Baggage charges: this year's fuel surcharges?

FRIDAY REFLECTIONS, WITH RON KUHLMANN & THE CENTRE. Recently US Airways announced a loss of USD103 million for the first quarter of 2009. Concurrent with this report was the institution of an additional fee for each checked bag if not pre-registered online. This is in addition to the carriage fees of USD15 and USD25 already levied for the first and second bags. I was struck by the fact that the knee-jerk response of US legacy carriers when facing losses these days is to find another fee and push up the consumer cost to whatever the market will bear - or simply not notice.