Gotta love airlines. Take Continental, for example. They’ve decided (along with a few others) to start charging people for checked luggage. Here’s what they say: “Continental has implemented a $15 fee for a customer’s first checked bag when traveling on Economy fare tickets…”

And then, this: “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 active military personnel traveling on official orders.”

Translation – rich people and businesses, we won’t stiff you the $15 bucks (even though you can afford it). We’re only going to stiff THE MAJORITY OF OUR CUSTOMERS.”

But remember… they really do think we’re important – they say so: “Our OnePass® members are important to us” (from the email they sent me).

Really? Then I’d think they would tell me WHY they decided to charge more. They DO have a FAQ – but it didn’t address the first two questions that popped into my head (why did they decide to charge for luggage? and Why not EliteAccess and First Class customers? Why make the Econo types pay?”).

If you don’t like paying more for luggage, check out airfarewatchdog’s checked bag fees chart.