A missing piece here is cargo…many commercial airliners fly some industrial cargo in the belly of the airplane; it’s not just people’s checked luggage. That’s why the airlines always play this game of how much to charge for checked luggage, it’s not behave they really care, it’s because if too many people bring more than 1-2 checked bags they won’t be able to fit a MUCH more profitable palette down there
As someone who works in cargo for an airline while cargo is more profitable than checked baggage, it's not that valuable when it comes to straight profit. The airline I'm with as an easy example, if cargo makes 1 million dollars a fiscal quarter than passengers (including baggage) made 4 million. Certainly profitable, but as far as it tends to go, cargo is an afterthought with us.
20 percent revenue, also they regular choose to skip on cargo. Cause it's not losing out on revenue. Passengers generate more money, so if skipping on cargo means having/keeping passengers they'll do it any day of the week. I've seen stuff pile up and sit in our yard ready to go for a month but not go because more passengers bought a ticket last day and they needed the space for baggage. Unless it's live human organs, the airline I work for doesn't care a while lot, some food products and pharmaceuticals we try to hurry on but thats only because if they sit in the warehouse for too long we lose the money, but otherwise stuff can sit there for months. Not typically an issue with larger flights admittedly, but on A320s and A321 it does tend to be.
1.4k
u/Sumo-Subjects 4d ago
A missing piece here is cargo…many commercial airliners fly some industrial cargo in the belly of the airplane; it’s not just people’s checked luggage. That’s why the airlines always play this game of how much to charge for checked luggage, it’s not behave they really care, it’s because if too many people bring more than 1-2 checked bags they won’t be able to fit a MUCH more profitable palette down there