Airline industry insiders say passengers have become carried away with carry-on baggage, leading to costly delays. That’s prompting calls for changes to how airplanes charge for baggage, with some discount airlines like Sunwing and Spirit already beginning to flip the fee structure so passengers pay for the privilege of keeping their bags on board.
It wasn’t that the airlines were losing money on baggage, it was included in the ticket. It was that they wanted to double dip by charging for the baggage because they could also sell the space to the shipping companies.
It was included in the ticket because if you didn’t check a bag the belly would be empty. Now if you don’t check a bag they get to fill the belly with air freight, so they want you to try to jam your life into the overhead compartment so they can resell the belly to cargo customers.