Come now. No one's saying that there's no cost to shipping goods across the country. That's a strawman. Many airlines provide free soda, but no one's saying that they should put McDonald's out of business.
The claim is this:
1. All air travelers have at least one bag that will not fit under their seat. 2. Spirit charges both for use of the overhead compartment and for use of the cargo hold. 3. Therefore, Spirit's charges affect everyone.
From the linked article, Spirit says that they are instituting this change in part to "reduce fares even further". But given that everyone who flies with Spirit will have to pay some baggage charge, an average reduction of less than $15 (the minimum you could pay to bring one bag) is in fact a fare *increase* for just about everyone. Pretending otherwise is deceptive and insulting.
Now, having said all that, Spirit does have the right idea in making it cheaper to check bags than to bring them onboard. The costs to the airline of bringing bags onboard, in the form of slower boarding and thus more wasted time, are generally considered to be greater than the costs of checking those same bags. Thus, by adjusting the relative prices to match the costs, Spirit will probably save money, some of which could hypothetically be used to lower prices.
I think it's misleading to call America's Army propaganda, given that one of the major reasons for developing the game was to keep recruits *out*. Quote:
"[Col. Wardynski] also hopes that by providing more information to prospective soldiers, the game will help cut down on the number of recruits who wash out during the nine weeks of basic training and subsequent specialized training, which can last up to a year. (All told, the Army loses 13.7 percent of recruits during training, according to a spokesman for the Training and Doctrine Command in Fort Monroe, Va.)"
Yes, Wardynski wants more people to join the army, but he wants them to join because they think they'd actually like it, not because they like shooting people in games.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, yes:
http://www.freightdawg.com/2010/03/pure-genius-southwest-airlines-baggage-strategy.html
Come now. No one's saying that there's no cost to shipping goods across the country. That's a strawman. Many airlines provide free soda, but no one's saying that they should put McDonald's out of business.
The claim is this:
1. All air travelers have at least one bag that will not fit under their seat.
2. Spirit charges both for use of the overhead compartment and for use of the cargo hold.
3. Therefore, Spirit's charges affect everyone.
From the linked article, Spirit says that they are instituting this change in part to "reduce fares even further". But given that everyone who flies with Spirit will have to pay some baggage charge, an average reduction of less than $15 (the minimum you could pay to bring one bag) is in fact a fare *increase* for just about everyone. Pretending otherwise is deceptive and insulting.
Now, having said all that, Spirit does have the right idea in making it cheaper to check bags than to bring them onboard. The costs to the airline of bringing bags onboard, in the form of slower boarding and thus more wasted time, are generally considered to be greater than the costs of checking those same bags. Thus, by adjusting the relative prices to match the costs, Spirit will probably save money, some of which could hypothetically be used to lower prices.
Actually, the troll is still there, and has been for quite a while.
I think it's misleading to call America's Army propaganda, given that one of the major reasons for developing the game was to keep recruits *out*. Quote:
"[Col. Wardynski] also hopes that by providing more information to prospective soldiers, the game will help cut down on the number of recruits who wash out during the nine weeks of basic training and subsequent specialized training, which can last up to a year. (All told, the Army loses 13.7 percent of recruits during training, according to a spokesman for the Training and Doctrine Command in Fort Monroe, Va.)"
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/11/technology/uncle-sam-wants-you-to-play-this-game.html?sec=&spon=&scp=1&sq=wardynski&st=cse&pagewanted=2
Yes, Wardynski wants more people to join the army, but he wants them to join because they think they'd actually like it, not because they like shooting people in games.