Charles Shumer knows better

Spirit Airlines is proposing a fee for carry on baggage, and says that their ticket price will be reduced by about the same amount as the fee. This makes perfect sense - a traveler who walks on with no carry on luggage probably costs much less than someone who tries to jam a large suitcase into an overhead bin. I imagine the extra cost from additional boarding time alone, over the course of thousands of flights, is astronomical.

But Chuck Shumer does not like it. He says it would be a "slap in the face to travelers" and is threatening to propose legislation banning a separate fee for carry-on luggage.

I see it differently. Those who currently pay to check their bags will probably enjoy the lower ticket price. Plus, because of the lower ticket price, the total travel cost to those who carry-on will not change. I'm not sure how that is a "slap in the face". What he is really doing is forcing passengers who don't carry-on luggage to subsidize the passengers that do.

But more important than any of that, why in the world does he think he knows how airline travel should be priced?

Apparently he's not only a lawyer and career politician, he's also a cost accountant and airline marketing specialist. Man, he's good!