags isn’t even going towards the service they’re paying for. (I agree with paying for any succeeding bags because there is only so much space and too many bags would mean paying for another way to deliver the bags.) This new policy takes Westjet away from its original vision – a low cost quality airline; a vision that made the company the success it is today.