First American...

[BaylorPhillie]

Now Continental...

I got this email today:

Our OnePass® members are important to us, so we are making every effort to keep you informed of some changes to our checked baggage policy and the OnePass program.

Effective Oct. 7, 2008, customers will be charged $15 for their first checked bag when traveling on tickets purchased on or after Sept. 5, 2008, within the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

The service fee will not apply to EliteAccess® customers, including those seated in First or BusinessFirst®, OnePass Elite and SkyTeam® Elite members, customers traveling on full-fare economy (Y) class tickets, or military personnel and their families traveling on official orders.

Effective for travel on or after Jan. 1, 2009, OnePass members will earn the actual miles flown rather than a minimum of 500 miles per flight for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. This affects base miles and Elite Qualifying Miles on flights operated by Continental* and most OnePass airline partners**.

Also effective for reward travel booked on or after Jan.1, 2009, reward travel mileage requirements will increase for customers traveling between North America and Tel Aviv (TLV) and between Hawaii and Tel Aviv.

Effective for travel on or after March 1, 2009, Elite Mileage Bonuses will decrease for Platinum members from 125% to 100% and for Silver members from 50% to 25% for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. Gold members will continue to earn 100% mileage bonuses.

Full details of all changes can be found at continental.com.

[atxtraveler]

You can always invite me to fly with you. I don't pay anything for my bags :)

[BaylorPhillie]

I'm starting to fly Delta more, at least currently.

[BearChick]

I heard that today. Continental is my favorite to fly. This is disappointing. At least I still have Southwest. I am now free to move about the country. Without paying extra to check my bags.

[Texas Golfer]

I fly only if I'm on a timetable. Otherwise, I just take my time and enjoy the scenery.

[atxtraveler]

So the interesting thing about the baggage is just this...

The casual flyer will go to whatever is cheapest regardless of carrier's baggage policy, it is just something they do inherently. This is merely one additional factor they may or may not need. The casual flyer is who Southwest targets, and does a great job.

The business flyer is what all the big airlines want, because frankly, I don't distinguish a difference between $250 and $450 (or sometimes 950) on a round trip ticket. I want a direct flight, and I want some sort of thank you amenity. Adding a baggage fee deters the business flyer from flying multiple airlines, and focuses them on one because it is not the $15, its the hassle that they want to avoid. So, I personally think this was a brilliant move by the Airlines, because they are now retaining the elusive "almost elite" traveler. If you had 40,000 airline BIS miles, and you had a business trip where you needed to fly across the country, and Continental was slightly higher than Delta, but you knew check in would be a breeze both ways, you would likely just have your company pay for the Continental.

[nein51]

I heard that today. Continental is my favorite to fly. This is disappointing. At least I still have Southwest. I am now free to move about the country. Without paying extra to check my bags.

Continental announced the same policy last night.

[BaylorPhillie]

Continental is my favorite to fly as well. Lately the better flights for me have been through Delta, but I shop around and select flights based on time frame and cost.