American Airlines introduces self-bag tagging

On November 14^th, American Airlines introduced self-bag tagging for travelers flying out of Orlando. This comes after a successful trial run at Austin Bergstrom international Airport earlier this year. According to American Airline, check-in times were reduced by as much as 55% in Austin.

The way it works is that travelers are allowed to use a kiosk to print and attach baggage tags. The traveler enters all their flight info, pays any necessary charges, and then prints their tag and attaches it to their bag. They then take their bag to a drop off area and show ID to an airline representative.

American plans to expand self-bag tagging to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Reagan Airports in the coming months. The airline also expects to debut this service in up to 8 more U.S. cities within the next 2 years.

There are still many travelers who remain wary of the self-serve options and its uncertainties. One issue in particular is that of lost and mis-routed bags due to passenger self-service error. What happens then? Is the passenger at fault? Does the airline take responsibility? Nobody knows.

The truth is that there is a first time learning curve for airlines when it comes to dealing with this new service. Bags get lost or mis-routed fairly regularly when trained agents from the airlines are tagging the bags. It is only natural to assume that this would be compounded by your every day traveler tagging their own bags.

This self-bag tagging system sounds good in theory but it feels too impractical. I am a firm believer that the customer/client should be able to choose when they want to serve themselves and not be forced into it if they desire to interact with a real person. It is, after all, the "Service" industry.

Wheeling and Dealing

Looking for ways to cut to the front of airport security lines? Apparently you’re not the only one.

Airport workers say they are seeing an increased amount of travelers abusing the complimentary wheelchairs provided at airports. It has even gotten to the point that airport workers expect increased wheelchair requests whenever they see security lines that are especially long.

Wheelchair passengers go through an expedited security screening and get to board the plane first, so maybe it should be of no surprise that there are a few unsavory characters who try to take advantage of this.

Airports are required by law to accommodate disabled travelers free of charge. However, there is no requirement for passengers to prove their disability when requesting a wheelchair. Which begs the question, should airports start to charge or require proof of disability for wheelchairs?

I think it is safe to say that requiring proof of disability (much like a handicap parking placard) would weed out most of the abusers of this service and leave the wheelchairs for those who are truly in need of them!

Major Airlines Increase Passenger Flights on Regional Partners, Confuse and Frustrate Fliers

 With the vast emptiness of the sky, it seems almost impossible to imagine that traffic jams and overcrowding can exist in the same way that it does on the ground in the busiest of American metropolitan areas. However, increases in flights with regional airline companies are doing just that – clogging everything up.

USA today researched that about 53 percent of all commercial airline flights in the United States are flown by regional carriers. This is a result of major airline companies establishing affiliations with smaller regional airlines and allowing flyers who book with major airlines to have their tickets be passed down to regional carriers.

Besides the deception that comes with thinking that you’re going to be flying with a major airline when you’re really flying with a company you’ve never heard of, what’s the problem? They’re affiliated with the majors, so isn’t it the same thing?

Not exactly.

As far as safety standards are concerned, the United States boasts a strong air travel safety record. There is a disparity, however, in the flight safety records between “major” airlines and regional aircraft. While there hasn’t been a fatal “major” airline accident in the United States since 2001, there have been 5 different regional airline accidents operating in affiliation with major airline companies since then, leading to 135 deaths.

In addition to general flight safety, being passed off to a regional aircraft has other small, but annoying setbacks. Cabins are generally smaller, leading smaller and more cramped seating arrangements.

You’d be happy to deal with the uncomfortable seats if the regional airline even takes off in the first place. Regional flights ranked last in amount of cancelled flights and involuntary bumping of passengers. Regional carriers also had the most mishandled baggage, adding to an already poor reputation.

Smaller regional carriers began as a way to fly to more rural areas, but now every morning regional airlines fly 30 to 35 nonstop flights between New York and Washington, DC, creating overcrowding on the airfield, in the air, and at check in stations for passengers.

Even frequent fliers are finding themselves getting duped by major airlines into thinking they’re flying with one carrier when they’re really on another. The best way to be sure a flight is with a reputable major airline is to find out explicitly what airline is operating the flight, because booking with a major doesn’t necessarily mean you’re flying with a major. 

Michael Patton, CEO of POTHOS, had this to say on the quality of service from regional carrier SkyWest and Republic Airlines:

"It is from personal experience that I can tell you SkyWest (United's regional carrier from San Diego to LAX) cares absolutely NOTHING for its passengers. The Skywest staff will lie when it is to their advantage and they have no honor. I do realize the significance of this broad generalization, but over the last 8 years, I can tell you this to be absolutely the rule, not the exception from this personal experience. Republic airlines, on the other hand, does an exceptional job."

If you are booking your flights with a travel agency such as POTHOS, we always list explicitly on the itinerary the name of the actual carrier.