American Airlines changes its military bag fee policy
Audrey Hudson at the Washington Times blew the whistle on American Airlines’ extra bag fee for troops headed to the war front earlier this week.
She reports today that the airline has changed its policy:
American Airlines announced Thursday that it will eliminate fees for a third piece of checked luggage for active military personnel on their way to the war in Iraq or anywhere in the U.S.
American and other airlines waived fees for first and second pieces of checked luggage for military members. Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the country’s largest veterans groups, has asked the aviation industry to eliminate all baggage fees for military personnel heading to Iraq.
“We always understood that soldiers traveling on duty were reimbursed by the military for the fees on required excess baggage,” said Tom R. Del Valle, senior vice president of American Airlines airport services.
“However, after recently hearing of the burden the military reimbursement process put on soldiers traveling to war zones, the choice for us to forgo payment for a third checked bag from the Department of Defense was clear,” Mr. Del Valle said.
A reader forwarded an e-mail from AA customer relations on the controversy:
Thank you for your inquiry about air travel for military personnel as it relates to baggage fees. First, allow me to clarify some misunderstandings about this issue. Our policy has been that military personnel were NOT subject to the recently-announced checked baggage fees for first or second bags when they were traveling with or without orders. In addition, if soldiers were required to carry excess baggage (a third checked bag or more), the military reimbursed them for any charges incurred. Every U.S. airline has a similar arrangement with the U.S. military. In addition, troops traveling directly to duty in Iraq or Afghanistan are not charged fees. Those flights are operated as special charters for the military under the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet program and don’t operate under the same rules as commercial flights.
We want everyone to know that our military customers are very important to us and that we continue to work hard to ensure that their travel experiences are convenient and pleasant. As a result, we’ve just updated our baggage acceptance policy for military customers. Effective immediately, all active military personnel will be allowed to check three total pieces of baggage free of charge with an Active Military ID. Again, all active military were exempt from the first and second checked bag fee but now will be allowed an additional piece of baggage without a fee. Each checked piece is allowed at 62 inches and up to 50 pounds. Also, military personnel traveling on orders will be allowed to have one of their pieces of baggage at a maximum of 100 pounds and up to 115 inches.
We are honored to extend this additional show of support for our brave military men and woman and consider it a privilege to welcome them aboard American Airlines.
Sincerely,
Debbie Mahan
Customer Relations
American Airlines
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Thank goodness SHAME is still an effective weapon against such outragous acts of stupidity.
but, what about making them change their clothes in U.S. airports! that story still ticks me off. there’s a link here somewhere.
Something about this smells suspiciously like bovine excrement.
I wish I could say I was stunned. But with airline companies increasingly seeing passengers as cattle, who expects anything different?
Here’s a novel idea for the airline industry, let them fly, drink, and eat for free. Suck it up and treat these men and women with honor and dignity. As it may be a trip some of them are only going to be alive to make one way, you could at least make it as hassle free as possible.
Lesson learned, I hope. Don’t mess with our military.
Good for American Airlines. They’re showing our troops more respect than the Democratic Presidential nominee.
Well at least that’s settled. Now all the GIs have to worry about is getting their bags to their destination at the same time they do (if it gets there at all).
I hope the other airlines follow suit. Our military has enough on their minds defending our country, leaving loved ones, etc., and forking over hundreds of dollars for extra luggage should not be one of them.
God bless and keep them safe.
L
I still won’t fly them again. Need to change their name, disgracful act on their part at the expense of our troops.
If Major Ken wants to bring a camel back, so be it. NO CHARGE.
Good for AA – one of my favorite airlines.
Upon returning from Afghanistan (which required us to literally undergo a day-long, highly invasive customs search and quarantine), we landed at BWI in Baltimore to catch connecting flights.
We then had to check in with our connecting airlines where we paid extra baggage fees for our sea bags and then had our carry ons rifled through to remove things like bottled water, nail clippers and the like. Once done with that, we had to have TSA bureaucrats literally make us strip down to our T-shirts (with trousers, sans belt) in public (unblouse the pants, remove the combat boots, empty ALL pockets, etc). Mind you, this was all done to us while in uniform returning from combat.
I’m not saying military personnel should get rock star treatment, but if the airlines and TSA understood what we had to go through just to leave the combat theater, they would realize how asinine their additional measures were.
I’m glad they threw the military this small bone, but it is still a joke how they treat personnel on orders.
Too bad it took a public relations nightmare to get them thinking straight.
A true “American” Airlines would have exempted the military when they came up with a policy to charge for baggage as a matter of principle.
I’m just glad that the internet and bloggers were able to get this story out and expose AA’s reprehensible policy and getting them to change it.
The gall of that AA rep to turn it back onto the military, blaming the ‘burden’ of the reimbursement policy.
Rubbish.
Now of only we could get the airlines to buy them some body armor. After all, if they don’t do it, who will?
(The point being that MM did not mount any campaigns to get the troops the body armor they needed when Rumsfeld was dawdling over it, but she jumps up and down over the airlines and their bag fee.)
Our military should have private jets! They do more than the -taxpayer funded- limo transport-jet flying — Dems or Republicans!
Corrections or changes, you decide.
On August 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm, lgm said:
Wow. You’re a moron.
lgm, let me refresh you on the facts of the body armor… as written by MM
also some other items in archive. not sure what this has to do with American Airlines treatment of soldiers, but maybe in your twisted troll logic it does..
OT=
Wow, just heard Hillary’s name will be put up at the dem conv. for roll call….. lmao
Does everyone realize that when AA charges military personnel on the premise that the personnel will be reimbursed by the government (us taxpayers) we are paying the bill? Send me the bill, I’d be glad to pay it for a soldier myself, but don’t do it under the guise of the “soldier gets reimbursed”.
I’m glad I don’t fly much because American Airlines well get none of my business. They should be ashamed.
lgm, uhangtight gave you a link above. after you finsih that one go read this one.
Michelle Malkin said on Feb. 2007: “It’s easy for people with no clue about the complexities of logistics (Ron’s note:that would be you lgm) to carp about the armor gap at politically expedient times. I think I’ll take the Army’s word over Ted Kennedy’s and the Democrat strategist’s, how about you?”
I don’t think lgm would ever take the Army’s word for anything.
No, lgm gives morons a bad name.
Now if we could onlye get lgm to support the troops, even grudgingly like AA is doing.
And no, lgm, I was overseas and I will tell you like I tell everyone else, you cannot “support” the troops and have complete contempt for the mission. Take that BS somewhere else.
An additional word on military reimbursement:
Travel vouchers for military personnel are submitted after re-mobilization. In civilian terms, that is at the end of the deployment, which could be over a year after the expense is incurred. I know people who can’t keep track of receipts in their own home– how would you like to have to do it in a combat theatre? (And trust me, a receipt is required.)
American Airlines policy sucked and I’m glad that they were shamed into reversing it.
lgm, if you go down to your friendly neighborhood recruiter and sign up, they’ll gladly measure you for some body armor. I’m sick and tired of your bashing the military, both openly and back-handedly. I’d certainly have more respect for you if you WERE a veteran.
Just think – lgm is depriving a village somewhere of a perfectly good idiot.
lgm is just pissed the military personnel are not taking busses to Iraq.
I prefer “The Idiot” myself.
lgm is an example of the infantile sociopaths that post irrelevant drivel. This twaddle is nonsense and wastes valuable bandwidth. There is no hint of reason or constructive thought to these ravings. The lgm creature sorely needs proper psychological treatment. A maintenance dosage of Ritalin seems to be in order. This treatment should begin and run concurrent with psychiatric counseling to reduce the delusion state of the lgm patient.
lgm,
Like I said before:
Why do you even bother coming here? Are you so self loathing you need others to take up your slack?
Gosh I remember coming back from Desert Storm AA pilots and proud Americans were buying us drinks at the Philadelphia airport. Then getting on board and getting hammered all the way to California courtesy of the AA pilots.
Too bad they had a slip in judgment.
lgm, do you honestly believe that our warriors need someone to buy them body armor? Or are you simply being disingenuous?
It’s also worth noting that troops don’t fly for free… The government pays for the tickets, and they’re not paying discount rates (think $500 toilet seats, folks). The airlines do not suffer financially when transporting military members on active orders.
I and my family are so proud. We have finally realized that lgm is my Brother. He has improved to such a degree I first thought he had been released and we weren’t notified, but understanding modern technology it would seem he’s able to communicate via the internet sometimes in the morning before his meds are forced down his throat.
This is an astounding, unexpected sign of progress. Years ago we were forced to accept the ‘loss’ of our dear brother and the prognosis of ‘total disassociation’ from any relevant social reality.
It’s obvious that lgm has progressed at least to an awareness of the 19th Century Progressive movement. We can only hope for more progress.
Seems to me that the real culprit , and the one not getting any heat, is the federal government.
sigh. you never learn. sad.
I’ve been a patron of AA on most of the flights i’ve taken. they’ve been nothing less than professional and i’ve enjoyed my flights with them. i’m glad they’ve addressed this and removed the fee.
WCC, Abstract – As you know, there’s a difference between the flight crews(the ones who actually do the work) and upper management(who are usually sort of like lgm – completely disassociated from reality)
On August 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pm, Uplander said:
Oh, that word.
corkie said (#29):
My point was that some people prefer to huff and puff over tiny issues than to actually support and protect our troops in harm’s way. When troops complained about a lack of armor, MM jumped to the defense of Bush/Rumsfeld. The same for reports of poor conditions in VA hospitals treating wounded soldiers.
I think the average booted infantryman would rather have someone lobby for armor and medical care than low baggage fees.
Precisely. Last time i flew, it was a few months ago out of houston to see the family. I met several lovely people from AA, and had a drink and excellent conversation with a rather enchanting flight attendant named Wendy
But back to task, absolutely. i recommend AA to people if you’re looking for a flight, they’ve always treated me well.
Wonder if they charged them $5.00 for a blanket and pillow set.
Righhhhhhhhtttttt……reimbursed by the government.
If you look back at one of the reasons that Tim McVeigh blew up the OKC Federal Building, it was because of the government screwing him over on a DITY (Do it yourself) move when he got out of the service.
Same thing happened to me. I moved myself home, thinking that I could save the government some money. 6 months later they came after me and took back most of my “reimbursement”.
A couple of years ago, I also volutarily gave up my VA disability pension because there are war vets with more serious injuries than I have. A few months ago, the VA came after me, in order to reclaim “overpayments” they made to me. The overpayments were the exact benefits that I gave up, and they didnt even care that I still have the disability….
I assume your talking to yourself again lgm…so I won’t respond.
I don’t think this issue is tiny to the average infantryman. With they way they’re paid and the need to support a family, I’m sure every penny counts for them.
Also, getting AA to change their stupid policy is pretty easy. Get it up on enough websites and presto – policy changed. Execs don’t want their company to look bad.
Getting the government to change anything is like trying to dig a well with a toothpick. There is enough red tape to make the communist Chinese jealous.
Not going to get into the whole body armor/health care discussion on this thread.
Last year I was in one of our airports and an entire planeload of military people got off as one group.
It was very moving that all of the people in the entire terminal (not just a concourse) opened up a path for them and most everyone starting clapping as they walked through. It was almost like being at a sporting even.
Sighing…. lgm, … your Soros based info is getting boring. The buildings at Walter Reed were in bad shape but they were NOT large buildings where long term care was needed. They were few and far between. There was NEVER a shortage of body armor to ANYONE that needed it. That canard has been debunked time and time again.
Support our troops, eh? Were you and your lib buddies up in arms when the Dem Congress tried to uphold the military budget while soldiers were in active combat just so they could get their pork passed and take political pot shots?
Look in a mirror and say (or mumble) the following:
Our military personnel get to check three bags for free while flying on AA. Every bit of assistance for our troops is a good thing.
Because you were an average booted infantryman?
I dont know if I was “average”, but for myself, I would have rather had no baggage fees.
But you make a good point, however I havent read all of your posts. Could you please document for us here all of the offical lobbying you have done for our sevicemen? Just curious…
Don’t pretend to care about their needs. You have no problem telling other people how to support the troops but there is never any confirmation from you that you actually do. Not a peep on the thread about care packages to troops…oops I forgot that’s tiny – in lgm’s world. Nevermind the actually gratitude the troops express for having received said packages. Sometimes it’s the little things that count. Not familiar with the adage, are you? Not.Surprised.
What’s really funny about it is that lgm comes in here and calls us all hypocrites, but is too (insert choice of phrases here) to realize that he exemplifies hypocrisy at its finest.
yeah but what would Al Gore say—carbon footprints and all. Only he can have a private jet.
I actually witnessed this situation while checking in for a flight 2 weeks ago in Phoenix …
It turned out that the reason the Marine Sgt. was about to be charged for his bags was that he was using the “self check in” facilities for the airline … which have no way of knowing that the individual checking in is military …
It was explained to the Sgt. that he would have to go to the regular full service counters to check in because they would be able to bypass charging him the luggage fees by his showing them a copy of his orders … the self check in computers couldn’t bypass that charge for him …
Anyway … there was no problem other than the inconvenience of having to go through the full service ticket counter … this was on USAir … so can’t vouch for the other airlines policy on this …
I promptly helped the Sgt. with his bags to go to the other end of the USAir ticketing area to check in for his flight …
Seems that perhaps there is some confusion among both the airline agents and the military personnel on the correct process to follow in order to not be charged the luggage fees …
Not defending either side … just sharing a personally witnessed incident on this matter …
The bottom line is that a private company now will have to increase its revenue elsewhere (take a wild guess) due to the incompetence of a federal bureaucracy.
Actually, AA making active duty members pay for their baggage isn’t “tiny” in the slightest. Do you have any idea how much that adds up? What the average salary is for an enlisted member? Or do you think that your moral equivalancey and political experience will explain away those costs?
Evidence as to MM defending lack of body armor? Or, like Obummer, do you think if we just overblow the lack of something (ammunition) that would be a useful prop for your overall lack of support for the troops through your overall hatred for the Iraq War.
Do you have any evidence that the body armor hasn’t been supplied? Or are you just making it up as you go along? When we fight wars, we make adjustments from things like technology, to weaponry, vehicles, to body armor. Being the all-knowing armchair warrior, did you shake your magic 8 ball to suddenly come up with your deductions?
As a military spouse, I’ve seen your constant lack of support for both our military and the war. You show disrespect by using our military as a ideological prop to hammer MM and those of us who thought the AA bag fee wasn’t a minor issue.
You are so disengenuous you don’t even know it. Perhaps, when you get off your high horse about stuff you decry from your insulated little biosphere, you’d actually have a clue at what folks like my husband and the average “infrantryman” experience.
For an educated person, you show a remarkable lack of real world experience. Please let us know how you “lobbied” for more body armor…. if you could detach yourself away from Code Pink long enough to do so.
The fees vary between airlines but the range is as follow:
1st bag – $15-$25
2nd bag – $25-$50
3rd bag – $75-$100
That does not take into consideration overweight charges that may also be added to the luggage fees … normally $50-$100 more … and I would be willing to bet that a full military duffel bag would be classed overweight by the airlines’ current standards …
That is a big impact on a military person’s wages … having to wait for reimbursement is like loaning the government that money for up to a year interest free …
self-edit: first paragraph- experience= expedience. /sigh Fed the troll… spelling is the first to go!
You’d be surprised at how much you can cram into a sea bag or ruck. 100 pounds plus per bag is not unusual.
You aren’t kidding! My husband returned from overseas recently and got charged for his bags being overweight. The basic baggage fee was reimbursed but the overweight fee was not. That’s the little tidbit that the federal government either overlooks or forgets to mention before military members go overseas.
My husband was seriously not happy when he found out about this from the Personnel/Accounting people in his unit. Isn’t government travel grand?
Oh, and don’t get me started on PCS’s and do it yourself moves….
Free excess baggage, sure- but they still have to pay for their ticket! What an outrage! How un-american that an airline would charge a soldier anything! Seriously folks, what next. Should we shame the airport restaurants into providing free meals? How about free taxi rides to and from the airport? What about the hotels, how dare they charge an American fighting man? {/sarc}
The problem is not that private companies charge for their services, the problem is the unwieldy pentagon bureaucracy that makes reimbursement an unneccesarily complicated ordeal.
AA has been treating our service members quite well, offering free lounge admittance, free upgrades and waiving regular baggage fees.
To force a company that is struggling against bankruptcy to absorb costs that rightfully should be borne by the taxpayer is unamerican itself, and an affront to our free market, capitalist way of life.
emjem, glad I don’t have to do that any more. Swore when I got out I’d never move again. I got tired of losing things, having things broken and not reimbursed for, either by the movers or Uncle. These days, if I’m going to move, I’ll take full control of it, thank you.
Now if we could get TSA to treat our boys (and girls) with a little dignity and respect, that would be progress.
We’ve discussed this before. I can vouch for our body armor. It, as well as our armored vehicles, have saved the lives of many of my brothers-in-arms, including many friends of mine. No issues here. I’m not really sure how to make this any plainer.
Standby for “Bush Lied, people died!”
He’s just going down the list.
PBoilermaker
Exactly … it used to be 3 bags at 80 lbs. each … then it became 3 bags at 70 lbs. each … now it is 2 bags at 50 lbs. each …
Most airlines have more than one level for the overweight charges … a base charge for up to 25 lbs. overweight … and then a higher charge if the amount overweight exceeds 25 lbs. …
Obviously … been there … done that …
I kinda feel like any dealing with the military personnel should be treated as a special exception. They shoulnd’t have to pay for their ticket, luggage, food, they shoulnd’t have to go through the same security or anything. It should be completely separate, just like most everything else is with them.
This could be managed without even having to involve the soldier, directly. Let the bureaucrats fight with the airline companies (which can’t be expected to swallow all those costs). Let the airline companies keep invoices to turn in to get reimbursed for certain expenses like overweight baggage, etc. But keep the soldier out of it as much as possible- they deserve better than this.
They should also have to go through their own security clearances. For example, when they retardedly banned cigarette lighters, what about military issue Zippos? The soldiers should go through their own means of security, away from the civilians, and not have things confiscated that would otherwise be from someone like me- I can’t bring a jug of mouthwash, obviously, but allow the soldier to- aren’t they worth it to us? (They are to me.)
In addition, the airlines can help with their costs by passing it on to the consumer. I don’t have a problem adding $20 to my ticket to make sure the soldier eats for free (I am a frequent flyer, too). If the soldier wants to get drunk- that’s their deal, but I’ll gladly pay for their meals, blankets, pillows, etc.
This is about honoring what these men and women are doing and we can do better by them than what we are. There are alot of people who do alot and get overlooked, but there are more people and companies who could do better by them as well. Being greedy gets nothing accomplished, but if these companies have a meeting and ask themselves, “What’s the best way we can demostrate our support and appreciateion”, soldiers would get all kinds of free stuff-well deserved and MORE than earned.
I believe they’re entitled, too. If we took all the drug dealers off the government dole and gave that money to the troops, it would be much better spent. And if companies would get out of their selfishness and promote the supporting of our troops, they would benefit in the long run. I mean, doesn’t it feel good to deal with someone who supports them?
That’s just my two sense. I’m sick of BHO getting celebrity treatment and my soldiers do not. I am humbled by them to my very core and I feel that our troops should never need or want for anything- they have given us so much that it’s easy to give back to them.
I’m glad AA revised their policy.
Excuse me, but when will they say the same about congress? Remember- they lied to the public to get elected in 2006, telling everyone they would end the war and pull out the troops. Did they? No. So, how many kids have died since congress lied? Change the sign, already:
Congress Lied, Soldiers Died.
My personal favorite is how we’re not allowed to bring knives onto the plane. Don’t worry about the fact that some of us are carrying two semi-automatic weapons apiece (a 9mm pistol and an M4). Then you have the machine guns, like the M249 and M240. The only instruction we received on those was, “Do not place your weapons in the overhead compartment. I say again, do not, place your weapons in the overhead compartment.” You couldn’t help but laugh.
Send_me: I think that’s because guns don’t have sharp edges. Geez- I’m not even military and I could figure THAT one out! /sarc.
I had written AA my concerns. Today, I got the same reply as posted at the top. It was signed by Debra L. Sutton, Customer Relations. I applaud them for actually doing something. Much better than some companies that do nothing when they are called out. Most of my family is/was in the Military so I/we notice things that the general public don’t. Sometimes it is a shame that so many do not have a clue.
I’m hearing that. I stopped counting after 17 changes of station. I was Navy, I swore I’d pay $1000 a month to live alone when I got out.
For all the brotherhood, personal habits in tight quarters can lead to almost murderous attitudes.
At this point I only have to pay $500 a month to live alone, quite an improvement in 1975 (Pre Carter) Dollars.
Kudos to at least one US based airline, who unfortunately asks to remain nameless. Several months ago, I was on a fairly long transcontinental (that’s all the way across the country LGM
) flight and noticed that there were 7 or 8 service men and women returning from overseas on the flight also.
I told the flight attendant that anything they wanted to drink was on me, and to please not tell them who was buying, just that their money was no good on that flight.
Imagine my surprise when the flight attendant told me confidentially that service members don’t pay. It wasn’t meant to be common knowledge among other customers but that it was an unwritten policy. I don’t know if the airline has continued that policy though I certainly hope so. They get ALL of my business, even if it costs more.
AA wasn’t the only airline doing this. I received a message recently with the changes and it stated that most of the airlines, including Delta, AA, United, etc, were charging for the second and third bag. Guidance which came out from the DoD said that anyone traveling on orders needed to ensure that the remarks section included information about being reimbursed for checked baggage charges. While I applaud AA, the other airlines need to do the same. They also need to do the same for DoD Civilian employees being deployed. Although I’m a civilian, the AF deployed me to Southwest Asia last summer and my civilian colleague just returned from Iraq a couple of months ago. We are not contractors and deployments to war zones or humanitarian crises are part of our jobs, but we don’t get treated the same by those outside the AF.
Love the comment and love the fact that we have many military veteran posters here.
It won’t matter to lgm since it doesn’t conform to his talking points references, but I appreciate the plainness of your message. His goal was only to distract anyway.
He’s talking about our “huffing and puffing” but misses the point that Michelle is applauding American Airlines’ change in policy in favor of the military.
Speaking as a former average booted infantryman first let me say this. You sir are deranged and hardly resemble anything pro-American. Now that I got that out of the way, I hardly doubt any Democrat president will give a rats butt about supplying our troops with more body armor and medical supplies and care. I served under CiC Clinton and was a military brat under Carter, Reagan, Bush 1 and part of Clinton. Cuts to military spending were rampant under Carter and Clinton. So why don’t do you talk to your buddies on the left and bug them about spending more on body armor, or for starters have them even give a rats butt about our soldiers to begin with. Until then, keep on blathering your insane bullcrap. It is loads of fun to rip to shreds because of how ignorant and foolish you are.
Well thanks, now everyone in the truckstop restaurant is looking at me funny for shouting encouragement at my laptop. Something about, “Preach on sister! Smack him. Smack him!”, just looks funny when sitting in a booth surrounded by strangers.
As for the body armor nonsense, somebody please correct me if I am wrong. But I seem to remember the idiots making the most noise about soldiers and Marines not having the proper equipment were basing their argument on the lack of “bullet proof” vests. What they didn’t understand, or chose to willfully ignore, is that the vast majority of the military has never had “bullet proof” vests. What we did have however, were flak jackets. Every single Marine I ever knew was issued a flak jacket, even if they were an admin geek.
I can’t speak for the Army, but I never met a single Marine that went lacking for body armor.
My son is in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii. Imagine my suprise when we flew him home last Christmas and found that there are no longer Military discounts. When we were in the military some 15 years ago, ALL the airline companies had the discounts.
Anyway, it was still the best Christmas present I could have had ’cause I had just had spinal surgery in November and it gave me something to look forward to as I was terrified that something would go wrong.
Now our youngest is thinking about the military, so we’ll probably go broke just to see our kids maybe once a year. And, yes, I know that those in Iraq and Afganistan are sometimes gone longer. I know that my husband and I would go two (maybe three) years without seeing our families, but you would hope there would be SOME help out there whether commercial or government for our military and their families like there was in the past.
It’s not just the airlines who are guilty of making money off the troops. How about the US Postal Service?
During Vietnam, I sent packages of magazines, toiletries, and other goodies to buddies in country and never paid a dime to ship them.
I have been sending cases of Gatorade powder to Marines onboard the Nimitz, where a buddies Godson is a fighter pilot in VMFA-232, and also the sons of buddies in the sandbox and am paying $17 per small box for the privilege. Being retired on SocSec this is a bite out of my disposable income, but it’s my honor to get these younf men and women things to make their deployments at least somewhat more tolerable.
This is a government supported (read – taxpayer supported) agency?
I know, Bruce! I’ve sent stuff by U.S. Mail to Hawaii, because FedEx, UPS and DHL don’t ship to P.O. Boxes and it was not only expensive, but took two weeks to get there. Now I may be wrong, but isn’t Hawaii part of these United States?
I just saw a commercial that said don’t worry about shipping with those “other” shippers because “their” costs are going up for high gas prices, USPS will be there for you and prices won’t go up. Well THAT commercial will be good for maybe 2 months before they announce the next raise in stamps and shipping!
I wondered how long this would last.
…and that idiot spokesman from the Pentagon in the article that first announced this flippantly saying soldiers just need to submit the paperwork for reimbursement.
Easy to say from your office.
Uh, yeah, which foxhole has the forms, and where is the one to file it in?
Sorry the patrol was late, we were busy filing travel vouchers.
Sorry, this is just bureaucratic crap. I wonder how many who have received orders have been able to get them changed because it might not include coverage of something such as this?
I know you’re just the messenger…
Thank you for your service!
I suspect my view won’t be popular here but it’s not AA’s job to carry military personnel and their luggage at no charge. If the airlines have to give their services away then shouldn’t companies that make ammunition have to give their product away? How about companies that sell medical equipment and supplies? Body armor? MREs?
The issue here is not AA. It’s the government. I work for a large company and my travel arrangements are made by an in-house travel department. I’m certain that the DOD flies a lot more people every day than my company does.
If soldiers are routinely carrying extra gear, their government-issued tickets/vouchers should cover the expense. Period. The soldier shouldn’t have to do anything (just showing up is enough).
Extra baggage not only increases fuel consumption, it also takes up space and increases weight. Some extra weight may be of no consequence on a 757 but on a packed commuter jet/turbo-prop, extra bags means that some luggage won’t go or someone’s going to get bumped from the flight.
Bottom line is that military passengers on AA could already carry, for free, baggage that would cost anyone else $290.
Multiply that number by the millions of DoD people AA carries per year and that represents a huge potential subsidy.
The fiduciary duty of AA management to it’s shareholders, AA’s many, many prior concessions and courtesies extended the military to date, the health of a vital national industry struggling against bankruptcy, indeed the fundamental idea of fairness itself- matter not. The mob demands of AA another pound of flesh, and gets it.
On August 14th, 2008 at 11:49 pm, robert537 said:
I suspect my view won’t be popular here but it’s not AA’s job to carry military personnel and their luggage at no charge.
That’s what I was thinking too. The charge for the extra baggage was to cover the extra costs. From AA’s point of view, they need to cover their costs, and since the soldiers get reimbursed, why not charge them?
To me, the big question is this: Did AA fight this information? Or was it a case of, “Oh yeah, I see what you mean. I didn’t realize that before.” In other words, did they hold their policy out of ignorance (and changed it as soon as their ignorance was fixed) or out of malice?
The Postal Service has flat rate boxes you can get at the post office ..for FREE and then it is a flat rate of about $10 or so to ship to an APO or FPO address. You’d be surprised how much I cram into those boxes to ship to my son in Iraq. There are special military boxes with the proper spacing for APO/FPO addresses and then regular flat rate boxes for other addresses.
I hate to disappoint you LGM, but the crappy conditions of VA hospitals has been festering for years regardless of whether there has been a Democrat or Republican in the White House.
I kind of wonder if it would be better to close them down and put vets on a medical insurance plan as good as what the Congress gets.
I use the flat rate boxes, and have yet to pay less than $17 per box. I am able to cram four 6 pound bags of gatorade powder into a box, but sending 3 or 4 boxes per month adds up. IMO, ANY mail or package going to an APO/FPO destined for a combat zone should be free.