Schumer Vows to Battle Carry-On Fee

Senator calls airline's new bag charge 'slap in the face to travelers'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 11, 2010 4:03 PM CDT
Schumer Vows to Battle Carry-On Fee
A JetBlue Airbus A320 that just landed (rear) taxis past another JetBlue plane being towed to a gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Feb. 18, 2007.   (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, file)

Charles Schumer said today he's trying to get the federal government to prohibit airlines from charging a fee for carry-on baggage, calling it a "slap in the face to travelers." The Democratic senator from New York is making a personal plea to the Treasury Department to rule that carry-on bags are a necessity for travel, which would make them exempt from a separate fee outside the ticket price.

"Airline passengers have always had the right to bring a carry-on bag without having to worry about getting nickeled and dimed by an airline company," Schumer said. "This latest fee is a slap in the face to travelers." The fee, however, is legal. The first airline to try it, Spirit Airlines, announced last week it would charge up to $45 for a carry-on, but that it was also reducing the cost of most tickets by $40.
(More Chuck Schumer stories.)

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