 OUR TAKE -
Battle of the Baggage
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| Lasting Impressions:
A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.
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Jonathan Swift
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As we discuss the wisdom of baggage fees in the airline industry in the context of the bigger issue of unbundling the customer experience, I want to share with you a few different perspectives. While the comments may seem limited to the issue of baggage fees, let me urge you to consider the questions in the context of the bigger picture.
"Frankly, the baggage charge does not offend me as I almost always carry on my bags and if it means I don't have to pay more for my ticket to subsidize those who pack everything they own, that is OK with me."
On the other side: "And while I agree with you about not having to pay for others' overpacking, what really irks me about this particular fee is that it incents bad behavior. To save a buck more and more people are carrying luggage on when they would have checked a bag previously. So now, I have to be inconvenienced by the extra long security lines because more unchecked bags means slower security processing. And people who have no business carrying on luggage - elderly people, people with babies, people who bring too much with them are now wreaking havoc."
Lastly, one reader writes, "The luggage charge seems really shortsighted - not long ago, airlines ENCOURAGED people to check bags because they realized the glut of carry-ons was hampering turn-around times for their aircraft and affecting on-time performance. The airlines' biggest problem seems to be that they rush from perceived problem to perceived problem while never thinking about the customer." If the airlines were to start all over again with their fee structure, what would you ask them to do? Give me your take?
Gary Lemke, Publisher
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| Stock Ticker |
| Nortel | 0.6 |  | 0.03 |
| NetSuite | 6.84 | | 0.3 |
| APAC | 1.09 | | 0.02 |
| Selectica | 0.9 | | 0.01 |
| Intervoice | 8.24 | | 0.02 |
| Pegasystems | 11.48 |  | -0.37 |
| Epicor | 3.97 | | -0.13 |
| Oracle | 15.47 | | -0.62 |
| HP | 33.44 | | -1.84 |
| SAP | 32.21 | | -1.93 |
| Salesforce | 26.95 | | -1.67 |
| NICE | 20.82 | | -1.48 |
| eLoyalty | 2.1 | | -0.15 |
| SPSS | 22.76 | | -1.68 |
| Tekelc | 11.21 | | -1.04 |
| Rainmaker | 0.75 | | -0.07 |
| ClickSoftware | 2 | | -0.2 |
| NCR | 13.67 | | -1.51 |
| SupportSoft | 1.81 | | -0.2 |
| Amdocs | 16.9 | | -1.89 |
| LivePerson | 1.33 | | -0.16 |
| Sykes | 16.47 | | -2.08 |
| Vignette | 7.65 | | -1.05 |
| CDC | 0.8 | | -0.11 |
| ICT | 2.82 | | -0.4 |
| Interactive | 6.51 | | -0.94 |
| Convergys | 5.45 | | -0.84 |
| Astea | 1.86 | | -0.3 |
| Teletech | 7.57 | | -1.25 |
| RightNow | 6.78 | | -1.28 |
| ATG | 1.59 | | -0.33 |
| Unica | 3.2 | | -0.69 |
| Chordiant | 2.26 | | -0.49 |
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As of 4:00 p.m. on 12/1/08 |
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