United Doubles Second Bag Fee to $50; Unfairly Blames Fuel

(MoneyWatch)  It wasn't long ago that I praised Singapore Airlines for actually reducing fuel surcharges as oil prices declined. Remember that? Apparently, United didn't get the memo, because while other airlines are adjusting downward, they keep adding charges in the name of fuel. This time, they've doubled the price they charge to check a second bag.

This makes United the only airline to charge $50 for the second bag and $25 for the first bag. Delta charges for the second bag, but the first bag is still free when you fly them. According to United,

In a challenging economic environment where fuel prices continue to be volatile and are more than 50 percent higher than last year, United is increasing the service fee to check a second bag on a domestic flight from $25 to $50 one way.

So it's now no longer rising fuel prices causing problems; it's volatile ones. Clearly they can't say rising fuel prices because prices are down lately, but that's ok. They'll just keep looking for other metrics to justify this charge. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly) for them, it doesn't seem to be playing well. For example, take a look at what Jeanne LeBlanc has to say over at the Hartford Courant.

This just points back to what I was saying before. If you play it straight with customers, they'll understand and accept what you're doing. Singapore raises a fuel surcharge during higher fuel price times and lowers it when they go down. Fine. That makes sense. But when you try to play the customer for a fool, it never ends well.

Taking your customers for granted and treating them like children is not the way to gain loyalty.